i don't know, man

Mr. Howard is one of a legion of aging bikers — suffering from aching joints and slowing reflexes — who have abandoned their traditional two-wheel motorcycles in favor of three-wheelers, the super-steady and seemingly safer machines commonly known as trikes. Equal parts “Easy Rider” and easy chair, the trikes have grown in popularity in recent years, expanding from a do-it-yourself niche to a potentially lucrative market for major manufacturers.

—This New York Times trend piece on aging, fat bikers riding trikes is an amazing and perhaps unintentional allegory about the rise of the Tea Party. The veneer of badassness and rebellion that aging Boomers long for, combined with the comfort of a taxpayer-subsidized three-wheeled conveyance that is not unlike a Rascal, tells you everything you need to know about the fat, white, aging voters who have somehow reshaped the Republican party. They would like you to think of them as rebels, but deep down they value two things: comfort, and ability to drive to places where no non-white people live.