[...][T]he American left, the secular mainstream, and many secular Republicans (certainly conservative but not thrilled with the idea of Christian theocracy or the teaching of Young-Earth Creationism in public schools), have missed, and still do to this day, the disproportionate influence conservative evangelicals exert in American politics and culture.

And in specific, immediate terms they've missed the political impact of Christian Zionism, misinterpreted the Tea Party movement - which is more influenced by the Christian right than typically acknowledged, and failed to notice the rise of a parallel phenomenon that looks and behaves very differently from the Tea Party but holds many of the same political views and is quietly organizing in major US cities and integrating its efforts with the work of local city police departments.