Tea Party people seem to be self-romanticizing, political ‘fundamentalists’ who hid in the Republican party until outed by bitter anger against a Democratic win. Joined by folks childlike in disappointment that Obama has not yet cured the mess he inherited, they harbor twisted negations that most people do not allow in others around them and disavow in themselves, such as hate for minorities, foreigners and liberals. Modestly educated, Tea Party people are unsophisticated at rhetorical analysis and unaware of mind traps they have fallen into. They have a high-sounding but canned rationalization for the same, sad old ploys that the GOP always tries to push on the nation: (1) “Fiscal Responsibility”, (2) “Constitutionally Limited Government” and (3) “Free Markets”. Sounds good, right? These are a sham.
Deeply deluded, they need to understand that (1) money hasn’t been ‘real’ since 1971 when Nixon took the currency off silver, backed by Fort Knox gold. All that’s real is whatever the Fed allows and the mega-banks will so graciously do or not! Politicly, Bush did what Bush wanted. Obama tries to do what the people need. (2) What’s really important is “Constitutionally EMPOWERED Government” to get our tasks done and jobs created. (3) “Free Markets”? Flea markets and gun shows! Consumer food at retail level? Totally unfree. The stock & bond markets are partly free as are real estate and commodity futures markets. The latter tie up capital as credit and are captured by circumstances beyond control of sellers or buyers. Drought. Flood. Fire. Cyclone. Hurricane. Earthquake. Epidemic. Credit strangulation. Financial crash.
Take food. Consumption is not more free than people’s ability to starve for long periods. We are constrained or forced by nature. Production is only as free as the limits of our technology, land and labor. Food purchase is constrained by supermarkets which charge whatever they need no matter that the supply of people’s ready cash falls flat. Producers & distributers all choose “loss-leaders” here and there as a sop to shoppers.
You pay, or do without. Similarly in health care and legal services, all’s complicated. Nothing’s free unless from charity or pro-bono which are offered selectively.
The Tea Party is a haven for political neophytes and mental larvae who may never reach adulthood. They are dangerous even to themselves, due to their numbers. Effort to guide crowd behavior and to control its effects can be ethical only if the means and aims of those providing leadership are praiseworthy. If not, such leadership is only manipulative agitation. The conservative cabal pushing Tea Party activism endangers all Americans today. Dick Armey, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, David and Charles Koch, Michele Bachman, Sharron Angle, Sarah Palin, etc., are luring their sleepers over a cliff, hoping to drag the whole country down after them. Of course, these named folks are concerned mainly with their own, narrowly viewed, immediate gain.
Unfortunately, the Tea Party is not a mere crowd gathered in the street to hear Glenn Beck praise himself. It’s an artificially induced movement imitating grass-roots initiative but really orchestrated by corporate power. It’s the caboose of the GOP pretending to be the engine. Its steam is hatred for Democrats and detestation of Obama, coupled with deep disappointment that Obama could not soon solve all the troubles left him by the “wonderful” Bush/Cheney mal-administration. Things aren’t perfect? Blame your traditional enemy and make everything still worse.
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