One More Opinion

I have been wanting to write about the Tea Party impact for years, but have held my peace, thinking they would go away. I was most certainly delusional! I still think they will go away, but not until they have cut the noses off all their faces and our faces to spite the black man in the White House. Yes, for all they profess they want to limit government and cut taxes, I've come to think their primary desire is to get rid of Barack Obama, to besmirch his name and destroy his reputation. It may be the color of his skin, it may be his multi-cultural ancestry, it may be that he is the unfortunate recipient of the same ill-temper that made President Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretion a matter of national security, an anger that grew and was refined during 8 years of a Republican White House. Whatever it is, it is less a threat to the Democratic Party than it is a threat to the very democracy and economy of our country.
Bob Dole, Tip O'Neil, even Newt Gingrich -- those fellows were as loyal to their parties as possible, but they knew how to work with the other side of the aisle to get things done for the best of the American people. Today, things are falling apart. Harry Reid probably remembers how to work across party lines, but he has to have someone to work with and it seems like Mitch McConnell has forgotten the art. He and John Boehner are in tough positions. Boehner, particularly, know he has to stand for re-election soon and he is afraid to anger the Tea Party for fear they will run someone against him to defeat him or, at minimum, weaken his coffers and standing with the electorate. Republicans have to have incredible strength and courage to do what they probably know is the right thing because their political futures are in danger. Democrats, on the other hand, have less to worry about. Sure, it is possible that a tea party candidate will beat a traditional Republican. It happened a few times in 2010. A few Democrats had to run against Tea Party Republicans, but most were successful. Here in Colorado, certainly, Republican in-fighting led to several easy elections for Democrats. In my book, the 2012 elections will demonstrate that the Tea Party is very good for Democrats. A strong Democrat will have no trouble placing the current stock market disaster square on the Tea Party and their insistence on running the country off the cliff of debt ceiling.
As I listen to the news this afternoon, there is some nebulous deal that may be in the works. It certainly bodes little good to the real people in the USA. It probably isn't even good for most of the Tea Partiers, but they won't realize it until their parents or grandparents are forced to choose between eating or keeping a roof over their heads. Even then, they will want to twist it to blame President Obama for their hardships. But, in their hearts of hearts, they will know that their parents are in a terrible financial mess and unable to afford even minimal health care because Congress was locked in partisanship and it caused the parents to lose their investment income before Congress passed the spending cuts that removed the safety nets of Social Security and Medicare. If they are honest with themselves, they will know that they were responsible for their parent's dire circumstances. Worse yet, those currently on Medicare and Social Security will know they brought about their own problems with their determination to bring the country to ruin.
Sadly, they are taking other Americans down the rathole with them. I can only hope that the 2012 election will be the end of this Tea Party heyday and rational Americans can begin to hope again for the bi-partisan governing that works for our country.