The time has come for the Tea Party to die. You might think the current government shutdown doesn’t affect you, but one way or another, when it ends, your life will be affected by HOW it ends, most likely to the end of your days. Long before the Roberts Supreme Court rendered its decision on the Affordable Care Act, I myself had called it a tax, a poor tax, actually. I also called it a big, fat wet kiss to the insurance companies, who have been the devils in peoples’ lives. But it is now law, and it has been upheld in the highest court in the land, and funding for it was to have begun on October 1, with major provisions to be phased in by January 1, 2014. However, the Republicans in the House of Representatives, whose dog is being wagged by its Tea Party tail, decided to not appropriate funds for the law and effectively caused the shutdown. Oh, sure, they bloviate about being disrespected, or how the law is statist and anti-freedom, but many of these representatives — and I wonder how representative of their electorate they really are when creative gerrymandering keeps them in office — are in reality sore losers who have accomplished next to nothing in the 111th, 112th, and 113th Congresses. Perhaps the most specious justification for the shutdown, as put forth by the Tea Party, is that they only want to delay funding and implementation of the law by one year. Really? We didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. If the Tea Party succeeds in delaying or defunding the law, you know it’s going to kill it. That’s been its intent all along. And if it kills the ACA, the entire social safety net is at risk — whether it’s Social Security, Medicare, or any other program that is meant to improve the lives of those in need. A Tea Party victory here will only embolden its members and its lunatic fringe supporters to shred those programs, too. The ACA may or may not be a good law; we won’t ever know until we see how things shake out after a few years. Where there are problems, they should be corrected. Where things can be improved, make them better. I think the Republicans’ real fear is that the law in the long run is going to be popular and successful, and that Americans won’t let them forget it if it is. But say the Republicans are right about the ACA being an unworkable monstrosity. If they are, then, sure, we should revisit the program’s existence and work toward something better. Until then, however, the GOP should step back from the edge, fund the law, and get back to working for all Americans. The longer this shutdown drags on, the more it will drag down the Republican Party. That said, this is the party that symbolically voted to repeal the ACA over 40 times. If insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over hoping to attain different results, is this type of representation what’s best for the country? Not just no, but hell, no! Fortunately for sane Americans, the Tea Party has much to lose. Congressional approval is barely in the double digits, in large part because of Republican antics. The American public blames the House GOP for the shutdown more than the Democrats and the President. And if the Tea Party tries to hold the country hostage over the debt ceiling in the next few weeks, risking a global financial crisis, it’s game over for them, and by extension, for many other Republicans. In truth, the Tea Party is an existential threat to the GOP as much as it is to the country. What the Tea Party members consider principals are often childish displays of stubbornness combined with unworkable methods of governance. The Tea Party would rather pilot the economy with the zeal of an Arab hijacker than to work on behalf of the public good or to maintain the full faith and credit of the United States. They represent, in fact, the worst of America. Theirs is paranoia masquerading as patriotism, posturing instead of problem solving, and a full-on bastardization of rugged individualism to justify its contempt for entire segments of the population. For these reasons, and for so many more, the Tea Party must not just lose the shutdown showdown in a humiliating fashion. For the good of America and her future, the Tea Party must also die. The long arc of our nation’s history is about freedom for the people. From the arrival of colonists on these shores to escape religious persecution, to emancipation for blacks, to women’s suffrage, to gays and lesbians having the right to marry, the drive for equality and freedom has been the slow, inexorable force that propels us all forward. Americans should also be free from the fears of not having adequate medical care or having their life savings wiped out by a medical emergency. To that end, and against my initial skepticism toward it, I hope the ACA or a future single payer program succeeds. The march toward this freedom must not, cannot, be stopped, no matter what the Tea Party says. If you value your freedom, if you value hope over fear, and if you value a more perfect union where the government is of, by, and for the people — including the most vulnerable of us — you will stand now against the Tea Party by giving it the scorn it truly deserves and driving it from office once and for all.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 01:35:08 +0000