I Don't Do Tea Parties

Winter has returned to Streeterville. The temperatures have dipped. Currently it's 27 degrees at the Mini. The frozen circles that look like white corpuscles have returned to Streeterville Bay. My thoughts have returned to Tea Party types and the question stands out, "Who are these people anyway?"

In a gleeful moment for the Democratic Party, and bona fide members of the left-wing in this country, Sarah Palin, the darling of the Tea Party and Rush Limbaugh, the pit bull of the Dick Cheney set are at each other's throats. It seems the former Governor of Alaska takes umbrage at the use of the word retard. She has a Downs Syndrome baby and has gone on a tear, comparing the use of retard to the use of the N word as a means of denigrating people with mental handicaps. Ms. Palin went so far as to demand the firing of White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel for referring to certain people as f_____g retards in a closed door meeting.

Meanwhile there are trouble makers out there who noted that Right-wing commentator (Why isn't this commenter instead? Never have understood that.), Rush Limbaugh regularly refers to anyone who disagrees with him as "retards." Suddenly there is a rift in right-wing land. Limbaugh shot back, "Our political correct society's acting like some big insult's taken place by calling somebody who's a retard a retard." Obviously Mr. Limbaugh has issues with those who question his right to call somebody a retard. Yet Ms. Palin who demanded the firing or resignation of Rahm Emmanuel has yet to demand the resignation or firing of the Right-Wing Pit Bull, Rush Limbaugh. On the one hand we have a rift in right-wing land. On the other hand we have hypocrisy on Ms. Palin's part. On yet the other hand, we have Rush Limbaugh behaving like a moron (Note that I did not call him a retard.). On the other hand yet we have much ado about nothing.

So who are these disparate elements of the right-wing? Rush Limbaugh represents the mainstream of the Republican Party with all their "I'm rich. I plan to keep it that way. I think the rest of the world is made up of dumbasses who need to listen to me and help me pad my bankroll some more." The Tea Party sorts are a group who are made up of socially conservative and anti-tax Republicans, some who call themselves Independents, and some who call themselves Libertarians, and some who say "Call me anything you want. Just don't call me late to dinner."

The thing is that they are all basically Republicans under the skin, no matter what they say. The big corporations and fat cats love and embrace them all. They all chant the same mantra "That government that governs least, governs best." If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. If it does everything in its power short of creating anarchy to limit the role of government, it must be a Republican.

Each and every one of these people fail to see that it was precisely this mantra that got our economy into this mess in the first place. Lack of government oversight of business and banking allowed all the shady practices that nearly brought down the entire Earth's economy to flourish. The Limbaugh faction is just cynical. They benefit bigtime from laissez-faire. They think Adam Smith is a demi-god. The Tea Party sorts are well, how shall I say this...hmmm, ill-informed and really unaware of how the government could help them out if they'd only let it. They're too blinded by abortion and gay marriage and propaganda that demonizes taxes and government supervision of the economy. (Note that I called them ill-informed, not retards. Take that Sarah Palin.)

Our infrastructure is crumbling. How are we going to pay for rebuilding and repair? We gotta pay taxes people. Our schools are falling behind the rest of the industrialized world. How we gonna fix em and pay competent people to do the job of educating our children? We gotta pay taxes people? Most of the industrialized world has high speed rail and healthcare for everyone in their societies and a really good social safety net. How we gonna pay for that? We gotta pay taxes people. The upshot here is that many of the people who would benefit the most from healthcare reform, from the jobs created by government investment in the infrastructure and in technology and education are doing their damnedest to thwart efforts to benefit them. The rich and powerful wing of the Republican Party is laughing all the way to the bank and calling them all "retards" while they're sipping their champagne.

Me? I'm just glad that I have a college degree, a job, a pension plan, healthcare, and I live in a city that has mass transit, albeit not high speed. How did I get all this boys and girls? I paid for it with government guaranteed loans to get through college, with taxes to pay my salary as a teacher, with more taxes to pay for the mass transit that allows a large city to function. I don't live in a suburb in a gated community, walled off from the poor and desperate. I don't declare them all lazy and worthless while calling them all retards. I don't do Tea Parties.