My take on the Tea Party

Here's my observations about the Tea Party that I have made through various conversations I've had with Tea Party affiliates over the past several years. Also, by reading the articles/videos sent to me via emails.

1. They are typically anti-government. As Grover Norquist stated "I don't want to abolish government, I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub" Republicans who don't sign Norquist's pledge to not allow any tax increases are faced with zero funding for their campaigns and therefore don't get elected. It is what has led to such intransigence in Congress which now has the lowest approval rating in the history of the US. The Republicans who have made this pledge are no longer beholden to their constituents and what will be best for the people they serve, they are beholden to the big money of the Corporations and the powerful lobbyists who work for those corporations.

2. Anyone who happens to disagree with the Tea Party are viewed as having sinister anti-American motives. In some ways, it;s reminicient of what was going on during the McCarthy era with the whole communist argument. Herman Cain said "Liberals want to destroy America and make it mediocre" While West, another tea party favorite, thinks liberals are a threat to the gene pool. Isn't freedom of speech in the Constitution?

3. Since they have signed a no tax increase pledge, it allows for a no compromise situation. Mitch McConnell, the head of the Republican Senate, says that his sole aim is to make President Obama a one term President. How can you get anything done when this is the fundamental goal? And you wonder why there is gridlock?

4. If you are poor, according to the Tea Party, you are either too lazy or too stupid to be rich.

5. Their ideological purity sees compromise as weakness. They typically deny the science of global warming, that's labeled as liberal mumbo jumbo.

6. Here's one of the biggest thing I see, they are unmoved by facts and undeterred by new information. If it doesn't fit with their perspective, then it must be wrong, even if the facts prove otherwise.

7. There is a hostile fear of progress and progressives are viewed as evil. I'm sure that Theodore Roosevelt would be turning in his grave to see this happening.

8. There is a fear of other religions. At the moment , Muslims seem to be the target of that fear.

9. They have a pathological hatred of the US government.

10. They are disingenuous in that they say they are for smaller government and less federal control, but look at the States first in line for the stimulus funds they voted against. Same goes for help from the Feds if there are any natural disasters. Where were they when huge deficits and unfunded programs were charging up the US credit card. Silent, right?