CONNECT
Yes, the Tea Party is Revolting
Published: Friday 23 September 2011
Weeks ago I wrote an essay on America’s empathy crisis as the common denominator in our country’s hard right turn on a broad array of political issues. The recent Republican presidential candidates debates revealed more than an empathy crisis. The Tea Party audience of Sept. 12th’s debate revealed that for some of them callousness and selfishness are grossly insufficient to describe the depth of their inhumanity.
One of literature’s and the movie screen’s most repulsive villains is Madam Defarge of Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities. She personified ruthlessness, revenge, and sadistic delight in other people’s pain, suffering and death. Her ideological rigidity did not allow her to countenance any mercy. Madam Defarge, meet your contemporaries, America’s Tea Party.
My father was often the court appointed psychiatrist asked to evaluate the sanity of those accused of crimes, especially of high profile murders in Utah. He interviewed the worst of the worst. I remember in 1974 asking him about the accused killers in the “Hi-FI” murders, a brutal murder/robbery in a hi-fi store (that’s where you went to buy sound systems in case you are too young to know, or too old to remember) where several innocent people were tortured, raped and then shot by a pair of disturbed young thugs.
In asking him about our justice system of jury trial, I will never forget his comment to me. He said he would rather live in a society where nine out of ten murderers go free if that’s what it takes to make sure that an innocent man is not convicted or executed. My dad was the anti-Rick Parry, and the rise of the Tea Party would make him roll over in his grave.
Tea Partiers cheered when Rick Parry’s Guinness book of world records for state enacted executions was mentioned. Parry, fresh from his stadium filled prayer palooza in Texas, proudly denied any remorse over the likelihood of having executed innocent people. The audience cheered again at the suggestion that uninsured people should be allowed to die rather than be kept alive at taxpayer’s expense. This is the same constituency whose outrage was impossible to contain over the supposed death panels of Obamacare.
Ever since Richard Nixon won re-election appealing to the “silent moral majority,” Republican politicians have heavily marketed themselves as morality icons, if not the second coming of Jesus himself. On the stage Monday night, every leader of the Republican Party stood silent while an audience filled with 21st century Madame Defarges might as well have screamed, “Off with their heads.” Not a single one of the candidates repudiated the audience’s blood lust, all while polishing their Jesus merit badges.
They booed Ron Paul when he suggested not all Muslims are terrorists and that America has made some foreign policy mistakes. They even booed Rick Parry...Rick Parry for not being sufficiently heartless, when he said Texas allowed children of illegal immigrants to pay in state tuition!
America’s self portrait as painted by the Tea Party is that we are the greatest, most divinely inspired, more moral country in the world. But what is the reality? In the United States 23 million are unemployed, 47 million people depend on the government for the food they eat, 50 million are uninsured and 50,000 die every year because they are uninsured. In this great and moral country one in six adults and one in five children lives in poverty and two in five black children live in poverty. The United States ranks last among major industrialized countries in infant mortality rates, and 34th among all countries, behind Cuba and Croatia. The last time the World Health Organization attempted to rank health care delivery was in 2000. The WHO ranked the United States 37th, well behind such health care power houses as Morocco and the Dominican Republic, and health care in the US has only become more expensive and less accessible since then.
The United States spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined. We’re also number one in the world in producing prisoners, far more than second place China. With 5% of the world’s population we have 25% of the world’s prison population. We incarcerate more of our youth than any other country. Our prison population has quadrupled since 1980.
We proudly stand with Somalia–which has no functioning government–as the only countries that have not signed the various international human rights treaties, including the land mine treaty. The US has not signed any of the treaties on control and distribution of toxic chemicals and of course never signed the Kyoto Treaty. The Republican Party is the only political party in the world that denies the looming catastrophe of global warming.
The United States has a greater income gap between its rich and poor than any other industrialized country in the world. The richest 400 people in our country have more wealth than the bottom 155 million. Speaking of Madame Defarge and the French Revolution, this is the kind of income disparity of which revolutions are born.
America has not arrived here by accident. It is the result of deliberate public policy much of it crafted in corporate board rooms and delivered carte blanche to the GOP. Virtually none of this was discussed during the Tea Party Presidential debate, of course. But if it had been, no doubt these statistics and this information would have yielded enthusiastic cheers of “Let them eat cake.”
America has a very real chance of being ruled by a corporatocracy/plutocracy whose bidding is done by the Tea Party, proud of their inhumanity, their lack of compassion, and their greed. The Tea Party last week certainly reminded us of a revolution–the one with a guillotine.
My wife, Shauna Moench, contributed to this post.
ABOUT Dr. Brian Moench
Dr. Brian Moench serves as President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment and is a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He can be reached at: drmoench@yahoo.com
Follow Dr. Brian Moench via RSSMake your voice heard.
Write for NationofChange
Write for NationofChange
14 comments on "Yes, the Tea Party is Revolting"
August 04, 2012 1:08pm
I find this blog revolting!
How you bunch everyone who does not agree with YOUR opinions, as Madame Defarge, is contemptuous!
I am not happy with either party. I believe we need another party. One run by WE the People! Both of the present parties are chock full of RICH people! The Elite! It is the Elite who are taking us over the cliff to destruction of this wonderful country! They have been using Marxist ideology on us, for about 50 or so years! And they DO NOT LISTEN TO WE THE PEOPLE!
Every time you use class warfare, or race warfare, you are falling for the Marxist agenda!
They are hoping for a revolution, so that they can have complete control of YOU.
To say that ALL Tea party members are of the same ilk..is ignorant!
Every person is an individual! Every person can make their own decisions...presently...maybe not in a couple of years, because our rights under the Constitution are being taken away every day, it seems, by the Elite, which IMHO are also Globalists!
I don't know if we are allowed to post a video link on here..so I will suggest that every American go to your search engine, and put in the name General "Jerry" Boykin and watch his videos. This man explains JUST what is happening in the USA. I have not finished his video presentation, so I do not know if he gives any suggestions on how to SAVE the USA...but he sure opened my eyes to WHY everything is happening, as it is today.
I agree with Dr Sparkles...Ron Paul would have saved this country, because he stood with the Constitution. NO one else seems to do so, in Congress!
We need to get away from the two parties. They are destroying us! WE need to think as individuals who CARE about others. But we do not need to give up our sovereignty to do so!
Let's not let the Marxists in this country take us back to the DARK ages! Let's not let them throw away our Constitution. Every nation in the world looked up to us because of our Constitution! Many copied it after major wars, when countries were defeated. And yet, now, we are throwing our Constitution in the toilet! Without it, we will be under a despot, a Marxist.
Marxism, and Communism, and Socialism have NEVER worked!
Look at the EU. It is failing! Why? Because Socialism does not work!
You can only take the hard earned money of a few, for so long, then there is no more money! Eventually those hard workers will get fed up and say..."Why should I work so hard, just to have the Government steal it from me, and give it to those who will NOT work?"
So those governments LET illegal aliens from all over the world enter their countries, in hopes that these individual will take up where the citizens left off. But soon they learn how to milk the taxpayer for everything they can..and then the countries are even worse off, with cultures which believe in killing, raping, child sex slavery and more! The country fails even further! Into utter Chaos. Then the Elite come in and take over...again! According to Saul Alinsky and Marx...They" NEVER let a crisis go to waste!" "Out of Chaos ...comes Order"...THEIR order!
We need to start over. WE need to remove everyone who has been elected into Congress, the Presidency, and remove the Justices and start over!!
Otherwise...we will fail!
Think about it!
sbwvukxf
November 25, 2011 11:51am
Yup, sounds about right to me.
September 27, 2011 10:57pm
What On Earth Shall We Do?
Too many republicans are anti-environment, Anti working class, Anti civil liberty, and Anti prosperity except for their own crony system.
Many are Anti this and Anti that.
They are ANTI YOU ! ! !
Democrats are bought and paid for.
The American vote is made mockery of through buying and selling of Congress, President, and others in high authority.
So What Shall We Do?
Join America’s swiftly spreading “Quiet Riot”.
The Quiet Riot is a concerted conduct suddenly practiced by the 99% of Americans who have been disparaged, disenfranchised, and otherwise left out in the cold through the systemic abuses of what has become socio-political facist-capitalism. It is 100% legal, moral, and unstoppable by that 1-4% of America’s wealthiest controlling class dynasties, along with all of their wealth and power.
Simply put, the Quiet Riot involves as many of the 95-99% disenfranchised who are willing to suddenly just say NO. NO to all forms of consumerism. NO to all forms of buying except for outright survival. NO to credit cards and consumer loans, and banking accounts. Close as many accounts as humanly possible. Refuse to use banks. Refuse to shop. Refuse to spend. Refuse to purchase. Refuse to buy. Cease utilizing home utilities except required by survival necessity. . . .
What does this do?
It literally collapses the entire infrastructure of the capitalist system – stocks, bonds, equity trades, etc. . . . upon which even many governments are entrenched, intertwined, and dependent. Better -- it crushes company's, corporations, banks, oil power brokers, ranchers . . . everything . . . and FAST ! ! !
It destroys the controlling class -- roots up, and puts them at the mercy of the 99% common class for their very economic and political survival!
It is 100% Legal Revolution that cost the 99% not one "RED" penny to execute. No one even need leave their home to horde back every dollar and cent from spending against the Capitalist-Anarchist-Facist hostile take-over of America.
You can join the common class re-capturing of our country and of our government by simply saying NO to spending starting right now. Do it for as little as one month, and keep watching the news -- and laugh as you witness the elites lose their seats!
August 04, 2012 1:15pm
Sorry to say, you live in La la land. You will never get enough people to do as you have written here. They just will not give up their luxuries. They will have to be taken from them.
And the Marxists have a plan to do just that. And it is happening today, as we write!
September 27, 2011 10:56pm
In Texas, a rhetorical political question was asked” If an injured 30 yr old American had no insurance, what should the medical system do for him? The unequivocal resounding response from present Republican Tea Party members hollered “LET HIM DIE” !
Congressman Alan Grayson was personally interviewed on the Ed Schultz show found on MSNBC.
ED SCHULTZ: Welcome back to The Ed Show.
At last night`s Republican debate, the Tea Party debate, there was a defining moment for the Tea Party and just who they are. It was when Congressman Ron Paul was asked who should pay health care coverage for an uninsured 30-year-old after a serious accident?
(Video Clip, with the audience shouting “let him die.”)
ED SCHULTZ: “Yes!” was the response from several audience members about whether society should let the man die. Not a single candidate -- it should be pointed out -- not a single candidate on the stage stepped forward to say it would be morally wrong to let another American die, by withholding medical care. And no one in the audience voiced any disapproval. Keep in mind this audience had no problem booing opposing viewpoints throughout the entire debate. It makes me think of something said on the House floor, nearly two years ago, by a Democratic congressman from Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAYSON: If you get sick in America, this is what the Republicans want you to do. If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That`s right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ED SCHULTZ: Congressman Alan Grayson was criticized by Republicans for those comments, but since then, the GOP still has not proposed any alternative health care plan. They just want to rip apart what they call “Obamacare.” And since Republicans continue to pander to the Tea Party base, they don`t have to. They just need to “let them die.”
The former congressman from Florida, who is running for that congressional seat again, Alan Grayson, joins us tonight here on The Ed Show. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. A couple of things -- first of all, what was your feeling when you were watching that debate last night? You saw the question. You saw the response. And you got the response from the crowd. What were you thinking?
GRAYSON: I thought their true colors were shining through. That`s what I thought. And you know, I`m often proven right, but usually not so vividly.
I have to say that this encapsulates exactly what people fear about the Tea Party, the so-called Tea Party, that they just love the taste of blood in their mouths. That`s what this seems to come down to. You know, they call themselves pro-life. But if you listened to them last night, it seemed like they were pro-death. I think it`s sad.
These are the facts. We have a country with 50 million people who can`t see a doctor when they`re sick. The Republicans, and the Tea Party people, seem to want to blame you if you have liver cancer, like it`s your fault. I think we can show a basic human decency toward other people without losing our own. I wonder about these way over conservative politicized people who seem to have lost their own.
You know, we`re 50th in the world now in life expectancy. Canadians live about two years longer. Japanese live about four years longer. And yet, we pay 30 percent more for capitalized health care than any other country in the entire world. Are you telling me we can`t do better than this?
ED SCHULTZ: Well, I was thinking last night that this may be the same line of thinking when the audience responded to the Texas execution question that was put to Governor Rick Perry last week. Is there a parallel between the reaction to that question and answer as the one we saw last night on health care?
GRAYSON: Yes. What the parallel is sadism. That what the parallel is: a total lack of empathy. You know, if you ever saw the movie "Blade Runner," the only way to tell the difference between the robots and human beings -- the only way, because technology was so advanced -- was that the robots had no empathy. It seems to me that`s a good description lately of what I hear from the Republican Tea Party. No empathy. They just don`t care.
ED SCHULTZ: Well, first of all, I`m surprised none of those candidates stepped up and took that answer last night because I thought it would have been an opportunity for them to distance themselves from the radicals. Does this mean that they`re all radical?
GRAYSON: Oh, absolutely. You know, they`re catering to the basest instinct in every one of us. And whatever you may say about President Obama, good or bad, he has never done that. Never once have I heard the President try to fear monger or push the panic button, which is such an easy thing to do when you`re an elected official. Never once have I heard him appeal to hatred or to fear. And these Republican Tea Party’s do that incessantly on the other side, nonstop. And they’ve got an audience for it, judging from what I heard.
ED SCHULTZ: 49,900,000 people in this country don`t have health insurance. And a doctor was on that stage last night pushing for “the free market.” I think we are a better country than that.
Congressman Alan Grayson, good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your joining us.
GRAYSON: Thank you, Ed.
August 04, 2012 1:18pm
Just the fact that you watch the Ed show tells it all.
Lies, lies, and more lies.
Ever heard of the statement..."Trust BUT Verify"?
September 27, 2011 12:41pm
It is possible to differ on atitudes of morality, bugt the lack of empathy in the USA is revolting. After 911, I heard the phrase "there by the graxe of God go I". I have not heard it since and did not hear it much before 911. People have an impossible time putting themselves in others shoes it seems. Before the government "coerced" doctors to provide medical care, people died in the street. In countries where no money= no medicaql care, people do die in the street. It is a fantasy that volunteerism will fill the gap. It never has completely. I would believe that If I went to see Dr Paul and had no m oney he might treat me for a life threatening condition. Enough for a world of 6+ billion or a country of 300 million, no. Look at the past, this has been tried.
September 26, 2011 10:29am
First of all, one can be empathetic and allow people to suffer. This author would likely call God non-empathetic if it served his political slant. Free will has its consequences.
Second, the "tea party" is hardly a unified bunch. At best, the tea party aligns itself against big government regulation and spending. Most of the candidates who claim membership conveniently ignore certain aspects of this agenda, particularly with regards to foreign policy and military spending and various edicts concerning moral conservatism (like states rights on medical cannabis, etc.) Of course, one candidate truly embodies the less government is better ideal - Ron Paul. And I heartily support his position that the primary function of government is to defend the liberty of its citizens.
If, We The People, truly ALLOWED ourselves to care for one another, I assert that those who believe government should force us to "care" for one another, would be happily surprised at just how empathetic we can be without the use of governmental force (backed by its inherent violence.)
Ron Paul vs Big Brother 2012
August 04, 2012 1:20pm
Good answer!
October 01, 2011 3:03am
Ron Paul is a crank. What liberty is he referring to? He belongs to a party that has been instrumental in destroying, on the altar of homeland security, what vestiges of liberty we once enjoyed.
Pat Roberts, Republican from Kansas, said during debates over the Patriot Act, "What good is freedom when you're dead?"
I would ask the same question of Paul and his ilk. What good is it to defend my liberty from some fantasy threat when I can't get a medical condition treated, put a roof over my head, put food in my mouth or clothes on my back?
The biggest threat to liberty in this country is, and has been for the last 30 years or more, conservative and libertarian public policy.
Your assertion that we would be "happily surprised" belies your inadequate history education. Perhaps you were a victim of Reagan's purge of history textbooks during the 80's. Or, perhaps you were educated in Texas. Otherwise, you'd know that volunteerism and charity have ALWAYS proven to be woefully inadequate, both in the U.S. and every other country foolish and naive enough to have relied on it. Evidently, the U.S. is the only country historically ignorant enough to advocate re-living that lesson.
November 09, 2011 6:15am
I suggest you pick up a copy of Dr. Paul's "Liberty Defined" before demonstrating a notable lack of understanding about him, the word "liberty" and its political movement (libertarianism). Ron Paul is a "Republican" (in the sense that constitutionally we live in a "republic" - not a "democracy), but he is not a neoconservative. In fact, based on overseas wars, drug wars, war on "terror", etc., Obama is arguably more neoconservative than Ron Paul.
Give liberty a chance. Learn more about libertarianism and its greatest champion of the Age, Ron Paul.
August 04, 2012 1:22pm
Amen! Too bad he is retiring!
September 23, 2011 7:16pm
These are true facts. I have heard several conservative say that they hardly recognize their own party anymore. It has moved so far.
These facts here make most Americans cringe and feel ashamed.
Our great Nation used to stand for Fair-play, trustworthiness, honor and courage. American was not the xenophobic , fearful, jingoistic place it is coming to be now. Where is the integrity, the take care of our own, the home of the best highways, the best schools, hospitals and bridges?
Where did a true sense of right and wrong, true morality, do for others as you would have others treat you, root for the underdog, the hope for the downtrodden land we used to be?
I think you must have spelt Perry as Parry because of the Colbert report?