Editor-In-Chief
HARLINGEN, Texas - When they arrived for their march on the nation's capital this past summer, members of the so-called Tea Party did their best to express their anger in stupid posters and signs (see photo above) that did little to bring them credibility. On the contrary, their petulance intially brought a slew of unqualified candidates and then ridicule. Today is their Waterloo.
If they're not handcuffing and detaining reporters, as happened in Alaska, they're knocking down and kicking those who protest them, or they're saying absurdities that belong in a high school election or in some country where brains are not part of the process. Will the party last beyond this election?
The odds - and history - say no.
Twenty years ago, it was Ross Perot's Reform Party that captured similar far-right Republican sentiments. And the Reform Party did shake the voter trees to the point that it cost Papa Bush (George H.W. Bush, the dad) the White House, when Reformers took many votes from him, allowing Democrat Bill Clinton to win in 1992. Heard anything about the well-financed Reform Party lately? Of course not, it's gone. So will be the Tea Party.
America knows these third parties as gatherings of a small amount of goofy, usually unemployed citizens uninterested in doing anything for the entire country. The Tea Party's musings are not for all Americans. And that is why it will not survive any length of time. A big part of the reason is that in our strong, two-party system, the Democrats and the Republicans are very much alike. They share more in common than they do not, in other words. Fringe groups such as the Tea Party separate themselves so much from the GOP and the Dems that a national sway will never follow them. You keep Blacks out and you're not inclusive. You keep Hispanics out and ditto. All you have to do is listen. Listen and you shall hear the midnight madness of Tea Party candidates who openly blame America's problems solely on immigrants, on Blacks, on Hispanics, on Asians, on government programs, on the president, on foreigners, on everything & everybody but themselves.
Are they Americans?
By nationality, they are, but the Tea Party's philosophy seems to apply only to a certain sector of the nation: the Sarah Palins, the Carl Paladino's, the Sharron Angles, the Christine O'Donnells. See the pattern?
It's mildly hilarious, like an audible fart at a crucial moment in lovemaking, I imagine.
But, then, most Americans share very little with the die-hard, racist Teabaggers. And the only salvation is that the obvious now comes due for them - the end of the silly flirtation. Oh, perhaps one or two will win today. But, really, win what, a seat at the country's already-entrenched political table? Perhaps it never did dawn on them that they'd be serving alongside a huge number of Democrats and Republicans who would never, ever align with their retarded approach to public service.
Carl "Porno Freak" Paladino in New York?
Sharron "No Abortions for Rape" Angle in Nevada?
Christine "I'm not a Witch" O'Donnell in Delaware?
The mother hen Sarah Palin in Alaska?
Uh, no. The noisy Reform Party postured billionaire Ross Perot in 1992 and he did not even come close to defeating the less-wealthy Bill Clinton. All he did was take votes the elder Bush needed, but never received. America is not Mexico, where fringe parties surface every other year and gain some place in that country's Congress. It seems we're a bit more sophisticated, although, because of who and what we are, we allow anybody to paste a name alongside his/her candidadcy and make perhaps too much noise...
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4 comments:
That picture looks like the crowd that was defending Curtis Bonner the day Robert L. gave him the boot. Yep, redneck city usa, harlingen texas.
Alcatraz, you are a wordly man, where did you take that picture?? It has to be in the East somewhere, Conn. maybe.
ANONYMOUSES:...What I find especially despicable about the picture atop this story is the inclusion of children in the spreading the hate. But that, sadly, is the Tea Party. As for the picture of Alcatraz, well, it was taken outside the spectacular public library in New York... - Editor
On a positive note, at least they're not hiding their faces behind pointy-headed klan masks.
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