T.P.

How on earth did the Tea Party ever convince America that they are conservative? Named for an act of terrorism in which the merchandise of private businesses was destroyed, they remain true to the heritage of radical destruction. The TP calls itself patriotic and conservative, but if you listen to what they say, you quickly understand that they are actually radical anarchists, bent on destruction of the United States. They talk about “taking back” our democratically elected government. And they’re proud of having the guns to do it.

The US tax rate is as low as it has ever been since World War II, yet they complain about taxation. Guess what? Those taxes build and maintain the highways used to carry the merchandise of their much-loved private enterprise. The government also maintains the air traffic system for their precious private-enterprise airlines. Without the government bailout – soon to be completely repaid – we’d have no private-enterprise auto industry left in this country. And the free-market drug companies? They would go out of business without federal funding for basic research – which those drug companies use without paying back the taxpayers a dollar. The TP radical anti-social agenda, if carried out, would actually mean the destruction of the private enterprise system in the United States.

Who do they imagine is going to test drugs to see that they are not harmful and food to see that it isn’t contaminated? Who is going to respond if there’s a fire in one of their free-market offices or factories? And who, exactly, do they intend to pay for the private-practice doctor and the for-profit hospital when they have a child born with a genetic disease and have repealed the health care reform that requires the private-industry insurance company they’ve been paying for years to cover their child? Oh, yes, the public and non-profit hospitals that are required to treat everyone for free – except without the government to require that and to pay for it, they won’t be available, either. And, without the good jobs that are available because our government supports our infrastructure, they won’t be able to pay for it, themselves, either.

The TP wants good roads and fire departments, but doesn’t want to pay a cent for them. There’s a word for taking something you don’t pay for – it’s stealing. Oh, but who cares? Without government, after all, there are no laws and courts. That’s not conservatism. That’s radical anarchism and that’s what the Tea Party stands for.