Our Political Parties - III

The Brand New Party

This piece of rudeness was more than Alice could bear: she got up in great disgust, and walked off; the Dormouse fell asleep instantly, and neither of the others took the least notice of her going, though she looked back once or twice, half hoping that they would call after her: the last time she saw them, they were trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot. –Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), 1832-1898

What a bizarre phenomenon is the Tea Party. It seemed to spring forth, like a toe fungus, in 2008 – coincidently an election year. There is no national headquarters of this organization: every chapter – indeed, every member – seems to be autonomous. Although the message is obscure, the common themes seem to be concern over the national debt and deficit, support for the Constitution, opposition to waste, fraud, and abuse, and a preference for smaller government.

It sounds like just what the Republican Party needs, doesn’t it? At first glance it seems to be an association of fiscal conservatives, a constituency who have found the GOP disappointing in recent years. Perhaps it could be the vessel of retribution for the profligate wealthy, or at least a balance to their astonishing excesses.

But look closer. They all seem to be White folks, generally older White folks, and they all seem to be very mad about something. Surely it is the wild-eyed fiscal insanity of recent years, when stockbrokers and bankers, abetted by free-market legislators who had systematically dismantled long-standing regulations of their industries, went berserk and almost took us into worldwide depression.

Well, no. These people are mad, but not about that.

A group of Teabags actually held a rally in the town nearest to mine last year. I happened to drive by just as it was winding down. I saw that several people were displaying signs, but I could only read one as I passed. It said, “Forget Your Dogs and Cats – Spay and Neuter Your Liberty!” I have no clue what that was supposed to mean, but I’m sure it was heartfelt. It’s typical of the disparate and convoluted messages of the Tea Party.

Look yet closer and you’ll see something else: a tendency to blame Barak Obama for our economic ills. Many of the Teabags profess to be particularly angry at Obama’s bailout of the banks.

Uh, well, uh, that happened a couple of months before Mr. Obama took office, didn’t it?

Shh! Don’t confuse them.

I think the real cause of their anger is Barak Obama himself. He’s a Muslim and he wasn’t born in this country and, well… dammit, he’s Black!

Oh, shoot. We’re back to the xenophobes again.

Nonetheless, Tea Party wingnuts won some primaries last year, and a few of them made it through the general election. GOP establishment types lauded and kowtowed the movement (and provided some generous funding for it), but there’s mutual suspicion between the two groups. They do seem to be in unison, though, when they disparage the President and those who support him.

So, no. This is not a group of fiscal conservatives. Their support of the Constitution is also limited. The distillation of their message seems to me to be that if George Bush, Jr. did it, it was just fine, and if Barak Obama did it, it’s unconstitutional.

I am a Democrat, as should be quite obvious by now, but I really believe we need a healthy Republican Party, or at least a healthy second party. But while bigotry and corporate idolatry may have gotten the GOP a slug of new seats in Congress, those seats are by no means safe. How the Republicans act in the next few months will determine whether the pendulum swings back at the next election, and if it does, the party will find it difficult to regain its present strength.

The Republicans have taken over the House of Representatives, and now they will be responsible for its success or failure. They are in their third day in the majority. They have read the Constitution aloud, promised to repeal the health care act, decided that tax cuts are not subject to “paygo” restrictions, and threatened to shut down the government when it reaches its current credit limit in just a couple of months. The rhetoric is flowing and they claim the November election gave them a breathtaking mandate to do these things. We’ll see.

Perhaps they should have followed the lead of the new Senate, where on the first day a number of Democratic members proposed changes in the Senate rules that would reduce the mind-numbing inaction and institutionalized logjams that have plagued it in recent years. After this heartening display, the Senate recessed (as opposed to adjourning, so that the first day would continue when it reconvenes) until the next day – which it determined will be on January 25th.

The House may get into a lot of trouble before then, but the Senate won’t be making any blunders at all. As the senators left town they looked back at the House, which was trying to put the Dormouse into the teapot.