The Mean Streets of the Republican Tea Party

A means to an end is a tool, device, or strategy used to achieve a certain goal. We often hear the phrase "the end justifies the means" for example. But what if the means to the end are just plain mean?

Take for example the Republican Tea Party's efforts to stop healthcare reform. Here we have a group of people proclaiming to adhere to "Christian values," who continuously display hatred, disrespect, and general downright meanness to those less fortunate -- over and over again.

What is it about the Republican Tea Party members that they can't remain true to their Christian beliefs? Take a look at this video of Republican Tea Partiers at a recent rally in Ohio taunting and humiliating a man with Parkinson's disease who's sitting on the ground holding a pro-healthcare sign. The man is suffering from a tragic disease, one that robs a person of his ability to walk, talk, and take care of basic human functions such as eating, urinating and moving one's bowels. The poor man is probably on the ground because his legs can no longer support him. That's one of the symptoms of the disease, and as you'll see in the video the healthy Republican Tea Party protesters have no care or consideration for this man's condition. Instead, they point their fingers at him and tell him nothing comes for free.

No one offers a word of support. No one asks the man about his condition, about what his healthcare needs might be, or whether he even has insurance. No one asks if he is a Veteran. No one extends a hand to offer comfort. No one asks if he's hungry or would like a glass of water. No one asks if there's anything they can do to help a poor man sitting on the street stricken with a tragic and deadly disease.

Not a single Christian value was displayed by the Republican Tea Party members at that rally. And these are the people that expect us to start over on the healthcare bill and adopt their party's policies. What will their policies be? Taunting and humiliation of the sick and uninsured?

My father died from Advanced Parkinson's disease, so I am intimately familiar with what that man at the rally and his family will eventually have to face. Sadly, some of those same protesters will likely face a similar tragedy one day because either they or someone they love will contract the disease. For their sake, I hope they never have to suffer what that man on the street suffers. I hope they don't have to endure the humiliation of people throwing five-dollar bills in their faces.

The common belief about Parkinson's disease is that it makes you shake and have tremors. But there is another set of symptoms that lead to a stiffening of the body and a loss of cognitive abilities. A person with Parkinson's disease will eventually be unable to swallow solids or liquids because the trachea becomes paralyzed, and when he attempts to eat or drink, the substance winds up going into his lungs instead of his stomach. This causes him to aspirate and choke and get pneumonia from the fluids entering his lungs. So they place a tube directly into his stomach to make sure he gets the nutrients to keep him hydrated, fed, and nourished. The indignity is unbearable.

The disease paralyzes the body and mind. It has no cure and ends in a slow and painful death. Family members are left with the difficult decision of whether to continue their loved one's tragic existence, or to remove the tube and watch him slowly fade away and die. This is not how you want to see your father's life end. But that is the reality of Parkinson's disease.

Fortunately for my father, he had his loving wife and children around him to help make this decision. And for fifteen days he was surrounded with good care and words of love, until he finally succumbed to the disease. Unfortunately for the man in the street at the rally, he has Republican Tea Party members surrounding him, with their version of Christian "love," "compassion," and "sympathy."

"On this side of town you don't get anything for free," screams one man, pointing a finger. "You have to work for it!" Another tea-partier throws a five-dollar bill at the man's face and yells derisively, "I'll pay for this guy. Start a pot!" Then, as if that isn't enough indignity, he throws another bill. He steps back and stands tall, puffs out his chest; proud of the humiliation he inflicted on the man with Parkinson's sitting silently at his feet.

Meanness is not a human value. Meanness is not a Christian value. But meanness is evidently a Republican Tea Party value, and evidently meanness is their means to an end. The end that justifies the taunting and humiliation of a man with Parkinson's sitting on the street.

Heaven help us.

They want to lead our nation.

March 25 Update:
Here is an update to this article regarding the Republican Tea Party members humiliating a man with Parkinson's disease. Apparently the money thrower in the video had a change of heart and now feels terrible about his actions. Read the article here: Columbus Dispatch

It is not possible to know what is in this man's heart. Is he apologetic because he got caught? Or, is he genuinely sorry for his terrible behavior? I don't know, but I am pleased to see he has been found and exposed. Now we need to find the other prominent man in the video and make him explain his behavior. If he can.

First Time Out

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Are you ready for the Sarah Palin show at the Tea Party convention tonight? I will watch with interest, as this is a fascinating slice of political life in America. Here we have a group of patriotic Americans that sat on their hands during the entire Bush administration, now erupting with outrage at the goings on in their government. After the Patriot Act, after the coverup and marketing of the Pat Tillman killing, after the marketing of the capture and rescue of Jessica Lynch, after VP Dick Cheney told the American people that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, after the incompetence of the response to Katrina....shall I go on....okay, after record deficits, after record spending, after nominating Harriet Meirs to the Supreme Court, after a near collapse of the economy, after a three page response by the Treasury Secretary to the near collapse of the economy....shall I go on? Okay, after Alberto Gonzalez...okay, okay I give up....Let me get to the point. After all of these failures and lies and incompetence, the Tea Party forms in April 2009 and a group of Americans decides they've had enough and want to take their government back. Where were they in 2005? 2006? 2007? 2008? Let me tell you where they were and why they stayed hidden until now.

The American people have always been a NIMBY type of society. Keep the problems on the other side of town and we'll be fine. Put the garbage dump over there, not here. As long as the train runs through the poor section of town, fine, but don't put those tracks within my earshot or there will be hell to pay. But when it comes to a MIMBY, or Minority In My Back Yard, it is a different story. In a MIMBY situation many Americans responded by selling everything and moving to the suburbs. Sadly, for others the response was to surround the new neighbor's house with pointy white hoods and torches and drive the problem out of the neighborhood.

So am I saying the The Tea Party is the equivalent of the KKK? No, I'm not. Tea Party members are smarter than that, so they would never admit to straight up racism and hatred and the obvious dismissal of their cause. But don't you find it interesting that the first time an African American moves into the "people's house," the neighbors surround it with white tea bags and threaten to "take our government back?" Or they claim that President Obama is a Socialist, Marxist, Hitler and baby killer? Why now? Why not two years ago?

So what do you make of the Tea Party?

If the Tea Party was about loss of confidence in government, budget deficits, tax policy, spending or health care it would have formed on April 15, 2007, when there was clear evidence that the economy was on a downward spiral and the government had no plan or response. Isn' t that the time to form a Tea Party and revolt against the government's inability to work effectively on behalf of the American people?

In my opinion this is an issue of race, and the inability for some Americans to accept an African American as the leader of our country. There is an African American in the neighborhood and it's time to revolt, with the excuse that somehow the government is no longer representing the people. All the other stuff is cover for a MIMBY attitude that has taken shape in the form of the Tea Party.

So the Tea Party will surround Sarah Palin tonight and worship her brand of political activism. And the pundits will question whether this is a serious political movement or a fad. My belief is we better get used to the Tea Party, and count on the MIMBY phenomenon to be active and vigorous for the next three years, at least.