Wherever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.
- Thomas Jefferson
We oppose the teaching of higher order thinking skills, critical thinking, and similar programs.
- Texas Republican Party platform
Americans have never been renowned for their collective intellectual agility or the ability/willingness to compare and contrast competing points of view. The sad reality is that, taken as a whole, we’re a pretty dumb, ill-informed lot. We’re far more likely to make decisions based on emotion instead of reason…which means that America is fertile ground for reactionary, anti-intellectual, and arguably racists movements like the Tea Party.
I’m not going to argue that there aren’t well-informed and intellectually honest members of the Tea Party, nor am I about to posit that the Tea Party is an invalid and/or meaningless movement. In a democracy, a loyal opposition is a necessity and should be welcomed. That said, it shouldn’t be too much to expect that loyal opposition to be reasonable, lucid, well-informed, and willing to stick to issues instead of focusing on pointless, mean-spirited (and often disgustingly racist) personal attacks. This is my argument with the Tea Party. Instead of addressing the issues in a rational manner, they’ve chose to assume an “I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!!” demeanor. Instead of rallies that take issue with President Obama on a factual, well-informed basis, we get angry White Males screaming “SOCIALISM!!” We get “birthers,” who despite all the evidence demonstrating that the President was born in America, have shown themselves immune to facts. Screaming irrationally is hardly an effective means of convincing people to see come over to your way of thinking.
If you’re about to take issue with me, allow me to ask one very simple question:
If President Obama was White, do you really think the Sturm un Drang over his birth certificate would be an issue? If you’re going to argue, “Yes, of course!”…well, you have issues beyond anything I can be of assistance with. The more the Tea Party insists it’s not about race, the more it becomes clear that it’s ALL about the President’s race and the reality that some folks just can’t stomach the idea of a Black man in the White House.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Unfortunately for the Tea Party, the faces and voices America is exposed are those of ignorant, ill-informed, angry Whites. They’re the ones likely to believe that the President’s a Muslim. They’re the ones likely to scream, “I BUILT THAT!!,” while completing ignoring the sizable and vital role government at all levels play in helping businesses succeed. They’re the ones likely to be completely ignorant of and unwilling to acknowledge the social contract. They’re the ones likely to believe that COMPASSION = WEAKNESS = SOCIALISM. I could go on, but you get my point, right? Ignorant, xenophobic, angry, and devoid of compassion…THAT’S the vision the Tea Party believes will move America forward?
I realize this sounds harsh and judgmental, and while that isn’t my goal, sometimes you just have to call something what it is. The Tea Party represents the segment of Right-wing America that doesn’t recognize the value of tolerance, education, or truth. They worship Rush Limbaugh, they’re fueled by hate and anger, and they’re immune to facts or reason…unfortunately for the rest of us, they vote. Over the past two years, Tea Party-supported Congressmen have proven that they care more for obstruction and inflexibility than they do about do what’s best for America. When you equate compromise with weakness, and when your idea of political discourse is pandering to the lowest common denominator, you have no business occupying a seat in Congress.
We live in a time that presents America with some very real and significant challenges, and yet we seem completely incapable of honestly and realistically addressing those challenges. To say that this doesn’t bode well for our future would be a significant understatement. We may not notice anything today, but the decline will soon become both gradual and inexorable…and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.
Say hello to our new idiocracy….
