The con artists that used the fear and ignorance of the Tea Party following minions to make millions of dollars on books, shows, conventions, and rallies are scrambling for the next issues ripe for exploitation. The immigration issue is losing traction. The fear of Obamacare is losing traction as more and more middle class Americans see the actual benefits. They have attempted to jump on the gun control issue. This may now be falling apart as the share violence America saw inflicted on its most innocent overtake the absolutist position of absolutely no gun regulations.
Sarah Palin’s contract with Fox News was not renewed. Bobby Jindal in what would normally be a Tea Party friendly crowed, said the party needs to stop being the Stupid Party and start speaking like adults. MSNBC Joe Scarborough, a staunch conservative has excoriated the party by claiming that Republicans cheated themselves to a house majority and is a party in decline. Republican Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman says the party is devoid of a soul, fear based, with no belief in math. General Colin Powell went on NBC’s Meet The Press and said the party has a dark vein of intolerance among other very harsh criticisms.
The above are words no Republican would utter even a year ago. As the American population has begun to awaken to the misinformation and outright lies of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, the voices that were too timid or cowardly to speak out will now not shut up. It is like an awakening out of the McCarthy era.
America is a resilient nation. Unfortunately there are times in its history when some would use fear of the unknown or a crisis to either do good (WWII, Moon Landing) or bad (Red Scare, Tea Party’s short reign).
Sadly the short reign of the Tea Party has inflicted material harm to the country. The obstructionism they created stalled the recovery by not allowing the institution of real proven Keynesian stimuli. They forced the continuation of tax policies that incentivizes the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy. Some remnants of this destructive movement remain in the House and Senate, which means progress and recovery from their ill doings will be slow.
The 2012 election made much immediately evident. It showed that Americans are engaging more. They did not accept the misinformation that the mainstream media had given plausibility. They did not allow attempts of voter suppression to inhibit their democratic rights they fought for. They realized that a democracy requires engagement.
The Tea Party is dead. Good riddance.
