The tea party is arguably the most unpatriotic movement the United States has seen in the last century. Radicals such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and our very own Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) shut our government down over an immature, petty disagreement. And for what? To stop the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which is already bringing a countless number of Americans access to affordable, critical medical care.
Let me make myself clear. I don’t take issue with mainstream, intellectual Republicans. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is a great example. McCain is pragmatic, thoughtful and willing to extend a hand to work with Democrats on a variety of issues. He puts his country first. On the other hand, we have folks like Cruz and Nunnelee who shamelessly grandstand and obstruct any item on President Obama’s agenda. Don’t be fooled for a second; the tea party caucus wanted the government shutdown. They actually thought they could get something out of it. But they were wrong.
Instead of achieving any of their shutdown goals, like defunding the Affordable Care Act, the tea party caucus smacked American taxpayers with a $24 billion bill. Billions of dollars were wasted on a teenage temper tantrum caused by the small minority in the House of Representatives. Never before have these types of tactics been used, and the American people deserve better. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stated, plenty of Democrats opposed the war in Iraq. But never did they use the budget as a bargaining chip for political purposes.
I applaud congressional Democrats for refusing to tolerate this type of behavior. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called out the tea party “anarchy gang” for refusing to compromise with Senate Democrats in passing a budget that would have kept the government open. Since April, the Senate had asked the House to conference on a budget 18 times, and the House Republicans refused. So whose fault is the shutdown? It surely was not the fault of Senate Democrats or our president.
Not only did the hostage-taking tactics of the tea party strike me as unprecedented, but so did their rhetoric and demeanor throughout the entire shutdown showdown. It’s as if they live in an alternate reality — a fact-free zone. The vague attacks on government growth and “big government” under the Obama administration are pathetic and disingenuous. Government spending would not be nearly as high had he not taken office in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Austerity measures and draconian budget cuts do not create jobs, they create poverty. Besides, the legislation the Republicans are trying to defund is deficit-neutral, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In addition to their fact-free tirades, blaming President Obama for the shutdown, conservative protests were rampant with racism and bigotry. One wise protester suggested that the president “bows down to Allah” and needs to “put the Quran down.” Another suggested Obama was the president of “his people” instead of “the people.” The crowd suggested that the police looked “like something out of Kenya.” Worst of all, one tea partier had the gall to wave the Confederate flag in front of the White House, the home of the first black president and his family. Where were the Confederate flag-waving protesters when President Bush was spending trillions of dollars in Iraq? Oh yeah, he was white.
The tea party is rooting for America to fail under President Obama solely to prove a point. They’re rooting for the Affordable Care Act to fail. This radical, irresponsible movement almost brought the United States government to its knees with the shutdown and our close call with a default on our debt. The tea party is everything but patriotic. As President Obama said, hardworking middle-class families are rooting for success because their lives depend on it. It’s time for the tea party to stop obstructing progress; elections have consequences, and that’s a lesson they need to learn.
Sean Higgins is a junior political science major from Brookings, S.D.
