Neanderthals

by Dennis Green

Matt Taibi, one of the finest political analysts at work in America today, has a new article in Rolling Stone about the Tea Party which is hilarious and insightful: “The Truth About the Tea Party.” Early on, he sums up his findings after spending many weeks among them: “They are full of shit.” I love the candidness of Journalism 2.0.

Taibi focuses on Rand Paul, M.D., the son of Libertarian Party candidate for President in 2008, Ron Paul, a very sincere, if whacko, Texas politico. Rand was rigorously opposed to big government and all government spending until a bill came up to limit funding to physicians by Medicare. Suddenly, this M.D. turned politician was all in favor of government spending. And that was just his first change of mind.

Tea Party candidates who have made it past the primaries are demonstrating their stunning lack of knowledge about even the things they swear are dear to them. Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine “I Am NOT A Witch” O’Donnell recently asked, “You mean the separation of church and state is really in the Constitution?” Duh. When asked, after saying she opposed Supreme Court activist decisions, which decisions she opposed, she couldn’t think of any. Three days later, she pleaded, “Well, I’m in complete agreement with this Court, because it’s so conservative.” Right, Christine.

Other Neanderthals endorsed by the Tea Party believe that the earth is only 6,000 years old, in keeping with Creationist theory. If America is behind the advanced world in science and math, these folks are not going to help us catch up!

The Colorado Neanderthal has claimed that “Being gay is a choice,” (as if there’s anything wrong with being gay…), and that people who choose to be gay will recruit others they come into contact with, (the “Gay Agenda”), and that therefore they should not be allowed to marry, adopt, teach or even run for office, as they might turn the entire Congress gay. (As if they’re not pretty happy already!)

In the many Tea Party rallies Taibi attended, he saw no black people at all, and almost no one under 50. Most of the people attending these rallies, in fact, were past retirement age, and when he asked them, most admitted they were collecting Social Security and on Medicare. Yet they railed against government spending and government programs of any kind.

A surprising number, Taibi writes, were in those little motorized wheelchairs, and all of them admitted they got Medicare to pay for them by gaming the system.

Personally, I was intrigued for awhile by the Libertarian philosophy, especially Ron Paul’s. He is opposed to war, to the criminalization of drugs, to any government interference in our lives. Including sexual orientations, and any ban on gay marriage. He still is. But I soon discovered just how contrary and contradictory his son and the other Tea Party Neanderthals really are.

Once he won the nomination of the Republican Party, Taibi writes, Rand soon abandoned most of his Libertarian views and positions, just as he did his opposition to government spending except when it comes to cashing those Medicare checks. I only hope the college graduates of America feel the same way I do, and get to the polls this year in larger numbers than ever.

America is at a crossroads. We can descend into the conservative abyss Great Britain did in the 1980s when its empire finally collapsed, or we can renew ourselves as other great powers exhausted by warfare have finally done. China’s renewal can be an inspiration, not just a threat. But if we let the Neanderthals take over, we will never know greatness again.

©2010 Dennis Green