Tea Party: America’s extremists
If the Tea Party keeps damaging the trust of investors, they will notice their corporate funding starting to dwindle.
The writer has a master’s degree in conflict-resolution from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California and blogs at http://coffeeshopdiplomat.wordpress.com
The US government was just held hostage for 16 days by a fanatical group known as the Tea Party. Members of this group refer to themselves as the ‘real Americans’ and are supposedly fighting the rising threat, according to them, of Islam, communism and a better healthcare system in the US.
After it was passed by both Houses in the US Congress, the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) was signed into law by President Barack Obama and deemed constitutional by the US Supreme Court. Despite the fact that Obama won the election and campaigned on improving the healthcare system, the minority Tea Party has taken it upon themselves to defund the bill and deny affordable health care to millions of uninsured Americans. Their determination to kill the health care law before it goes into full effect led to the recent shutdown.
Extremist groups in Pakistan are funded by other Muslim nations, whereas mega corporations are the funding source of this radical group in the US. The Tea Party is sold off as a grassroots movement, but it was actually created by tycoons. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the industrialist Koch brothers continue to bankroll the group. These owners of multinational corporations want to remove all government regulations in order to maximise profits, without concern for the general populace or the environment. Their aims include shutting government agencies such as the education department and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The new health care law, which forces them to provide health care to all full-time employees, just might cut into the Koch brothers’ billion-dollar profits.
Members of the Tea Party are mostly fundamentalist conservatives, who harbour a belief that the US was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. They have extreme positions on issues which are widely agreed upon by the majority of Americans. Some actually believe vaccinations cause mental retardation. Hence, they have convinced themselves that they are doing God’s work by obstructing the new health plan.
The Tea Party Republicans have now damaged investors’ trust in the US government in their effort to deny affordable coverage to citizens. By ignoring the principle of majority rule, this group has shown an ability to disrupt routine procedures and erode confidence. If this keeps up, the Tea Party may notice their corporate funding sources beginning to dwindle. One prominent business lobbyist, Dirk Van Dongen, has already been quoted as saying: “I don’t know of anybody in the business community who takes the side of the Taliban minority.” President Obama has come out on top of this fight by refusing to negotiate with domestic terrorists, which raises a question: why does his administration continue to pursue negotiations with terrorist groups which are active within Pakistan and Afghanistan? He would be wise to learn from this recent political victory and apply those lessons to foreign policy decisions.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2013.
After it was passed by both Houses in the US Congress, the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) was signed into law by President Barack Obama and deemed constitutional by the US Supreme Court. Despite the fact that Obama won the election and campaigned on improving the healthcare system, the minority Tea Party has taken it upon themselves to defund the bill and deny affordable health care to millions of uninsured Americans. Their determination to kill the health care law before it goes into full effect led to the recent shutdown.
Extremist groups in Pakistan are funded by other Muslim nations, whereas mega corporations are the funding source of this radical group in the US. The Tea Party is sold off as a grassroots movement, but it was actually created by tycoons. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the industrialist Koch brothers continue to bankroll the group. These owners of multinational corporations want to remove all government regulations in order to maximise profits, without concern for the general populace or the environment. Their aims include shutting government agencies such as the education department and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The new health care law, which forces them to provide health care to all full-time employees, just might cut into the Koch brothers’ billion-dollar profits.
Members of the Tea Party are mostly fundamentalist conservatives, who harbour a belief that the US was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. They have extreme positions on issues which are widely agreed upon by the majority of Americans. Some actually believe vaccinations cause mental retardation. Hence, they have convinced themselves that they are doing God’s work by obstructing the new health plan.
The Tea Party Republicans have now damaged investors’ trust in the US government in their effort to deny affordable coverage to citizens. By ignoring the principle of majority rule, this group has shown an ability to disrupt routine procedures and erode confidence. If this keeps up, the Tea Party may notice their corporate funding sources beginning to dwindle. One prominent business lobbyist, Dirk Van Dongen, has already been quoted as saying: “I don’t know of anybody in the business community who takes the side of the Taliban minority.” President Obama has come out on top of this fight by refusing to negotiate with domestic terrorists, which raises a question: why does his administration continue to pursue negotiations with terrorist groups which are active within Pakistan and Afghanistan? He would be wise to learn from this recent political victory and apply those lessons to foreign policy decisions.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2013.