Some flaws can be self destructive. Stubbornness is one of them. And stupid people are usually stubborn. As I watch the ripples from the Tea Party’s inglorious splash spread across America, I see the beginning of the end for the movement – amid a lot of collateral damage to the Republicans, who embraced the tea baggers, and the country they profess so loudly to love.
These vindictive, stupid, stubborn people have cowed Republican politicians into a state of abject subservience. The result is the worst slate of presidential candidates any party has fielded in my 33 years in America. These pathetic souls spout such mischievous nonsense that it has become unbearable to listen to their “debates.”
Meanwhile, across America the “reformers” the tea baggers elected in 2010 are passing laws that boggle the mind. They are portraying the Republican Party as a union-busting, heartless, scheming gang that exists to further enrich the rich at the expense of the general population.
One of their targets is “illegal immigration.”
Instead of addressing this complex issue in a thoughtful and compassionate manner, they have taken a bull-in-a-china-shop approach.
Republican-controlled legislatures have passed harsh laws to drive away undocumented workers. And they are beginning to discover the unintended consequences of their vindictiveness.
The state of Georgia lost an estimated $75 million in agricultural production when the Hispanic workers who picked their peaches and other produce vanished. And in Alabama, farmers are watching their crops rot in the fields while poultry plant operators struggle to find workers.
The lesson America is learning is that mindless ignoramuses must not be allowed to decide the nation’s policies.
Already, polls show the Tea Party has fallen into disrepute.
The decline of the movement is certain. The question is how much harm will be done before the politicians realize it.
