The Tea Party is Sleeping With the Enemy

It’s fairly obvious to most thinking Americans that the philosophy of the Tea Party is inimical to American interests. Bill Maher demonstrated the other day for anyone who retains an open mind why the Tea Party does not represent us or our values. And while the Tea Party claims to BE us, and some of its candidates claim to BE us, to in some way represent real Americans who want their country back, the polls demonstrate the complete opposite.

Most Americans, for example, are outraged with BP. Even some Republicans look at the petroleum giant with abhorrence. What they did to the Gulf Coast waters, ecology, environment, and tourism, is beyond the pale, and they did it with such casual indifference, and then tried to act like the fund President Obama forced them to put aside was their idea.

But if Americans detest BP and what it has done, why is Jim DeMint, Tea Party favorite, sleeping with them?

Yes, Jim DeMint. According to a report published today in the Guardian,

An analysis of campaign finance by Climate Action Network Europe (Cane) found nearly 80% of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were directed toward senators who blocked action on climate change. These included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma.

Most Americans, I think, do not like the idea of corporate money influencing American elections, but the Tea Party exists on corporate money. Corporate money got the Tea Party off the ground. And foreign money is beyond the pale. Yet the Tea Party embraces foreign money as well:

The report, released tomorrow, used information on the Open Secrets.org database to track what it called a co-ordinated attempt by some of Europe’s biggest polluters to influence the US midterms. It said: “The European companies are funding almost exclusively Senate candidates who have been outspoken in their opposition to comprehensive climate policy in the US and candidates who actively deny the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is caused by people.”

We know this is going on. President Obama said in California on Friday night, “Oil companies and the other special interests are spending millions on a campaign to gut clean-air standards and clean-energy standards, jeopardizing the health and prosperity of this state.”

Of course, the Republican response to Democratic whistle-blowing (call it just plain telling the truth) is, “How dare you?” Yes, how dare you tell the truth? How dare you?

Think about that while you sip your morning coffee.

Politics are not known for their honesty, but seriously…is this what we want to hear from a major political party for a campaign slogan? “How dare you tell the truth?”

It’s a disturbing situation as the Guardian goes on to report. We are all familiar with the Koch brothers, of course:

The Cane report said the companies, including BP, BASF, Bayer and Solvay, which are some of Europe’s biggest emitters, had collectively donated $240,200 to senators who blocked action on global warming – more even than the $217,000 the oil billionaires and Tea Party bankrollers, David and Charles Koch, have donated to Senate campaigns.

The threat here to American democracy is real and cannot be overstated. The only people who should be saying “How dare you?” are Democrats and Independents, who are preparing to go to their voting places facing the specter of a foreign takeover, the destruction of the nation our ancestors spilled so much blood to build. The Republicans and the Tea Party are treating our government like a corporation folks, and they are preparing for a corporate takeover. And don’t think for a minute while they’re taking away your pensions and your social security that they won’t have golden parachutes of their own.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.