The Alamo

　

The Tea Party. Who are they? Well, you can recognize them easiest on the street because they will have a gun strapped to their belt. These Tea party zealots are also the "2nd Amendment solution" people. And when a Tea Partier says they will exert their 2nd Amendment solution they mean that if things don't work out for them by democratic process, in other words if by voting they do not get their way, they will take their guns out and force the world to comply to their demands.

This is the same mentality that has led the US Congress to find itself debating whether to shut down the U.S. govt. for an extended period for lack of a funding solution. And it is all over an ideological position that objects to a law requiring all citizens to buy a health insurance plan. A law intended to reduce the number of those not receiving medical care due to lack of ability to pay and a law with the objective of reducing national healthcare costs for the nation. A law that is very similar to the law in the state of Massachusetts that was enacted by the last Republican contender for the White House, Mr. "Mitt" Romney.

The Tea Partiers remind me of those Texans that fought and died at the Alamo as they attempted to wrest Texas from the control of the Mexican government. The same Mexican government that made the mistake of inviting U.S. citizens to settle in that wild land in return for their loyalty. They overestimated the ability of those Anglos to be loyal to Hispanics. The defenders of the Alamo managed to get themselves into an untenable position that resulted in the last man dying.

The Tea Party is having it's Alamo now, with the position they have taken in Congress. The Affordable Care Act was passed into law by Congress and ultimately declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. But this small minority in Congress is unhappy with the outcome of the democratic process. They are intent on extorting concessions by the threat of a default on the sovereign debt of the United States of America. As they near this precipice of default, the markets and the economy will feel the effects. And money will be lost by big and small business alike. And it is big business that funds the Tea Party. Big money that has been idle due to a lack of competition in the economy and is now being used to foster a philosophic and ideological idea of "free markets" and "free people". All the while ignoring the fact that no market is absolutely free. All markets and economies function under a set of rules. All societies function under a set of rules. It is the changing of some of these rules that they are objecting to. And their ideological position must stem from the idea that if people are allowed to see that a govt. sponsored program can work then "government" by the people may not be all bad, and may actually be a solution to some of our problems.

As the big money finds itself on the losing end of the markets due to any serious dip into default they will question the effectiveness of their funding of these lunatics. And then will be when the Tea Party dies. They will lose the funding of the deep pockets. And perhaps then the" Occupy" movement will take over the more humane concerns of the American people and rein in the power of the money of the 1% and advance the cause of the 99%, with a rallying cry of "Remember the Alamo!" Or some such.