Why The Tea Party Is Not Republican- And Why I Am

Boy, there sure is a lot of pulse-pounding news out there today, isn’t there? The government shutdown that could lead to the U.S. defaulting on loans and thus sending the global economy on a proverbial cavalcade of Mad Max-esque tomfoolery, the agreement between the U.S. and Russia on the impending destruction of Syria’s Looney Tune-style stockpile of chemical weapons, some punk-ass frat boy-gone-wild exposed his record-setting level of douchebaggery by not only openly condoning rape but authoring How To Rape (For Dummies), climate change continues to escalate turning our planet into a warm bowl of ice cream, Bernie Sanders bravely pointed his finger at the Koch Brothers who I will henceforth refer to as the William Randolph Hearsts of our time complete with a singing Christian Bale, and I’m sure something to do with Miley Cyrus and twerking is in there somewhere, as well. However, I’ll be doing what I can only describe as the most American thing possible…

…I’m going to ignore all of that and talk about what I feel like talking about.

So let me ask you something: how can a Christian reconcile their beliefs with the political stance of the modern Republican? You know the ones I mean- extremely proud, extremely religious, extremely anti-government, extremely bigoted. The “Tea Party” Republicans. Then again, the term “Republican” shouldn’t be seen anywhere near the description of these fringe lunatics, because with everything that defines who they are very few of those things – if any of them – would lead to the conclusion that they are Republicans at all.

The term “American Taliban” was recently coined to describe the Tea Party and it really is more than an adequate label. The lack of a willingness to compromise (a.k.a. govern, a.k.a. what they were elected to do), the strict adherence to scriptural literalism, the openness to the subjugation of women, the inconsolable hatred for homosexuals, the complete and utter lack of empathy for anybody who needs a little help; it all reeks of a hateful, extremist ideology that stands in stark contrast to the fundamentals on which the United States was based. The Tea Party is not a collection of passionate Republicans. The Tea Party is not a collection of any kind of Republican. They are terrorists and this fact is only reenforced by their recent actions in Congress. They are despicable creatures who don’t deserve proper driving directions to the anti-Obama rally let alone a shred of respect. So if the Tea Party is the antithesis to the true Republican what exactly is a true Republican?

For starters: me.

Full disclosure: I voted for Obama in 2008 as a registered Democrat. I turned 18 in 2006 during George W. Bush’s second, somehow more disastrous term as U.S. President and couldn’t help but despise the man. As such I identified myself as a Democrat and at my first real opportunity to vote I voted to the left across the board; and believe me, I could not have been happier when Barack Hussein Obama was elected and I was even happier as I was watching his inauguration the next January (which I used as an excuse to get paid to sit around and ignore my job at Rent-A-Center). Since that time I had continued to see myself as a Democrat until the passed few years where my mentality changed a slight bit: I did not re-register to vote, I stopped caring. What had a lot to do with it was my disappointment with the man I had voted for in 2008: President Obama. Don’t get me wrong: as a person I like the man. He seems like a fun fella’ who I could easily talk to about sports and/or cars. You know, man stuff. However, he has done things I don’t agree with like extending the National Defense Authorization Act which – in my humble opinion – dumps all over both Habeas Corpus and the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

But this article is not about Barack Obama. It’s about what makes a Republican a Republican and what makes a Republican a Republican stands against right around 85-90% of the Tea Party “philosophy”. I fell out of love with Barack Obama as our leader and became an anti-government, anti-establishment type who couldn’t care less about politics or government. Yet, I couldn’t stay away. Still, though, I couldn’t continue to identify with the Democratic ideology and I absolutely despised the Tea Baggers. It wasn’t until I realized a few things about and took a good look at myself that I felt I could begin to contribute to again. I’m in favor of a prohibitive military force. I’m in favor of a strong-but-scaled-back federal government. I’m in favor of common sense gun control (albeit, not gun bans). I’m in favor of States’ rights. I’m in favor of personal responsibility and personal liberty which includes being pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. I’m pro-death penalty. I’m pro-Capitalism.

Holy sweet baby Jesus, I’m a Republican… A fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republican. And I’m okay with that. And you should be, too. Don’t cower away from who you are just because the proper label has suffered a complete and utter perversion courtesy of people who can barely speak proper English claiming it for themselves.

 

Edited/Published by: SB

I'm Jonathan Lenhardt; fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republican. I'm pro-choice, pro-2nd Amendment, anti-Tea Party, and happily atheist just to name a sparse few things about me. You can direct all hate mail to [email protected]. Also, you can find me on Google+, Twitter (@JonLenTheLC), and I have an L.C.-specific Facebook page (Jonathan Lenhardt, The Liberal Conservative).