The end comes for all things and strange as it may seem the end of Christian America, the end of what was once perhaps the greatest nation the world had ever known came at the hands of those who considered themselves the religious and patriotic leaders of an anarchistic, once grass-roots movement that was corrupted by a corporate mindset that bowed to no god, but that of money, greed and lust for power.
Nothing was too audacious for this new breed of politician. No lie too deceptive, no partisanship too divisive, no attack too vicious. People all too easily let themselves be fooled into believing the dark visions of foreboding these leaders forecast for a nation led by anyone but themselves. They alone were the light bearers, the bannerman of God and Jesus Christ. They alone knew the truth about the United States Constitution. All others were pretenders. All others were false prophets of evil gods. All others wanted to destroy the Constitution, the family and the faith.
Yet somehow, there seemed to be so much darkness in their messages. Bigotry and hatred and violence became tolerable, almost preferred as long as it was directed against their "enemies" it became righteousness and truth.
I suppose looking back one might say that we should have known better. We should have seen what was hidden behind the unfurled flags and the red, white and blue banners. The imagery of Revolutionary Minutemen and tea bag tossing "Patriots".
It was the images of love of country and constitution that deceived some, the waving of black leather bibles that persuaded others. The distrust and hatred of government and the faith and trust in corporations and companies brought in the conservatives and fundamentalists like no other movement before.
Tea Party. Taxed Enough Already. It sounded good. It looked good wrapped in a flag and a bible. Something was wrong though, there was something ugly hiding behind Old Glory, something which would devastate us all.
Power came to the Party in two waves of elections. Once the power was gained, it was never to be allowed to flow in the other direction. All dissension was crushed. The Grand Old Party became a side note in annals of the new conservatism. No moderation, no co-operation, no collective will of the people. The constitutional separation of powers became a thorn in the side to be removed. The Presidential power coalesced around naming of Supreme Court judges and executive orders. Both Houses of Congress became little more than mouthpieces of the agenda. Domination of America by corporate greed and power.
When the Dept of Justice began its subterfuge against the old liberals on the Court, forcing them out of the positions so the Tea Party could name extreme conservatives to the bench is when I suppose more of us should have spoke up, but those were scary times. Journalists were going missing or being harassed and bullied into silence. The news was just a stump for the perpetuation and dissemination of conservative ideals and dogmas. The truth didn't really matter anymore.
Jobs, you had to love the Tea Party idea of a jobs bill. Repealing child labor laws, overtime laws, the minimum wage and any other "job killing" regulations was the hallmark of the early Tea Party policies. So, if you wanted a job you could count on fighting with children to get it and even then you would be working sixteen hour shifts with no overtime wages...and the money was less than I made when I graduated high school in the early nineteen-eighties.
In the end we sat by and watched as the new wars began. The Korean debacle, Iran's crushing defeat of the U.S. led invasion against it led to the invasions it led across the middle-east and even into the Caspian regions. The Islamic Fundamentalist strength grew as America fell.
We all watched as drafted American boys and girls headed off to defend America against her enemies...Afghanistan again, Egypt, Venezuela...always with same results....thousands and thousands of dead boys and girls...all for oil and natural gas for corporate America.
Taxes rose to support the wars at the expense of the poor in America. The religious leaders quoted one bible verse about those who wont work while ignoring all the teachings of Jesus Christ regarding the treatment of the poor.
I suppose it was kind of fun to watch the fundamentalist leaders cry out against their new partners when the Tea Party came to the conclusion that they no longer needed the christian vote. It wasn't that fun when they were dragged away and imprisoned...or worse. Dissension was not allowed.
And for all their talk, abortion was still the law of land just as it had been throughout so many Republican administrations in the past.
Public welfare and the Affordable Care Act had been repealed and abolished within the first one hundred days after the 2016 election. The poor were left with nothing to fall back on and so with few jobs available and the corporate stranglehold on small business increasing many people fell into crime to support their families. Of course the now corporate owned for-profit prison populations swelled until the wars came.
With the repeal of Medicare/Medicaid many within the health care system lost jobs as the poor could no longer afford treatment and demand for services fell with them. Hospitals and health facilities in the inner cities and rural regions collapsed without funding. These were not deemed profitable ventures by the business community that was swiftly taking over the health care operations across the country.
I would really like to offer some kind of hope for a resurrection of the United States we once knew, but it is gone. It will never return.
I've heard that the larger corporations are putting together plans for splitting the country into different units, but truthfully I think it's just talk. I think they're gonna sell us.
Europe and Canada have a great deal of interest in the heartland. The Mexican government has been ineffective in stopping the drug cartels movements into Texas, NM, AZ and California. The rumblings in southern Florida about breaking away and joining the Caribbean Union seem to be growing stronger.
The Tea Party leadership no longer has the military might at its disposal to fight the fight. Probably whatever will give the corporations the most profit is what's going to happen now.
I never pictured this as how it would end. I guess I always thought the world I grew up in where most people cared about each other more often than not would always be there. Somewhere along the line that slipped away forever. Personally I think it happened a long time ago with a little thing that was called the Contract With America.
That seemed to be when the shift toward hatefulness really started. Anyway, welcome to Tea Party America. What's left of it.
