Rabid Tea Partier

[talon]

My ex is among the 59% of Tea Partiers who are either pretty sure or vehemently do believe Obama was not born in the US. He is among the 75% of Tea Partiers who believe Obama doesn't share the same American values he holds. He is among the 88% of Tea Partiers who believe the stimulus (started by Bush!) has had zero effect on the national economy. He is among the 92% who believe Obama is trying to make the US a communist/socialist nation. He is among the 54% who are GOP Republicans. He is among the 19% who rabidly hates Obama and his entire family. I don't have poll statistics for how many Tea Partiers call Obama and his family disrespectful names, but he's among them, too.

I - am not a Tea Partier. I believe the birth certificate I have seen from Hawaii that shows Obama as being born there which makes him a firmer US citizen than me. Even though the stimulus hasn't improved my personal circumstances any (and has possibly worsened it), I can see how it is having some positive effect on the overall economy. We won't go into detail here about how evil I feel the stimulus is, but I can't ignore data that shows the economy is improving at least in the short term. I've listened to Obama (and Bush, Clinton, etc. as each was president) and I feel Obama shares far more of the American values than Bush or Clinton or Reagan ever did. My internal jury is still out on some former presidents. I've read Mein Kampf (it was required reading when I was younger, coming right out of WWII as we were) and I've studied European history, and I don't think these Tea Partiers know what real socialism is. Obama leans more towards republicanism than democracy (and after all, American is a republic, not a democracy, so that makes sense), but he isn't a socialist or a communist. I am a registered Independent (which sucks in a heavily Republican state like Oklahoma - I rarely get to vote) and even though 41% of the Tea Party claim to be registered Independents, I am not among them. I am registered as an Independent only because it is such a disorganized party that literally anything goes among them allowing people with my moderate, conservative, republican - small "r" - patriotic American viewpoint a miniscule amount of space - and yet more space than any other Party in America. I don't hate Obama (and certainly not his family!) even if I'm not entirely happy with how the Obama administration is proceeding - there's less transparency than I'd hoped for, the health bill is a travesty and the insurance companies are already exploring the myriad loopholes to their benefit and the harm of patients now forced to use them, and there are many other points where I'm less than pleased, but overall, I can admit that Obama is at least listening to his constituents (that's all of us because he acts upon some of them and he reacts to others. He pays attention to what is said in the media, and he makes an effort to explain what he's doing. I don't agree with everything he's done, but I believe Obama thinks he has valid reasons for all this.

I do believe Obama is not screwing America any worse than any previous president - and if that's damning with faint praise, so be it.

I can no longer even speak to my ex because he twists everything around to be a diatribe against Obama. I think if he could find a way to blame my poor Zombie Maple on Obama, he would. If he could find a way to blame Obama for his bad knees and back and the arthritis in his hands, he would. If he could find a way to blame Obama for the piece of wood he mowed over and whacked his ankle with, he would.

It just amazes me how bitter and angry he is towards Obama when he has all this good stuff: he's white, male, owns a nice brick 2 bedroom house on 1/3 of an acre of land, is comfortably retired, owns a nice late model truck, is a gun hobbyist with an entire arsenal of assorted guns, ammo, knives, and who knows what in his house, can move freely about the country without being harassed by border patrols or police, frequents gun shows, makes knives and guns, spends at least 2 days a week shooting on the range (pity it never translates into bagging any game - he misses every time, I kill more game in a year than he has in his entire life - I guess that's the difference between a gun hobbyist and a real hunter), pays less in taxes than I do, has excellent health insurance (even before the health bill), has a decent savings account, can shop anywhere he wants without discrimination or harassment, can hang out in any bar he wants with the confident knowledge no one will rape or beat him, and can walk openly through some pretty bad neighbors with the same confidence that no one is going to threaten him, and so many more privileges I can't even count them.

Let's count the ways he owes the government: his father was a government employee, his education was funded by the government, he was also a government employee, his retirement is funded by the government, his health care was (and is) subsidized by the government, the safety of the roads he drives on was mandated by the government, the utilities he consumes are regulated by the government, the purity of the water he drinks is regulated by the government, the safety of the guns he loves so much is regulated by the government, the government mandated building codes insures the house he owns is sturdy and safe, his neighborhood is protected by police and fire departments that are government agencies, and more. When he gets old enough, he'll be drawing a government Social Security check - a decent one because his job paid well - in addition to his government retirement pension and he'll get Medicare. And more. Yet he's pissed at the government and Obama in specific because - why? He has his guns. He has his freedom. He has a comfy retirement and a large savings. He gets to keep all his toys and his money and he gets to gripe and complain about it all without silencing or harassment or persecution. And Obama isn't going to change any of that, in spite of all the panicked rumors otherwise.

My ex pays more attention to rumors than he does to facts. He gets all his information from other, equally radically rabid anti-Obama Tea Partiers, and they circulate the rumors among themselves, the stories getting more exaggerated with each re-telling, and they heterodyne off one another, getting more rabid, more fearful, more convinced they'll be dragged away in the dark of night and locked up for being - what? An ineffective whiney middle class old white man with a little gun hobby and a foul mouth?

Puh-leeze!

Each passing year only confirms how right my decision was to divorce him when I did. It minimized his political impact on the children, who do their best to keep him away from any political topic - which means we talk about the animals, the weather, and his health a lot), and it freed up an amazing amount of my time. I still take care of his house and dog when he goes on his frequent trips out of town to gun shows and such, and I help him with his gardening and when he gets sick, I pick up his prescriptions and make soup for him, and I drove him to his colonoscopy and back - because even though I no longer like him and don't trust him anymore, he's still family however removed he may be.

I trace the patterns of his evolution and realize that even if I'd stayed married to him, he'd still have been as rabid and radical a Tea Partier as he is. There's a remote chance he would have been even worse just because he would have to "prove" how wrong I was or to teach the children the "right" way. As bad as he is now, he could have been so much worse.

So, when I have to interact with him, we limit our conversations to the animals, his health, recipes, gardening, and the weather. We talk about the children only if I can find a way to mention them that can be kept away from politics.

If he's a typical Tea Partier, then I don't think the Tea Party can last very long. They'll be tremendously influential for a while because of sheer dedicated numbers but the edges will fray as people who aren't as deep into the Tea Party Mythos see what's happening and pick up facts they don't automatically reject or explain away leave the Party. Eventually, it'll reach critical mass, and split.

I wonder if my ex will fall deeper into it or be one of the ones who recognizes just how false his whining rings when he's among the privileged?