Perry, Bachmann and the Tea Party’s Destructive Plan for America

2 Republican candidates who hate Government money unless it's lining their own pockets. Image from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

With the Ames, Iowa straw poll now over, the Republican presidential field is starting to become a little more clear. As expected, the home town favorite, Michelle Bachmann, came out victorious. Finishing second was Ron Paul, who because of his more liberal stance on social issues, seems to be a long shot to a Republican party that is going further and further to the right with each passing day. Tim Pawlenty finished a distant third and because of the disappointing finish has decided to drop out of the race altogether. The GOP front-runner, Mitt Romney, decided to not even enter the poll to save himself and his campaign an embarrassing defeat in the event he loosed out to the likely winner Bachmann. Texas Governor, Rick Perry, announced on the same day that he will run for President and therefore was not included in the poll.

With the win, the Tea Party favorite and destructive Bachmann, can keep her head up for now. However, with the entrance of another Tea Party social conservative, Rick Perry, this might be the last victory that Bachmann can celebrate. Rick Perry is thought to be a thorn in the side of Bachmann, who both share the same base with each other, the Tea Party. Rick Perry should knock the already unelectable Bachmann out of the running as the months go on because he has more of a record to run on. However, as Perry shouts about his record of creating jobs in Texas, the claims have another side to them. Though Perry can accurately claim that his state has created the most jobs in the country, he neglects to tell you that he also has created the most minimum wage jobs and the most jobs with little to no benefits. In addition, with the conservatives’ obsession with spending cuts, Texas is on pace to lose more than 100,000 jobs due to Perry’s “cut, cut, cut” approach to balancing the budget, while he continues to give tax breaks to the wealthy. Texas has also benefited from factors that Perry has nothing to do with. As the state is sitting on tremendous natural resources, they have benefited from the high price of oil as well as interest in natural gas exploration. Employment in the energy sector reached nearly 17% in the last year.

As moderates like Mitt Romney and John Huntsman have unlimited contributions poured in from super PACs that help buy elections, they seem to cater towards the “center right” or moderate Republican. With the rise of the Tea Party and the hard-right stance that Republicans have taken, names like Perry and Bachmann have a legit shot at winning the GOP nomination. Though the supporters of the Tea Party drool over the evangelical preacher like atmosphere that the likes of Perry and Bachmann bring to the table, if they really want a legit shot at winning back the White House in 2012, they should put all their eggs in the basket of a more moderate candidate like Romney or Huntsman.



While the Democrats have good ideology, their politicians often lack the “chutzpah” to get those ideas through. In the end the Republicans have made their agenda clear, at all cost, defeat President Obama. Even the more moderate candidates have gone “hard-right” to appeal to the Tea Party, which provides the average American a clear look at where the two parties stand. The Republican Tea Party has put their foot down and decided to end the programs that Americans benefit from the most like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The Republicans have decided to slash public education to fund private and charter schools so they can manipulate the curriculum to fit their ideology and mold young minds into thoughtless sheep for the next generation. Their constant ignorance on issues like Climate Change just reinforces the fact that the party has become so lost and one-dimensional that they are not only destructive to themselves but to the whole country. Add in the bigoted and prejudiced undertones for those who are different (homosexuals, people with different beliefs systems, immigrants etc.) it is only a matter of time before the Tea Party becomes lost in the wind and just another fade.