Tea Party - Does America deserve these people?

It was reported in the New York Times today that, in their final days controlling the House, Democrats succeeded in passing legislation that Tea Party leaders opposed, including a bill to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers at the site of the World Trade Center attacks, an arms-control treaty with Russia, a food safety bill and a repeal of the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military.

Tea Party rank and file are reportedly very angry that Republicans have done nothing to stop this outrageous activity.

That would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? - Helping with medical care for those brave rescue workers at the "Twin Towers" tragedy?

And we don't want an arms control treaty with Russia do we? Let's keep on ramping up the tension.

As for food, we only depend upon it to stay alive, don't we, so what does it matter if it contains poisons?

And the Military (anywhere) has included homosexuals since time immemorial, so what's the point of pretending they don't exist? Why are they a problem to the Tea Party nuts?

Surveys suggest that about 1.5% of the American population is homosexual, and in World War II sixteen million American service men and women were involved. Some of those must have been homosexual - perhaps 240,000 of them? As I recall, they were on the winning side.

Obama a Socialist? I don't think so!

The rise and rise of the "Tea Party" movement in America is hard to understand. It appears to be as mad as a cabbage. Is it something written by Lewis Caroll? Is it the Mad Hatter's Tea Party?

Straight away I have to apologise for using pejorative terminology, because this is what seems to be contaminating political debate in the States. As Jon Stewart said at the recent rally in Washington, if you amplify everything you hear nothing.

I have heard members of the "Tea Party" movement interviewed on BBC Television say that President Obama is working towards a Socialist government. What nonsense! Can you imagine the words Socialism and USA in the same sentence?

One is tempted to ask, what is inherently wrong with Socialism anyway? Capitalism has done spectacularly well in the past couple of years, hasn't it?! It's a mistake, by the way, to confuse Social Democracy (which is probably about as "Left" as the USA will ever get) with Communism, and some people in the "Tea Party" movement don't seem able to understand the difference. The important word to understand is Democracy of course. If a majority decide via the ballot box for one system or another, then there can be no complaints.

The outcome of the mid-term elections should, one hopes, be based on reasoned debate rather than name-calling and simplistic exaggerations.

What is the "Tea Party" Movement? On BBC TV news this morning, one American described it as "George Bush on Steroids".

Oops! There I go again. Sorry.