The Tea Party and the use of terrorist tactics.

Some people think president Obama and Harry Reid using words like "extortion" and "hostage taking"  and "arsonists" in talking about the government shut down and the threat issued by John Boehner not to raise the debt ceiling "unless.." is  too inflammatory. But in a very real and literal way the Tea Party and  Republicans in the House with John Boehner as their messenger can be accurately defined as anti-American terrorists in the literal sense, not as name calling. And their primary weapon is traditional terrorist tactics.

Terrorism, as opposed to conventional war,  is defined as acts of violence against a civilian

population designed to bring about a political solution or victory that couldn't be achieved legitimately through democratic  or political processes. By that definition, the tiny faction who call themselves the Tea Party and John Boehner  as their messenger boy in the House are in fact as much terrorists in shutting down the government and threatening to cause America to default as Al-Qaeda. Their threat is to do as much damage to the United States and the government and the civilian population as possible unless their demands are met.

When John Boehner, backed by Tea Party Republicans threatens not to raise the debt ceiling

unless they get concessions, something that was done seven times without controversy during the Bush presidency, even in 2007 when Democrats controlled the congress, and 18 times during Reagan's presidency with a Democratically controlled House,   it reveals who their target really is and who the Tea Party lunatics are intent on hurting unless their demands are met and they carry through on their threats.

Like any traditional terrorist group that looks for a vulnerability in the system to carry out a terrorist attack, Ted Cruz and the Tea Party in the House saw a vulnerability they could exploit in withholding a vote to continue to fund the government and another in threatening not to raise the debt ceiling. 

These vulnerabilities that Cruz and the Tea Party are trying to exploit,has already shut down the government costing taxpayers tens of millions if not hundreds of millions a day, putting people at risk by closing down the Centers For Disease Control and the Dept of Agriculture and other important services, and by not raising the debt ceiling they would take a sledgehammer to the full faith and credit of the United States and wreck havoc on the economy and financial well being of almost every American citizen.  No terrorist group could do better. What they were banking on is that either Obama caves in as he has done every time before, or he would have more decency than they do, another hallmark of the terrorist, and give in to their demands to spare American citizens the damage they threaten to cause, since like any other terrorist group it's the American civilian population they are threatening to hurt. 

They certainly won't be hurting Obama. Two years from now Obama will leave office and probably get a $3 -$5 million advance to write his memoirs. He also has a lifetime presidential pension with tax payer paid expenses for offices and other perks. The Republicans wont be hurting Democrats since polls show the American people by a huge margin (74%) hold Republicans responsible for the shut down and for any default caused by Boehner and his Tea Party led Republicans and by all accounts they will pay an enormous price in the future, giving the Tea Party exactly the opposite of what they wanted -- substantial control of the government and its institutions by Democrats.

The only people who will be hurt by Boehner and the Tea Party are 300 million Americans who will  be on the receiving end of  Boehner and the Tea Party having taken a sledgehammer to their immediate and perhaps long term economic futures,  the stocks they have in their 401k's, a recession, higher unemployment, and hundreds of billions added to the debt on interest alone because a lowered credit rating means higher interest and higher interest payments. More proof that the Tea Party agenda isn't what they say it is. If reducing the debt and deficit were their real goals its ludicrous to think that adding tens or hundreds of billions to the debt on added interest as a result of default would be okay with them.

It would also cause a blow to the global economy on which the U.S. depends. So Boehner and the Tea Party Republicans  and any other Republicans going along with a terrorist attack against America are basically threatening Obama with causing catastrophic damage to the United States, its economy, the recovery, and the well being and economic future of its citizens if Obama does not capitulate and concede over issues that the Tea Party and Republicans decisively lost  during the democratic process of the 2012 elections.

Needless to say the news media, as always are lowering themselves to the occasion,  too cowardly to point out that this is all on the Republicans and Tea Party. The polls show Americans know it but most news organizations are too afraid of being accused of taking sides lest it hurt their ratings or web hits. So CNN laughably showed a Tea Party protest at a WWII war memorial that was closed because of the REPUBLICAN shut down, organized by Ted Cruz and Sara Palin, complete with patriotic Confederate flags and CNN acted as if this spit in the ocean protest represented some kind of real and substantial national anger blaming Obama for the shut down (and is there anyone who tries to use the military as pawns for their political ideology more than the Tea Party?)

Boehner and the  ignorantly named Tea Party Republicans ( almost none of whom have the slightest idea of what was behind the original Boston Tea Party)  are using text book terrorist tactics for text book terrorist reasons --  to bring about a political and ideological victory for their beliefs that they couldn't win by legitimate means and doing it by attacking a civilian population.

The threats these Tea Party Republicans are making, a threat to cause a default by the United States if  their demands are not met,and a refusal not to allocate funds for the government to open and provide services already paid for by tax payers,   is not only clearly terrorism, it is also reminiscent of the Bible story about Solomon and the two women claiming to be the true mother of a baby just as the Tea Party tries to claim they are the "true patriots" and lovers of their country, the true "mothers" of America and what it stands for.  But Tea Party Republicans who couldn't win at the polls and are now making threats, are now saying they are willing to take half the baby if Obama will only give it to them despite the catastrophic consequences that would mean to American institutions.  They are willing, in essence to see the country's democratic institutions undermined, even killed, as long as they can get the half they want. This alone exposes them as false mothers (literally and epithetically) and phony patriots who are more enemies of the country and it's institutions (which many in the Tea Party readily admit)  than citizens who care about the well being of America and it's citizens.

The truth is, if they really thought Obamacare would be the disaster they claim, politically

the smart thing to do ( and no one has ever accused the Tea Party of being smart)  would be to let it be implemented, let it fail and let Democrats be held responsible. That they are using this tactic to try and get rid of it indicates they might be more afraid of it succeeding than failing, though as has been stated here numerous times, the odds are it will fail miserably unless Democrats can retake the House and replace Obamacare with a public option. The difference is now, thanks to the Tea Party and their actions, even if Obamacare fails, Democrats will not be held politically responsible. The Tea Party has made sure it will be Republicans who are going to feel the brunt of American anger.

As has also been pointed out a thousand times, regarding problems of debt and deficits, Social Security and Medicare are not the problem. They contribute nothing to the debt and nothing to the deficit. If people are concerned about  the solvency of those programs in 20 years, that's fine but they have nothing to do with the problems at hand which is all that should matter. Why Republicans are  even bringing it up now during "negotiations" is another indicator that their goals and motives are not what they say they are. Another reason Obama has to stand firm and not reward terrorists by agreeing to anything until they back off their threats. If that doesn't work, the majority of the American people will take care of them in the next election.

Obama has no choice but to stand his ground and refuse to negotiate or weaken the democratic system of government by capitulating to what amounts to terrorist tactics no matter from where they might come.  His oath of office requires him to defend the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic even if the domestic enemy are Tea Party Republicans in the House.

 One possible, albeit radical but real solution if Boehner doesn't give up his threats against the American people would be for the moderate Republicans in the House to defect, if only temporarily, to the Democrats, give them the majority which would depose Boehner as speaker and leave Pelosi to bring up a clean bill and to open the government and raise the debt ceiling. It wouldn't change the will of the Republican majority in the House since those moderate Republicans, if they had to remain Democrats for a period of time could still vote any way they wished on anything, for all practical purposes preserving the Republican majority on future legislation.

There is a good chance that if those moderate Republicans told Boehner of those intentions, rather than lose his job, he would bring a clean bill to the floor.  But only after getting a taste of his own medicine.

NOTE: Late last night another attempt to pass a bill to open the government in the House was rejected by the extreme right wing elements in the Republican party. If there is any doubt that even they see their tactics as an attack on America, their publicly stated reason for rejecting the deal was that to accept it would be to "surrender", a military term further re-enforcing the idea that their closing of the government and their using the threat of default is for them, a weapon to be used in an ideological attack on the United States and it's citizens.