ACT 1, Scene 1
The setting: The family has been gathered in the hall, outside Mama's hospital room, by Dr. Frederich Amsted, one of the area's leading neurosurgeons. Seventy-four year old Mama is lying in her bed, unconscious, the victim of a massive stroke.
Dr. Amsted: There are a number of options we could try. But because of your mother's age, her past medical history, and weakened condition . . . (At that point, Dr. Amsted is cut off by Mama's youngest brother, 58-year old Jersey Gross, an auto mechanic from Paducah.)
Jersey: Tell ya'll whut. Ya'll kin listen ta fancy-schmancy Dr. Know-it-all iffen ya wants ta, but I'm tellin' ya whut'd werk is ta draw a pint er so of thet bad blood; let the demons escape, an, rat as rain, she'd start gettin' better. I hed a coon dog, Ol' Red, oncet. An' Ol' Red'd quit coonin', jes laid round 'til I draw'd out some of thet bad, lazyin' blood from Red. Then you shoulda seen 'im go.
***
Why is it then, if on the one hand, no one wouldn't give such a fellow wide berth, and not the first part of a moment to spew incredibly ignorant blather, but, let the matter turn to economics or politics, or both, and suddenly Jersey's opinion, with nothing more behind it than what he demonstrated as medical expertise in a hospital corridor, has an element of value?
That question has been meandering in and out of my mind for a number of years, and has been gaining prominence at an ever increasing rate as I am more and more an unwilling witness to the Tea Party and Republican shenanigans and their blathering senselessness. This Sunday's New York Times article, "With No Jobs, Plenty of Time for Tea Party," smacked the matter clear "cross the forehead. (click here=2&th&emc=th)
We've all seen the raised placards: President Obama as the black-faced Joker, President Obama in Mussolini garb, President Obama depicted simultaneously as a Nazi and a socialist, and both worse and incredibly stupid; signs directed, ostensibly, at recent immigrants, ordering them to "Speek (or lern) English."
Aging angry, screaming white folk wanting to take back their country.
The article tells of a Tom Grimes, a financial consultant from South Bend, who lost his job 15 months ago. Mr. Grimes, on Social Security (and by that, also Medicare, I presume, although the article does not say so), is one of the movement's -- somehow the image that "bowel" ought to precede that last word seems highly apropos -- most aggressive organizers. Per "With No Jobs," the back seat of Mr. Grimes's Mercury Grand Marquis is loaded with "literature" protesting what he asserts is the "government takeover of health care." Mr. Grimes was quoted as saying, "If you quit giving people that stuff, they would figure out how to do it on their own." Whaaa? On Social Security and Medicare and protesting what?
Same old, same old for 67-year old Diana Reimer from Massachusets, one of the partiers and ultra conservative, ex-Texas Republican Phil Gramm's Freedom Works' most familiar, most enthusiastic and active members. "I'm on a mission, and time is not on my side," Mrs. Reimer said of her anti-health care reform efforts. The cited article also reported that she had quit her job in Macys' sportswear department, to give her more time to the cause. Once again, whaaa? On Social Security and Medicare and protesting what?
A direct quote from Sunday's article: "She and others who receive government benefits like Medicare and Social Security said they paid into those programs, so they are getting what they deserve. "All I know is government was put here for certain reasons,' Ms. Reimer said. "They were not put here to run banks, insurance companies, and health care and automobile companies. They were put here to keep us safe.'"
They paid into those programs? Yes. Absolutely true, if they were a wage-earner sometime in their lives. But think about it. (Something many -- far, far too many? -- clearly have not done much of.) One stint in a hospital. One hip or knee replacement. A few stents for clogged arteries. Maybe a heart bypass. What are those going to run? Sweep up all those old pay stubs. Add up the deductions for Medicare. I want to know the name of the person in the United States who actually believes there will be even close proximity of the totals: the sum paid by Medicare for the procedures versus the sum of the payroll deductions. These people STUPID? I'm calling them that, and whatever adjectives and adverbs I can summon that may be both worse and more accurate as appellations.
In Michigan, a Mr. Jeff McQueen, laid off from his job selling auto parts, now produces and sells Second American Revolution flags for the party. He even drove from his home, to Boston to get involved in Scott Brown's US Senate campaign. Questions immediately pop up. Is Mr. McQueen receiving unemployment benefits? If so, how can he not avoid perjuring himself when he tells the state he's been "actively seeking employment"; one of every state's requirements, in order to continue receiving benefits? If McQueen is receiving those government benefits, how does he square that with his wails of protests over a "too big government"? As to that 700 miles one-way; I speculate a few matters. One is that he drove back, which makes it minimally a 1,400 mile round trip. If he gets 20 miles to the gallon in the Grand Marquis, that's 70 gallons of gas. At roughly $3.00 to the gallon, in transportation costs alone, that's $210.00. Nor do we know what it may have cost him for food and lodging. Mr. McQueen seems to be enjoying that paid time off. If he's not actually enjoying it, he's certainly not worried much, about getting back to something that will increase his checking account.
The old saw, "The devil finds work for idle hands," rises too glaring to ignore.
I can understand feeling angry. I can understand feeling frightened. I, as well as anyone who has ever breathed earth's air, can understand saying things that are stupid and doing stupid things. But not over such a protracted period. Eventually, it seems to me, that you've got to reach the moment of self-reflection when you say to yourself, "What I've been saying makes no logical sense, and the things I've been doing are really dumb."
In a Quinnipiac poll, last week 74 percent of Tea Partiers identify themselves as Republican. Seventy-seven percent voted for John McCain. And 88 percent are white. (http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1436)
Think about it: These are not good people. Nor is anyone who stands prepared to pull the lever for a Republican candidate for office a good person. The GOP's agenda, since President Obama took The Oath of Office, has been first, foremost, and always to bring this government down. They said so. Before Inauguration Day, the Republican National Committee composed a manifesto, complete with script and strategies, to that very effect. How can any decent American fail to grasp that simple fact? Or the dangers inherent in any such program? As we have moved forward, the Tea Partiers have excoriated the very notion that the government, if no other entity will step to the plate (which no other entity has), might have some role in saving human lives. How can any decent American fail to grasp that simple fact? Every adult who sides with or by some perverse, down the rabbit hole world, excuses or abides what are nothing less than treasonous most foul behaviors, is a partner to them.
These are not good people. Good people try to find some way to help others, to see whether they can make this passage through life as bearable as possible. These are not good people. These are stupid people. And they're dangerous.
