When Up Is Down And Down Is Up You Get Tea Party Reality

 

Rep Randy Neugebauer dresses down a Park Ranger at the WWII National Monument for following through with the consequences of Tea Party 'governance'.

One of the definitions sometimes used to describe crazy is the lack of connection with consensus reality.  This definition can often lead to defining someone as mentally ill strictly based on whether or not the way they live their life or view life is consonant with the current cultural definition of consensus reality.  The most obvious example of this is how the American Psychiatric Association changed it's policy on gays, determining in the early 1970's that homosexuality was no longer an 'official' mental illness.  I'm beginning to think the current APA should add a category to DSM-V listing Tea Partyism as mental illness.  

Here's an illustration of Tea Party reality in which up is down and down is up.  It's taken from this article at Huffington Post.

......But Mark Segraves, reporting for NBC News' Washington affiliate, managed to capture the howler highlight of the Great World War II Memorial Bleat-n-Repeat -- Rep. Randy Neugebauer's (R-Tex.) Wednesday confrontation of a poor park ranger on the scene -- who was doing nothing more than her job -- blaming her for the closure he voted for and telling her that she should be ashamed of herself.  (This is an example of a truly crazy person who lives in a reality not connected to the consensus reality.)
Seriously, this actually happened. Per Segraves:

"How do you look at them and ... deny them access?" said Neugebauer. He, with most House Republicans, had voted early Sunday morning to pass a funding measure that would delay the Affordable Care Act, a vote that set up a showdown with the Senate and President Barack Obama. With the parties unable to agree on how to fund the federal government, non-essential government functions shut down Tuesday. 

"It's difficult," responded the Park Service employee.

"Well, it should be difficult," replied the congressman, who was carrying a small American flag in his breast pocket.

"It is difficult," responded the Park Service employee. "I'm sorry, sir."

"The Park Service should be ashamed of themselves," the congressman said.
"I'm not ashamed," replied the ranger. (Nor should she be as she lives in the real world.)

From there, Segraves reports, "a crowd of onlookers got involved," and began loudly demanding that Neugebauer lay off the park ranger, pointing out again and again that the reason everyone was in the position they were in was due to the fact that Congress very specifically put them there. Neugebauer countered that it was all really Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) fault, but that failed to impress anyone. (The kind of logic that Rep Neugebauer demonstrates rarely impresses people who live in the real world.)

What's really ghastly about this is that the whole "Harry Reid shut down the government" line is a talking point.....(And a talking point is one way politicians like Neugebauer attempt to make their personal delusional view of reality our reality.  It's a perfect example of why most Americans find Congress has gotten unbelievable.)

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The line in the above excerpt that I found exceptionally indicative of Tea Party reality is the one telling the Park Ranger that the Park Service should ashamed of themselves.  Really? Why? In truth the ranger is doing exactly what the Neugebauer's of the GOP forced on the Park Service.  Does he expect her to quit her job rather than enforce the consequences of his political posturing? Consensus reality would be more likely to accept that Neugebauer is the one who should be suffering from shame.  Only truly crazy people project what should be their own shame on the innocent people charged with carrying out the results of their shameful decisions.  Apparently not in the Tea Party.

I've read a lot of analysis around this fiasco of the 2010 House of Representatives and the insanity of what the media would want us to believe is still a legitimate political party. Bill Lyndsey at Bilgrimage has done great work bringing some of the best of this commentary to my attention. From my reading I have unfortunately come the conclusion that the Republican Party is no longer a legitimate party.  It's too schizophrenic to be a legitimate party and the crazy side of the party has utterly overcome it's more rational components.  The GOP is no longer viable as a productive voice for the American people.  It is instead a divisive voice with an agenda that attacks most Americans and simultaneously blames Americans for bringing on these 'corrective' GOP attacks.

Speaker of the House John Boehner acts utterly torn between keeping his title as Speaker of the House or letting the government slide into both default and shutdown.  In truth his decision is between being a patriot and acting in the best interests of the American people or choosing his personal ego and essentially allowing his Tea Party faction to bully him into committing a virtual act of treason against the American people.  If Boehner truly cares about his legacy in American history he would do well to think long and hard about the state of his party.  Right now it looks very much like the agenda of the Republican Party on his watch is not to participate in governing,  but to destroy the government's ability to govern. That's acting as if up is down and down is up.  That's not just crazy, it's pretty close to treason.......and now we have this: Shots Fired Outside Capital