This article was first published by March Forward! The author is a former U.S. Army infantryman who served two tours in Iraq.
The first thing you will see when you go to teaparty.org is an image
of soldiers in the upper-left corner. The slogan, “Tea Party Vets For
God and Country” is emblazoned above the soldiers’ images. Below the
soldiers are the words “Support the Troops.” Based on this, one might
believe that the Tea Party is dedicated to meeting the needs of soldiers
and veterans.
Why then is Tea Party heroine and newly elected
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) putting forward a plan that would
freeze health care funding for the already underfunded Department of
Veteran affairs? She is also proposing cutting $4.5 billion in
disability to military veterans. Why on earth would a person who is the
vanguard spokeswoman of the Tea Party work to cut care for wounded
veterans while her party claims to support the troops? The truth is the
Tea Party does not support us.
The Tea Party promotes the idea
that it supports the troops and veterans because this creates an image
that pulls on people’s heartstrings. The Tea Party has created a
“revolutionary” image; its very name evokes a historic event in the U.S.
revolution. They speak of “freedom,” and that appeals to veterans who
are trying to make sense of the Iraq and Afghan occupations, who are
trying to understand why they are being deployed multiple times.
But what kind of “freedom” does the Tea Party really stand for?
The
Tea Party poses itself as a grassroots people’s movement that acts in
the interests of “average Americans.” But in reality, the Tea Party acts
in the interests of the super-rich and giant corporations.
When
the Tea Party talks about “freedom,” they mean freedom for health
insurance companies to charge us massive monthly premiums, and then the
freedom to deny us life-saving care when we end up in the hospital.
They
mean freedom for business owners to lay off scores of employees,
eliminate workers’ benefits, and cut our hours and wages to keep their
profits and bonus checks high.
They mean the freedom of banks to
issue scandalous, intentionally misleading home loans with hundreds of
pages of fine print, then the freedom to throw us and our families out
onto the street when we are unable to stay on top of the usurious
monthly payments.
They mean the freedom of oil giants, through
their buddies in the Pentagon, to order us to be maimed and killed to
seize new oil reserves, so their billionaire shareholders can grow their
investment portfolios.
The Tea Party stands for all of the
economic hardships that pushed many of us into the military, hardships
that make it increasingly difficult for us to get out. They stand for
the profit-driven foreign policy that has us fighting endlessly for Wall
Street’s access to new markets.
While the Tea Party evokes its
alleged support for veterans on its website, the reality is, if the Tea
Party got its way, the situation for veterans would be even worse than
it is right now. The Tea Party tells us that “small government” is the
answer. This means they want to eliminate government programs like the
GI Bill, veterans job programs, disability and compensation for wounds
we receive at war, housing and social services for those of us who end
up unable to find work or a place to live and health services for those
of us who have left the military with substance abuse problems and
psychological trauma. What we need are more government services, not
fewer.
The Tea Party and its leaders claim they support our
troops, but their policies and proposed cuts prove otherwise. The Tea
Party is no friend of veterans and GIs. They are the friends of the
corporate and banking interests responsible for all the hardships we
face both in and out of the military.
