Tea Party debate

Last Monday night was one of the most disgusting spectacles in recent political history -- and that's a hard contest to win, when you consider any time Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich is on camera. They have now been displaced by Rick Perry's swagger and smirk. He is Dubya on steroids.

But the CNN-Tea Party sponsored debate comes out ahead in evoking disgust. Concerning the candidates: The level of ignorance displayed as virtue, the knee-jerk anti-Obama stance on anything, the degree of pandering to base greed and the indifference to hardship, and the championing of the privileged over the disadvantaged -- all were so rank and so pervasive that it almost made me puke.

And it wasn't just the candidates. You could almost excuse them, because some of them must be cringing inside that they have to play this game in order to have any hope of winning this nomination. No, the audience was even worse, and they had no excuse. Two examples:

#1. Rick Perry was being questioned about the 234 executions carried out during his terms as governor. He had famously boasted earlier that he never lost sleep worrying that an innocent person might be executed. Here again, he reiterated his confidence in the Texas appeals system and assured the audience that he does not worry that an innocent person might die. This, despite strong evidence that a man executed in 2004 -- during Perry's term -- might very well be innocent. An outside investigative report points to flawed expert witness testimony and prosecutorial comments that would likely have inflamed the prejudices of the jury in the sentencing phase.

But it was the audience reaction: Even before Perry said a word, in the middle of Wolf Blitzer posing his question and referring to the 234 executions during Perry's term, the audience broke in with applause and cheers -- as though this was some badge of honor. Perry didn't bother to calm the crowd by saying something like: this brings me no pleasure, but it is a duty of the governor to faithfully carry out the laws.

Even John McCain did something like that when a woman asking a question at a rally called Obama a Muslim. McCain interrupted her to say, "No, ma'am; you're misinformed. Mr. Obama is a Christian." But, no, Perry just basked in the applause and smirked his smirk. And swaggered, if you can swagger standing still. Somehow, he seems to be able to do that.

#2. Ron Paul was being questioned about his views on health care reform, specifically mandatory insurance coverage. Wolf Blitzer posed the hypothetical: a young man without health insurance becomes quite ill requiring a long hospital stay and then dies, leaving behind unpaid charges of $400,000. Who should pay?

Paul's response, reflecting his libertarian stance of minimal government, was all about people's freedom to make choices and having to live with the consequences.

Wolf kept pushing back, asking a second time: "But are you saying we should just let him die?" At least two loud voices shouted from the audience: "YEAH !!!!" YEAH!!!! And there was general, loud and sustained applause.

This is what the Tea Party is bringing -- and forcing, it seems, the other Republicans to climb on board in order to win this nomination.

In fairness to Paul, he did not imply that the man should be allowed to die; he offered the mealy-mouthed defense that in the past people's friends and their churches have always stepped in to take care of people in need. Wolf pointed out that today's medical costs are beyond the means of most churches. Paul just shrugged at this point. How realistic is that answer? What church has a Pastor's Fund that could be tapped for $400,000 for one individual?

But nobody -- none of the other debaters nor the moderator -- took up what to me was the other big point here. This man did receive the care he needed, and the hospital was left with the unpaid bill. This happens all the time. So what do they do? They just raise the charges for everyone else across the board to absorb such unpaid bills.

And THAT is one of the unrecognized causes of the skyrocketing costs of medical care -- one that would be reversed by having universal health insurance. Either we need mandatory universal coverage, so that premiums are paid for everyone (whether by government or the individual is immaterial for this argument), which makes the cost less per person covered. Or else we have to adopt the callous attitude of those who say: Let him die. We can't keep going like this, passing along the unpaid charges by raising the charges on everyone else, driving up the supposed costs of health care.

Would these same people argue that department stores should not expect the police (a government agency) to arrest shop-lifters, and instead simply pass on the loss to their other customers by raising prices? I don't think so. But what's the difference in having government sponsored police forces, or public schools, or health insurance?

Now you can argue, as some do, that the Tea Party represents a minority position in the Republican Party and that their influence is being exaggerated. In numbers, yes. But look what they've accomplished in the House of Representatives. Deadlock on issues that would have had bipartisan support in the past, or at least reasonable negotiations and compromises. Now they just say NO. And Boehner caves, because he doesn't have the votes in his caucus. And Obama either caves or gets no bill at all. Because he doesn't have the required super-majority of 60 votes to get controversial bills through the Senate. So now Obama is losing the support of his base, because he's caving in to Republicans.

Beyond all that, though. What have we come to as a nation of people? Among the most heated audience affirmations of any issue of the night seemed, well, downright blood-thirsty or at the least vindictive: (1) lauding the governor for executing 234 people without a single worry and (2) "let the man die" if he can't afford medical care.

This is a sorry state of humanity we have sunk to, folks. We're better than this. Even most Republicans are better than this. Heck, even most Texans are better than this (Both Perry and Paul are Texans.)

Ralph