A Hate That Endures: Why the Tea Party Movement may be here for some time to come and why we must be steadfast in our stance.

In the original Star Trek pilot, Captain Christopher Pike is captured by a race called the Talosians, who have the ability to make him do anything they want by reading his thoughts and manipulating his surroundings. The only emotion they cannot read is intense feelings of hatred or rage. Try as he might Pike is unable to keep his hatred up and, when the emotional rush is finally over, is punished by his captors for wrong thinking. The moral of the story is that no matter how hard one tries he or she can never sustain such “primitive” emotions for long. Eventually the wave subsides and we are restored to a state of emotional stability. Gene Roddenberry knew a thing or two about human beings and he knew no rational mind could hold onto that much rage for long; no rational mind that is.

But Roddenberry was a bit of an idealist. Like most science fiction writers of his day, he believed that man would eventually rise above the fray of pettiness and bigotry that has defined most of his somewhat limited existence on this planet. Our destructive natures would eventually be replaced by a more utopian-like lifestyle. The concept of primitive emotions such as hatred or rage controlling the mind for more that a brief interlude was something he could not fathom. Certainly we would “evolve” beyond that point and be able to live together without killing one another either literally or figuratively. But Roddenberry’s optimism seems strangely out of touch with the stark reality of our present-day circumstances. If today’s Tea Party Movement is any indication it could be a very long time before we ever see the kind of world Roddenberry envisioned for humanity. Like the famous cereal commercial, one is apt to say of his naiveté, “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.”

The rage that emanates from this movement is not unique to our history. We have seen it before. But it has seldom been so concentrated and enduring. I have written at great length of my concerns about this movement and what it means to our future as a country. I have warned that we are vulnerable to a national tragedy the likes of which have not been seen in this country since 1963. The emotional madness that defines the bulk of these tea partiers is well passed the pathological stage; it is a national phenomenon that has already deeply wounded one of the two prominent parties in the country and is attempting to use acts of intimidation against the other. What it cannot achieve through legitimate means, it will attempt through coercion. Zero accountability coupled with zero tolerance equals a recipe for disaster.

To the rational mind – the one Roddenberry believed existed in us all – this seems like a bad dream. This can’t possibly be happening, not in America. My wife, who has always taken the high road and describes herself as a progressive with a moral compass, is blessed with a strong intellect and a superior ability to reason things through and resolve conflict peaceably. She has no stomach for such abhorrent behavior. In her heart of hearts, she sees passed the asinine and racist signs and sees a frustration that others have manipulated to suit their ends. Of course she has a point – the cart / horse analogy is germane to any discussion involving this group – and she has proven far more resilient than I have ever been when it comes to patience and compassion.

But she has also chosen not to listen to the rhetoric that is coming out of this movement. She has refrained from listening to the Hannitys, Limbaughs and Becks. Whether manipulated, stoked or just flat out inflamed to a riotous mass, the proverbial Genie is out of the bottle and isn’t going back in. The issue before us is not who lit the fuse, but how can we prevent the ensuing explosion from bringing down the whole damn house?

Well for one thing, we – all of us – need to stop believing that cooler heads will prevail. There are none within this lot, and those who still might possess an ounce of sanity are more likely to go along with the majority of their brethren rather than risk being called a traitor. You don’t have to believe me, just look at the GOP. Could anyone have guessed that this once prominent and majority party would be reduced to the status of mouth piece for the likes of Dick Morris and Sarah Palin? David Frum was right when he said, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox. And this balance here has been completely reversed. The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican Party.” Loathe though I am to give any credit to a Republican, especially one who worked in the Bush Whitehouse, Frum has nailed it so to speak. The tail is now waging the dog.

Another thing that we all need to do is stop pretending that this fight is not ours to wage. I am so sick and tired of well-meaning Christians who keep quoting Ephesians 6:12 as though it somehow absolves them from having to speak up and challenge hypocrisy. The scripture reads as follows: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” If I’m reading it accurately it clearly states that while we are not to fight against one another, we are commanded to fight against that which poisons the minds of our fellows, and call it out whenever it rears its ugly head. Those who insist on spreading hatred and lies, in the spirit of Psalm 63:11 “shall be stopped.”

In all of scripture I keep looking for the passage where God, all by himself, accomplished every task. With the exception of the Creation account, it is not there. Even the birth of his only son required the services of a virgin woman. We do violence to scripture by sitting on our hands and looking upward toward the heavens. We need to get up off our knees and bring the fight to those who would pervert and subvert our values in the name of the king of darkness. Do not deceive yourselves; Satan is having a grand old time of it sitting back and watching his creation unleashed and unchecked. You would say Satan cannot do that which God does not allow. I would say that is a cop out for the weak and timid. We are all called to be soldiers. The only question is whose army are we in?

Lastly, we need to present to our fellows a cogent and rational mindset that best represents the heart of what Jesus would have for us as a people. Nature abhors a vacuum. It is not enough to refute the lunacy of the Right, if at the end of the day all we do is substitute our own brand of intolerance in place of theirs. We may win the battle, but we will eventually lose the war. We needn’t be lambs led along to the slaughter house, but we cannot, no matter how tempting it might be, subscribe to the same methods and traits as our sworn enemy. That is the real meaning of Ephesians 6:12. We do not lie down; we stand firm, shielded in His armor and resolute against all that the enemy will throw at us.

The next few months will be as great a test for this nation as any it has yet seen. In a way we are witnessing a sort of Civil War. This war may not result in the killing of thousands of soldiers as the last one did, but there will be casualties nonetheless. It is our duty to be resolute and steadfast in the face of the coming deluge. The enemy will not go quietly into the night, and neither should we. For we are the benefactors of a benevolent and all-powerful God that always triumphs over evil and will equip us for every struggle. He will never abandon us in our time of need so long as we call upon him for our strength.