Richard Rohr, the Franciscan monk that I esteem so highly, recently provided a different take on Jesus’ words on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Rohr explained that Jesus was merely pointing out that those men were not “conscious” of what they were doing, but were driven by intense emotion, emotions which T.S. Eliot once described as “daemonic, chthonic powers.” Those people were not “thinking” but merely acting, or better yet, “acting out”. They were the “toy of some great pain” which they had not found the ability to integrate into their consciousness and thus could only project onto someone else. Jung has said, “What we resist, persists” and when we have ugliness abounding in our heart, it persists and does so always in projection “out there” onto someone else or some other group. But even if the foe is vanquished, the pain is still there as it has not been brought to conscious awareness and will merely find another victim. For, it always has to be one of “them” who is the problem.
Thus I come to the Tea Party, my “whipping boy” of the day. They hate Obama with a passion and have used that and other hatreds to unite them as a peripheral political force, one that has managed to influence the Republican party most of which does not view things as rigidly as they do. The moderate Republicans could have set limits at any point along the way and spared themselves the present mess they are in. For example, they could have merely told the hyper-conservative wing of their party at any time, “Hey, you guys who think the earth is only 6,000 years old need to get your head out of your backside” and that would have told these neanderthals that there was a limit that could be set at anytime by the Republican mainstream. But, the “mainstream” was insecure about its agenda and felt it had to cater to those “neanderthals” and win their support as otherwise they could not win national elections.
And, once again I am reminded that in group behavior there are always lessons for the individual. Setting limits is an essential element of being human and if we can’t set them…or, if the ability to set them is impaired…we will at some point find ourselves in a “heap a’ trouble.” And, as I have said frequently of latte, “been there, done that” as I speak from experience. For I today, just like the Tea Party…and everyone else…need to remember the wisdom of W. H. Auden, “We wage the war we are.”
literary lew 
“If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom — go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” – Organizer of the Boston Tea Party – Samuel Adams (27 September 1722 – 2 October 1803), Governor of Massachusetts from 1793 to 1797.
Many people in America who risk their money to start businesses and hire employees fail at it and lose everything, but many succeed and grow wealthy. Americas economic system is great because of this opportunity, however, the income gap widens because of government policies that depress economic growth in favor of wealth redistribution. Our government borrows 42 cents for every dollar it spends – and we are now about $15 trillion dollars in debt – almost $50,000 for every man woman and child. We can service this debt with our tax revenue, but it adds stress to our economy and depress job growth by devaluing money and making less money available for lending to businesses.
Do you honestly think our elected geniuses in Washington will come up with a brilliant centralized-plan to grow us out of this debt?
My bank called me the other day to say I qualified for another car loan. Did I say, “Great! I’ll get a Mercedes this time!” Not on your life! I need to pay off my debt so I have money for other things and so I don’t leave the debt for my kids. NOT SO the US Government though! Spend, spend, spend! Our politicians are addicted to spending and our people are addicted to government handouts. If you’ve ever been to an Al-anon meeting you’ll recognize the crazy justifications made by the spending addicted politicians. The world will end if we can’t spend this money! There’s NO WHERE we can reduce spending (said Nancy Pelosi recently). They are classic addicts and they are sucking us all in as co-dependent dupes. It’s out of control.
The Tea Party began because of out-of-control government spending, and its members are very concerned and loyal American citizens. It makes me very sad to read meritless criticism like yours.
Best Regards, Bill X
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Out of town and can’t respond fully. Appreciate your thoughtful, polite, and sincere response. Will be back with a more complete response within the week.
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