OPINION: I Am Not Saying Joe Stack Is A Teabagger, But He's A Little Teaish

NewsOne Featured Video

Jon Stacks was a very angry, emotionally disturbed man. His problem with the IRS was just a personal as political. I’m not going to say that Joe Stack was a Tea Party member. Although his rant definitely included some rhetoric that could be right out of a Tea Party manual, he also had some crazy ideas that weren’t necessarily part of the Tea Party manifesto.

Even Glenn Beck, the court jester of the Tea Party was quick to point out that while Stacks left some rhetoric in his manifesto that could be considered “communist,”

When you read his anti-tax ravings and his anti-tax or IRS stuff it sounds like you could be reading bumper stickers off the cars or the signs of the Tea Party.

Tea Party leaders are quickly distancing themselves from Stack. They claim to have no record on their lists of Joe Stack as a Tea Party member. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a member or wasn’t sympathetic to the movement. Although in his manifesto, he strays from the general Tea Party talking points, there are many ideologies in the Tea Party from pro-war to anti-war, to pro -drugs to anti-drugs, from anti-Republican to Neo-Con. There are also a lot of crazy people drawn to Tea Parties as way to vent their anger with no particular political ideology at all.

The problem with the Tea Party movement, is that it is less defined by a political ideology and more defined by hatred and disdain for our President and the government. The Fox News pundits and Tea Party speakers are excellent hatemongers. They have painted Obama as a communist, socialist, Muslim, tyrant, dictator, and said that he wants to take away people’s guns and freedom.

It’s not the Tea Party ideology that may drive people to violence, but the hatred and fear mongering it promotes do. The Neo-Cons who run the Tea Party, in particular, Dick Armey, have united with extremist elements who they can not control. I have previously written about two elements that have joined the Tea Party, the Neo-Nazis and The Neo-McVieghs. Both of these groups add fuel to the anger and fear already in place in the Tea Party and both groups have a long strong history of terrorism yet are welcomed, seemingly with open arms into the Tea Party movement.

The Neo-Nazis identify with the terrorists who killed maimed and put Black people in terror for years (KKK) as well as the government that is responsible for World War II and the holocaust, while the Neo-McVeighs hold the same “Patriot” beliefs of a “New World Order” conspiracy that led to McVeigh blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma.

The leaders of the Tea Party must acknowledge the “lunatic fringe” that participates in its protests and feel connected to the movement as well as the organized neo-Nazis and Patriot inspired militias. While certain Tea Party leaders may speak out against violence, others subtly promote it with talks of “revolution” and “revolt” and “shedding blood of tyrants” and by instilling conspiracy theories about the government trying to turn into an oppressive New World Order.

The Tea Party people should take Stack as a warning. Hate is a powerful tool. Fear is too. The anger over taxes is being manipulated by the Neo-Con richest one percent to avoid issues like the war and put heat on their political opponents, Barack Obama and the democratic party. The Tea Party has let the inmates run the asylum and no one is accountable for whatever hate mongering goes on in Tea Party events. This is dangerous.