Tea Party: False Prophets

I must admit to a degree of admiration for the Tea Party folks.  They passionately love America, they speak up, they bring a moral fervor to the national scene, they spout a Jesus line, and they demand action on our rising debt challenge.  This is democracy in action. This is also prophetic action.  It appears the Tea Party passes the test.

The prophet speaks with moral passion.  The prophet looks at society and addresses the wrongs.  The prophet calls out those who would do harm.  The prophet speaks truth.  The prophet purports to speak for God. It would seem the Tea Party passes the test.

But there are serious disconnects.

The standard for prophetic legitimacy is the Biblical prophets.  When comparing the Tea Party prophets with the Biblical prophets we notice glaring short-comings.

GOD/JESUS VS. AYN RAND:  The Biblical prophets listened to the Spirit of God, sought the will of God.  The Spirit of God spoke of justice, of mercy, of love for the other and creation.  In contrast, the god of the Tea Party is unabashed Ayn Rand, unfettered capitalism.  Trust the corporations!  Trust the free markets!  Trust the bankers! Profit is god!  The market will take care of us!  Taxes are anti-god!

THE COMMON GOOD VS. EVERYONE FOR THEMSELVES:  The Biblical prophets speak of the common good.  Work for all, food for all, opportunity for all, dignity for all, health for all, safety for all, equality for all.  In other words, ALL FOR ALL.  The Tea Party mantra is get what YOU can.  Not one for all and all for one, but one for one. Cut taxes and let me have what is mine.  Leave me alone to fend for myself and all will be well.  Give me the freedom to be ME!  The Tea Party is "meism run crazy!"

PERSONAL VS. IDEOLOGICAL:  The Biblical prophets were dedicated to compassion and justice for the person.  The Tea Party is committed to ideological purity at the expense of the person.  The TP may speak of "personal freedom", but the personal is exclusionary.  ON BALANCE, the TP is anti-immigrant, anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-share the wealth, and anti-African-American.

KNOWLEDGE VS. IGNORANCE:  The Biblical prophets knew the reality of society.  The BP understood the sources of injustice.  The BP refused to allow their voices to be bought off and silenced by the wealthy powerful.  The BP refused to protect those who sucked the life out of society.  Conversely, the Tea Party's critique is silenced by the facade of political "minders" bought off by greedy Wall Street and corporate barons.  The political and business leadership the Tea Party trusts are wolves in sheep's clothing.  The Tea Party are lemmings heading for the cliff of moral and economic oblivion.  And they don't even know it.

The powerful are playing the Tea Party for fools.  The Tea Party is a "puppet theatre" of manipulated actors who falsely believe they are the main show when in reality they are only pawns of the powerful. They believe they are prophetic, but they are only puffing prophetic puppets of greed.  And they don't even know it.  False prophets all.

Peace!
Ron