Tea Party congresswoman proposes cuts to veterans' services

Tea Party is no friend of veterans

The multi-billionaire Koch brothers are chief financiers of the Tea Party, which represents the super-rich.

The author is a former U.S. Army infantryman who served two tours in Iraq.

The first thing you will see when you go to teaparty.org is an image of soldiers in the upper-left corner. The slogan, “Tea Party Vets For God and Country” is emblazoned above the soldiers' images. Below the soldiers are the words "Support the Troops." Based on this, one might believe that the Tea Party is dedicated to meeting the needs of soldiers and veterans.

Why then is Tea Party heroine and newly elected U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) putting forward a plan that would freeze health care funding for the already underfunded Department of Veteran affairs? She is also proposing cutting $4.5 billion in disability to military veterans. Why on earth would a person who is the vanguard spokeswoman of the Tea Party work to cut care for wounded veterans while her party claims to support the troops? The truth is the Tea Party does not support us.

The Tea Party promotes the idea that it supports the troops and veterans because this creates an image that pulls on people's heartstrings. The Tea Party has created a “revolutionary” image; its very name evokes a historic event in the U.S. revolution. They speak of “freedom,” and that appeals to veterans who are trying to make sense of the Iraq and Afghan occupations, who are trying to understand why they are being deployed multiple times.

But what kind of “freedom” does the Tea Party really stand for?

The Tea Party poses itself as a grassroots people's movement that acts in the interests of “average Americans.” But in reality, the Tea Party acts in the interests of the super-rich and giant corporations.

When the Tea Party talks about “freedom,” they mean freedom for health insurance companies to charge us massive monthly premiums, and then the freedom to deny us life-saving care when we end up in the hospital.

They mean freedom for business owners to lay off scores of employees, eliminate workers' benefits, and cut our hours and wages to keep their profits and bonus checks high.

They mean the freedom of banks to issue scandalous, intentionally misleading home loans with hundreds of pages of fine print, then the freedom to throw us and our families out onto the street when we are unable to stay on top of the usurious monthly payments.

They mean the freedom of oil giants, through their buddies in the Pentagon, to order us to be maimed and killed to seize new oil reserves, so their billionaire shareholders can grow their investment portfolios. 

The Tea Party stands for all of the economic hardships that pushed many of us into the military, hardships that make it increasingly difficult for us to get out. They stand for the profit-driven foreign policy that has us fighting endlessly for Wall Street’s access to new markets.

While the Tea Party evokes its alleged support for veterans on its website, the reality is, if the Tea Party got its way, the situation for veterans would be even worse than it is right now. The Tea Party tells us that “small government” is the answer. This means they want to eliminate government programs like the GI Bill, veterans job programs, disability and compensation for wounds we receive at war, housing and social services for those of us who end up unable to find work or a place to live and health services for those of us who have left the military with substance abuse problems and psychological trauma. What we need are more government services, not fewer.

The Tea Party and its leaders claim they support our troops, but their policies and proposed cuts prove otherwise. The Tea Party is no friend of veterans and GIs. They are the friends of the corporate and banking interests responsible for all the hardships we face both in and out of the military.