WASHINGTON D.C.—Nothing was more disheartening in politics this past weekend than the outrageous behavior of the Tea Party members who chose to use racial epithets and even allegedly spit on some of the congressmen who were walking to the capitol on Sunday before the historic vote on the new health care bill. Although I still believe this bill is not a good one for the nation and that the continued deficit spending is not only wrong but senseless, the behavior of people who were on the opposite side of the political aisle was very much improper.

The Republican response to some Tea Party members’ behavior was almost as sad and shocking as the behavior itself. It reminds me of the same pattern by many Muslims who refuse to renounce the tactics of the terrorists who on principle claim they are just and right to do the things they do in order to achieve their political goals. I remember several years back some Israeli fighter pilots refused their government’s orders to shoot missiles into the homes of Palestinians stating they were not going to become terrorists just because they were fighting them. Our nation is truly turning a sad corner when a political party is aligning itself yet again with the wrong type of people.

In the 1960s during the civil rights battles, certain politicans chose not to vote for the civil rights act, but to celebrate Senator Strom Thurmon’s 24-hour filibuster of the bill as a heroic act, even though he had secretly fathered a child by his parents’ African American maid years earlier. Soon after the majority of the Republican Party in Congress voted against the voting rights act, for whatever reasons, they found that appropriate at the time. The Republican party became surprised that African Americans left what was once the party of Lincoln behind and moved over to the Democratic party.  Who knows why? Whatever it is, the Republican party again find themselves at a very frightening place. People who hate the current political leaders so much that they would behave identical to the terrorists who when they cannot get their way, they use whatever tactics, including vulgar words and threats of physical violence to assault their enemies.

That being said, the Democratic Party also has thrown common sense under the bus while claiming that spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a new entitlement will lower the deficit. There is no wonder there are so many people in our nation who are upset. However, behavior so unconscionable is never a solution to being unhappy about policies that may or may not be good for the nation. I remember as a very young child hearing a neighbor tell my grandmother how bad children are today. That was over four decades ago. At the time my grandmother’s statement was, “No wonder the kids are so bad, look at who their parents are.”

After seeing allegations of some of the Tea Party members calling one civil rights icon from Georgia a racial epithet, a Massachusetts gay member of Congress a sexually insensitive statement, an Hispanic congressman from Texas a very vile statement  and a congressman from Michigan is now getting death threats on his home phone, I’ve come to the conclusion that the alternative party solution is no better than the current political party situation we now find ourselves in. No wonder young people are turned off by politics and public life. It’s an absolute turnoff for those of us who are far from the age of children.  By press time the FBI and Secret Service have increased security for at least 10 lawmakers who have been receiving further death threats.

Please remember the men and women who are real American heroes, who are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for our freedoms. I suppose, even the freedom of speech from a group of people who at the very least proved themselves not to be moral, respectful or very adult. Please offer to care for a service member’s pet while they are deployed overseas. Many of our troops have told me that they are having a hard time finding people who are willing to adopt their pets until they return home.