The Uncivil War

With Obamacare now firmly established as law, the healthcare website repaired, and therefore thousands more people enrolling daily, hope is fading for the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party being able to deny millions of uninsured Americans the healthcare they so desperately need. But the increasingly bleak outlook for halting everything Obama has not deterred the Tea Party patriots, but has instead invigorated their resolve to continue to fight for an utterly hopeless and immoral cause, much as their forefathers did at the only other time in our nation's history when our country was so starkly and violently divided — during the great American Civil War.

Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns chronicles this Tea Party juggernaut in his new documentary, Uncivil War, airing on PBS in January. Konajournal is fortunate to have obtained a clip from the forthcoming film.

"The Baggers were beaten down, but did not ask for quarter. To a man, they remained grimly defiant. Although ill-equipped, materially and mentally, they stuck together, hoping to bring down Leviathan. In the winter of 2013, one such foot soldier wrote home to his dutiful and constant wife (cue Ashokan Farewell):

'My dearest Brandi,

I know it's been many months since I have put pen to paper to apprise you of our fortunes, but the fighting has been fierce and unrelenting. Forty-seven times we stormed the Hill to repeal the abomination known as Obamacare, but the Army of the Potomac routed us at each attempt. Yet we remain defiant and although on our heels, we are not on our backs. We fight on.

Only recently, our battle flag, the glorious Stars and Bars, made it to the very gates of the White House, where it waved majestically in the very Wind of Freedom, until, alas, the bluecoats removed it hence. But our other ensign, the Gadsden Flag, remained unchallenged and undefiled.

Now we prepare to embark on yet another delusive endeavor to slay Leviathan, by once again attempting to deprive the Beast of sustenance. If we must stack our bodies up as cord wood to shut down this Kenyan tyrant's government, so shall we do, my dearest. But do not weep for me or allow your precious self a moment of fear, for Providence is on our side, and if not Providence, at least part of Cranston is and some of Warwick.

God willing, I will return to you in the Springtime, dearest, in time for the monster truck show. Tell Johnny Paul to keep his damn hands off my tool box and to return my car ramps. 

We have been surviving on Hamburger Helper, tater tots and Mountain Dew these many months, so at least we are eating normally. Kiss the children for me, dearest. And I can count, so don't you be pregnant when I get home. Sic semper tyrannis,

Billy Joe' "

©2013 Kona Lowell