As the United States prepares itself for the approaching 2012 presidential election, voters in primaries to select the Republican candidate find themselves inundated by a selection of arch-conservative contenders vying for the opportunity to seize the nomination.
Guided by “God”, free-market economics and corporate tax cuts, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, darling of the right-wing Tea Party, appears at the forefront of such arch-conservative efforts to enter the White House and set in motion an uncompromising far-right agenda.
A recent inclusion to the forefront of US politics, Bachmann followed in the footsteps of Alaskan govenor Sarah Palin and is part of the latest fascination with “pit-bull mums” in office.
The intensely conservative Bachmann is presented as someone who can relate to “middle-America”. She has found space in the emergent far-right Tea Party movement. This movement, which presents itself as the voice of the “ordinary” people, advocates tax cuts for the rich and free-market capitalism.
Bachmann has tried to implement highly conservative policies. These vary from seeking to repeal Medicaid, enforcing “intelligent design” into the education system, wiping out the minimum wage and phasing out social security.
Campaigning for such legislation, Bachmann went further, calling for a McCarthy-like inquiry into politicians to judge if they “are pro-American or anti-American”.
Bachmann champions Tea Party principles, particularly that slashing government spending. However, Bachmann & Associates, a Christian counseling service that she owns jointly with her husband, readily receives Medicaid funding of nearly US$30,000 for services that include “pray away the gay” therapy.
This is in addition to government subsidies of $260,000 received in relation to a family farm. It seems the Bachmanns have a strong relationship not only with the Tea Party, but also with hypocrisy —campaigning against Obama’s “socialist” government while suckling on taxpayer funds.
Bachmann is also re-known for her unique view on historical events. She claimed in regards to the US founding fathers: “We also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.”
In fact many were themselves slave owners.
A similarly revisionist viewpoint was her comment on science, stating: “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design.”
Again, completely fictitious.
With crashing blunders such as these, and many more, the incredible prospect of a nominee with a backwards thinking frame to rival that of even Sarah Palin is an increasingly distinct possibility.
Indeed, recent dissatisfaction with a perceived failure over the economy at the hands of the Democrats, and a jobless rate of 9.2%, could be just the climate needed to create the momentum for the fringe of the right to seize the Republican nomination.
A recent Public Policy Polling survey supports such fears. Bachmann was first in the Republican primaries with 21%, followed by rival Mitt Romney at 20%.
While still a minority in the Republican Party, the Tea Party movement has proved to be considerably influential, creating a voice to be noticed within conservative circles.
This is particularly true for the Republican primaries election process, where Tea Party supporters outnumber the more moderate Republicans. This helped lead to Bachmann’s rise from relative obscurity to a key contender among those vying to be Republican presidential candidate.
A victory for the Tea Party, by way of Bachmann, would lead to a national and, by extension, an international platform for far right politics. With issues such as the global financial crisis, global warming and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the prospect of such an ultra-conservative in the White House is deeply concerning.
It is to be hoped that the far-right opinions that have so far garnered Bachmann the support of the Republican base act as a double-edged sword. Such wild opinions coupled with untamed statements may produce the opposite effect among more moderate Republicans and independents while failing to sway potential Democratic votes.
Until then, Bachmann and the Tea Party have found a platform by which to promote the agenda of the far-right.