A young friend of mine sent me this column about the differences between the TEA Party and Occupy Wall Street.  It boils down to this:  the TEA Party thinks government is the problem.  OWS thinks huge corporations are the enemy.

But there’s an even better way to see the difference.  Here’s a perfect example:

In 2011, Florida succeeded in passing legislation requiring the drug testing of welfare applicants at the urging of Gov. Rick Scott, who rode to office on a wave of Tea Party support. The roughly 113,000 Florida welfare recipients must pay for their own drug test, though their initial welfare payment will cover the cost — assuming they pass. People who fail the test become ineligible for a year, or six months if they can prove they’ve successfully completed drug treatment. A second failed test makes them ineligible for three years.

The Economist magazine’s headlines conveyed the elation Tea Party members must have felt with their legislative victory. Drug testing in Florida: their tea-cup runneth over.

Despite Gov. Scott’s rhetoric, the poor are not drug addicts. Only about 2 percent of Florida’s welfare applicants are failing the test, according to Florida’s Department of Children and Families. After adding up the savings derived from not paying welfare to this 2 percent and subtracting the cost of testing successful applicants, the Tampa Tribune concluded that Florida may save “up to $40,800 to $98,400 for … a program that state analysts have predicted will cost $178 million this fiscal year.” And that’s without factoring in staff hours and other resources.

The TEA party is willing to spend $178 million just to be mean.  No other reason.  They just wanted to be mean and hateful.

Man’s first question to God was, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  And God answered yes.  TEA Party members didn’t hear God.

The TEA Party thinks the lost, the lame, and the least are the enemy.  Not big bankers, not Wall Street, not greed.

They are not about fiscal responsibility or going back to the “founding fathers.”  You’ll notice that they dumped the founding fathers motto of E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one) because the TEA party is still fighting the civil war.  With God on their side, dammit!

The whole article is good with a nice framing of the conflict.

And since it is Friday, smile —