Your Opinion: Conservatives encourage craziness

Dear Editor:

Would you belong to a church where the minister did not believe in his organization? Instead they preached to limit services and tithing. What if you were in a military organization whose leaders said to you about battle, "We just can't do it pilgrims. It's a bridge too far. The cost is too great." This is not leadership. You can't hate our government and love our country.

Why do citizens fill up their government with politicians who hate government? Why do we have politicians that get paid to drag government down? Shouldn't we want politicians on the payroll who try to make programs run efficiently and intelligently? Is there something wrong with us? Are we schizophrenic and lacking in the ability to recognize reality from fiction?

Conservative leadership is responsible for encouraging much of the craziness in America now.

How many letters a week do we read here about one conspiracy or another that threatens self-described "patriots"? There was the one where electronic health records would track "patriots" to persecute them. And before that there was the letter about tracking of credit card transactions that would show gun purchases and threaten the Tea Party.

There was even the conspiracy where our local Republican legislature alleged the Missouri license bureau was singling out conceal and carry "patriots" to harass them. So much encouraged paranoia and conspiracy.

As always there is a whole industry prospering off the gullible. It's the $500-million-dollar-a-year "preparedness" (survivalist) industry which is flooding the blogosphere with ads for ammunition, gold bullion, antibiotics, freeze-dried food, sling shots, prefab bunkers, Bibles and countless other products to help you brave the impending Obama mayhem.

Examples include:

"How to turn 200 bucks into a large supply of 37 essential food items ..."

"How to keep the military out of your home even if they have an evacuation order ..."

And my family's favorite: "39 Ways Duct Tape Can Save Your Life."

The current Republican government shutdown has been months in the planning.

Eighty of the most radical House members signed a letter in July to Speaker Boehner insisting on holding the country hostage while demanding that the health care law be defunded. Then they have the nerve to blame President Obama. It's delusional.

Tea Party leadership dismisses compromise as weakness. Laws mean nothing. They encourage citizens to be dividers not uniters even as they and their supporters prance around as "patriots."