Tea party wants to drag us back in time

With Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, the Republican tea party time machine has a full crew and is ready for action. Its mission: To take the country back to the good old days when there was only one race, two sexes and three channels; a time when contraceptives were illegal, back-alley abortions the norm, and uppity homosexuals demanding equal rights were back in the closet where they belong.

Health care was available for all (who could afford to pay for it). Seniors had comfortable retirements if they had saved enough money (no need for programs like Social Security). Poor people had only themselves to blame for being poor, though they would be of upstanding character for not being dependent on government. Economically it would be every man for himself.

There would be no such thing as global warming and no pesky environmental laws standing in the way of business profits. Other countries might be allies, but never equals, and our enemies would be punished unilaterally by our superior military forces with no need for diplomacy.

Although this time machine sounds like science fiction, the Republican tea party mission is real.

MICHAEL A. CLARKE

Salida