The hypocrisy of the G.O.Tea Party gets to be more than a bit tiresome. But as long as right wing of the right wing wishes to drink hypocritical hemlock, it is important to point out the Grand Canyon between reality and the fairy tales that are peddled as public policy.

A common theme among the Noble Nine (soon to be the Terrible Ten if New Jersey Governor Chris Christie takes the plunge – an awesome thought) is that “government is the enemy”. From Herman Cain to Rodeo Rick Perry to Magic Mitt Romney to Michele Bachmann, the story line is consistent and unshakable – government is the problem in the lives of the American people and reducing the size of “big government” will be a huge step on the road to a better life for all of us. So let’s look at the facts, an act that is unfamiliar to the truth-averse G.O.Tea Party.

We can take the hypocrites in any order – Herman Cain, for example never misses an opportunity to dismiss the importance of the federal government and to rail against the “stupid people” who are running government. Please know that Mr. Cain graduated from Morehouse College and Purdue University, two institutions that have received millions of dollars in federal aid over the years. Mr. Cain also worked as a civilian employee for the United States Navy, presumably he was not one of the “stupid people” working in government.

As the Chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza he presumably benefited from the work of the Food and Drug Administration which gave his customers confidence to buy his pizza anywhere in the United States.

And, by the way, Purdue University is located in Indiana. Indiana used to have the largest membership of the Ku Klux Klan in the country. The efforts of the federal government, particularly the Department of Justice helped make it safe for the young Mr. Cain to attend an integrated university in the heart of what used to be Klan country.

Rodeo Rick Perry tells us in his “book”, “Fed Up” that government is the enemy. This would be the same Rick Perry who attended Texas A&M University. While he was busy earning a 2.5 G.P.A. and putting firecrackers in toilets, Governor Perry did get a degree and a commission in the United States Air Force. It is highly likely that getting a college degree helped him get that commission and it is absolutely true that his alma mater has received tens of millions of dollars of federal aid over the years.

In a masterful display of double jointed hypocrisy, Governor Perry criticized the Obama Administration for – you guessed it – not sending enough federal aid to Texas to help fight the wildfires that are consuming the state of Texas. Not that Rodeo Rick believes that the wildfires have anything to do with global warming since he doesn’t believe in global warming – or evolution.

Magic Mitt Romney is a little late to the party when he comes to attacking the federal government. We can assume that he hopes that his magical powers will help us forget that he attended Brigham Young and Harvard Universities, two institutions that receive millions of dollars from the federal government every year. We are also supposed to forget that the universal healthcare program that he introduced as governor of the state of Massachusetts was absolutely dependent upon the continuation of federal aid and assistance.

As president of the organization that ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah he was responsible for steering millions of federal dollars into that venture. Now his Olympic victory is put down on his presidential candidacy resume even as he claims that reducing the size of government is the holy grail that we all should seek.

Michele Bachmann is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to hypocrisy. Congresswoman Bachmann makes constant reference to her having over twenty foster children in addition to her five children. She conveniently omits telling us that her home was designated a treatment center for young girls most of whom stayed only a few months and very few of whom stayed for more than a year. And………you guessed it, the Bachmann “treatment center” received government payments for each child that crossed the threshold.

Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus Bachmann, runs a “controversial” counseling center which is said to be engaged in efforts to “cure” homosexuals. But the center can’t be that controversial as it has received over $137,000 in federal payments for treatments at the center.

The reality is that federal, state and local governments play a huge role in the lives of all Americans. The reality is that preaching that government is the “enemy” is simply false and misleading. This is reality that the G.O.Tea Party leaders know is truth from their own life narratives and yet they still seek to mislead. That is when hypocrisy turns to shame.