Ever since Barack Obama became president the loyal opposition hasn’t been very loyal. The Teapublicans have turned governmental dysfunction into an art form and every American from the right wing of the right wing of the Tea Party movement to the Occupy Movement on the other end of the spectrum is paying the price.

It is no longer arguable that the founding principles of the current Tea Party movement are rooted in the mind bending impact that grew with the reality of a black President of the United States actually being President of the United States. To be sure, the movement to lessen the size of government predates the candidacy and presidency of Barack Obama. To be just as sure, the fire, brimstone and sheer rage directed at the federal government can be directly traced to January 19, 2009, when Barack Obama took the oath of office.

We know by admission that the leadership of the Republican (soon to be Teapublican) Party met in Washington on the evening of January 19, 2009 to develop a strategy that would ensure the failure of the Obama Administration. In many circles developing a strategy like this would be considered treasonous plotting.

In any event, as the Republicans morphed into Teapublicans the mood in some parts of the country turned uglier and uglier as the presidency of the KenyanMuslimFascistCommunistTerroristAntiChrist Named Obama continued. Shamefully, the presumably reasonable leadership of the Teapublicans Formerly Known as Republicans stayed silent as racist rage masqueraded as serious policy concerns.

The result of this political voyage through the sewer of resentment and pure hate was the 2010 midterm elections which resulted in a literal a mob of Tea Party nihilists storming into Washington with the twin goals of defeating President Barack Obama and dismantling the federal government. And while this mob, which recalls lily white mobs of another day, was unable to defeat Barack Obama it has done a damn good job of trying to dismantle the federal government.

At a time when this country desperately needs leaders to display leadership, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has proudly employed the filibuster tactic 420 times in efforts to thwart the rational function of the Obama presidency and the federal government in general. His epic use of filibusters in order to make sure that the federal government does not function has had an especially hard impact on all aspects of this country – from its diminished credit rating to the diminished respect that the American people have for government.

Not to be outdone, House Speaker John Boehner has led the Teapublican kamikazes in repeated efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act of 2010 knowing that the bill will not be repealed and without offering anything like a rational legislative alternative. Speaker Boehner and his fellow Teapublican Terrorists simply want their limited constituency to know that they voted against Obamacare – now 39 times and counting. The fact that their votes have nothing to do with governance and that in no way have they helped a single American gain better health care options and alternatives is of no importance in their alternate universe.

We have become so anesthetized to the appalling antics of the Teapublican Terrorists that we sit by with only muted protest as infrastructure crumbles, government workers are furloughed, Head Start programs evaporate, food stamps wither and veterans wait in interminable lines in in neglected VA hospitals. There seems to be no bottom to the Teapublican well of bile and rage and nihilism. And in the process the entire American public, including Teapublicans suffer.

Opposition is a natural and normal part of democracy. Simply put obstructionism and nihilism is not. This is a lesson that the Teapublicans have yet to learn.

But the rest of us are learning this lesson in real time.