What follows describes only one example of the adverse consequences of the conservative ideology which has dominated our politics for so long, but it is one which is highly symbolic of the massive failure of so many Republican policies which were crammed down our throats over the last eight years by those who had free reign to implement their the misguided ideas and untested opinions about the proper role of government.

For eight years the Bush administration tried, and for the most part succeeded in weakening the enforcement of laws and regulations regarding toxic chemicals, heavy metals and other pollutants generated by industry. This is one of the results of their all too effective campaign to allow polluters to operate with impunity,hat is, without any effective oversight by the Federal Government of the harm being caused to all Americans from the introduction of such deadly toxins into our air and water:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) — U.S. Geological Survey scientists say they have detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the United States.

The USGS said about a quarter of the fish were found to contain mercury at levels exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish. […]

The USGS study found some of the highest levels of mercury in fish in the “blackwater” streams in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana.

I want to say something especially to all those “limited government” folks, most of them Republicans, many of them hunters and fishermen, and many of whom live in the Southeastern United States. This mercury contamination of fish stocks is the direct result of the policies which you favored, and which “your President” Bush implemented. This is why we can’t eat the fish we catch, and why we also must be concerned about the fish raised in commercial fish farms. This is one reason why your children get sicker and have more developmental damage and learning disabilities. This is what happens when you try to shrink government to a size so small you can drown it in a bathtub. You endanger the health of your children, your parents, your grandparents and yourself.

And mercury is just one of the many poisons which were allowed to increase, contaminating the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat by an administration dedicated to promoting the interests of polluters and the lobbyists who represent them ahead of public health and safety. A President so callous he joked about being the world’s worst polluter in a high level G8 summit meeting last year.

So, hey, all you tea baggers, don’t pay your taxes. Try to kill government regulation of the environment. Just know that at the same time, you are also cutting your own throats. Or perhaps I should I say pouring countless unknown poisons down them (and the throats of millions of other Americans) because of your misguided belief that we’d all be better off with as little government as possible. Face it people, the facts don’t fit your theory. The data points from your little experiment in limited government are in and they disprove almost every one of your most cherished beliefs. But I don’t expect the hardcore dead enders among you to let facts get in the way of your ideological fervor. For at this point, Repubicanism, in all its various forms, is a faith based cult, whether that faith is one based on a simplified version of religion or a simplified version of economics.

Meanwhile, I can’t eat the fish I catch from our local lakes and rivers, and neither can you.