Throughout the historical record, there are innumerable instances of individuals and groups guilty of treacherous action to defeat, or hinder, an endeavor through deliberate acts of subversion. In most cases, saboteurs are ideologically motivated to create injury out of hatred for their target, and Americans have seen the level of damage conservatives are willing to cause this nation for no other reason than advancing their extremist vision of a libertarian-controlled America. It is simplistic to think teabaggers and Republicans are misguided and misinformed about the damage their policies, if enacted, will cause the nation, because as ideological saboteurs, they know what will result if their policies are enacted and it is just one reason they are enemies of the state.

The recent failure of House Speaker John Boehner to garner support for his people-killing Plan B to avoid Republican’s fiscal cliff revealed that despite how injurious Plan B was to the nation and its people, it did not create enough damage to satisfy Boehner’s ideological caucus. The irony in Boehner’s failure is that the rebellion is the product of the GOP’s decades-long allegiance to Grover Norquist’s anti-government agenda and adherence to Reagan-conservative’s mantra that the United States government is inherently evil and the people’s enemy. The rebellious group’s stated goal is to let the economy go over the fiscal cliff to “see what happens” and hold firm to their pledge to never raise taxes on any American. The ideological insanity in their desire to see the economy fall off the cliff guarantees every American’s tax rate will increase, and therein is just one instance of how ideologues’ anxious to sabotage the government are implicitly sabotaging themselves and their cause.