by RightHandMan
The current popular media notion is that the tea party movement and their supported candidates are extreme characters. Mrs. O’Donnell has been accused of being extreme because she dares to promote marriage and sexual purity (an issue high in the voter’s minds). Marco Rubio is radical because he dared say that Social Security needs to change. Glenn Beck is a fanatic because he held a rally to uphold moral standards.
Hans Johnson, for the Huffington Post, wrote that the current movement is “like the frenzy of McCarthyism that drove GOP gains” and that the “fluency in [its] fringe ideology and appeals to intolerance now substitute for leadership among conservatives”.
There is a huge flaw in this common leftist mind set displayed by Mr. Hans Johnson which is the notion that fringe leaders are spurring the current movement. Not so! If anything, those that are considered leaders in the conservative movement are jumping on the grass roots wave. The notion that these political figures pushed themselves into power is patronizing to the American people who actually put them there. Furthermore, the impulse for the left to write these individuals off as subscribers to a “fringe ideology” is completely detached from reality. The fringe is in the White House and Congress as evidenced, not only by the approval/disapproval numbers, but also by the very movement they belittle.
The problem is that the leftists have had the largest voices for far too long. The New York Times and their ilk have exhaustively spouted quasi socialist agendas, the major news networks have allied to promote the left’s schema for years, and academia has been in the corner of the liberals for decades. Together, as a minority, they have been successful in redefining the terms “mainstream” and “fringe”. The clutch they had on these definitions is no longer successfully deceiving to the American people.
Over the past decade Americans have been told by these mentioned groups that 9-11 terrorists are only “alleged hijackers”, that Social Security is “secure”, that a struggling economy only needs to be “stimulated” by your tax dollars, that right wingers are racists, that banks can be “too big to fail”, and that radical Christians are just as big a problem as radical Muslims. These are supposed “mainstream” stances and anyone who disagrees is “on the fringe”. If disagreeing with the leftists on these major issues is extreme, then call me Sam Adams!
I may be extreme by the long standing terms, but the terms are shifting in spite of the ancient anchor’s efforts. I believe in liberty in its most pure form. I believe our federal government should adhere strictly to the Constitution and should limit its power over the people. I believe that the American people, as a whole, are excellent at self government. These principles should be strictly adhered to. If you find this view extreme then I propose to you the Goldwater stance that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue”, and I value virtue.
