Fareed Zakaria: "Tea Party is Extreme, Refuses to Compromise"

Imagine my surprise when, during Fareed Zakaria’s monologue on how the tea party is “extreme” and unyielding, a familiar sight flashed onto the screen, a backdrop for his critical opinion of the tea party movement: my costumed husband and his only-once cover band of closeted, conservative musicians, The Sounding Fathers at the 9/12/10 rally in St. Louis.

“… it’s ideologically extreme, refuses to compromise, and cares more about purity than problem-solving. I happen to agree with much of that critique.”

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(Yours truly was also on stage during that song to speak immediately after. It was such a fun event. Other videos of their covers from the event are in the sidebar.)

Zakaria’s opinion is one I hear it daily from the same individuals unhappy that I routinely exercise that which they claim to care so much for: the First Amendment. However, after a handful of emails inquiring about the backdrop for Zakaria’s remarks, I felt I should offer a respectful response to this particular one.

Zakaria doesn’t have a problem with the tea party, Zakaria has a problem with the Constitution. His opinion of the tea party is an indictment of the Constitution. The tea party does not deter from the Constitution. Politicians whose platforms serve as little more than a Constitutional addendum do not fare well with the tea party during elections, either. His focus on the power of the tea party in Washington as a negative, while ignoring the White House’s most regular visitors such as SEIU’s Andy Stern, various other union leaders and special interests which play a major role in shaping the socialist policies of this administration, only demonstrates bias.

No, the tea party isn’t extreme. What is extreme is the extreme absence of oversight the media used to have over governmental affairs. What is extreme is how far towards government control the Democratic party has shifted after it was hijacked by the progressive/socialist caucus. What is extreme is the lack of self-awareness regarding such positions possessed by many members of our media. The entire political spectrum is off its axis because of apathy.

Media exists to watch the government, not the citizens. When both media and government align to mischaracterize the intent of the citizenry, danger abounds.