The Real Tea Party

By Ben Blay

The mainstream media blatantly declares that the Tea Party movement amounts to a clamoring mass of dumb, racist bigots. Joe Klein, a lead writer for Time magazine, said that the movement amounts to “sedition”. Furthermore, Chris Matthews proclaimed that the Tea Party movement is a “dangerous element of the right”.  These are serious accusations that I completely disagree with. The media is downright angry that the Tea Party has grown exponentially in the past year. With such growth, the movement is inevitably growing more political muscle. This is precisely why the mainstream media outlets are attempting to undermine the movement and make it appear illegitimate. For example, accusations made by the Huffington Post that Tea Partiers spit and swore at black Congressmen are completely inaccurate and designed to slander the movement. Absolutely no evidence has emerged to suggest that such events occurred, with several different videos of the “incident” failing to produce any derogatory acts. Given the current condition and attitude of America’s media today, it’s not much of a stretch for me to postulate that if a liberal movement as potent as the Tea Party came into existence, it would not experience such an odious wave of defamation.Not convinced that the Tea Party movement is a genuine, peaceful and well intended uprising in America? Allow me to enlighten you with a brief summary of my personal encounter with the Tea Partiers themselves. When I arrived with my conservative colleague Alec Parent to the Pleasanton Tea Party, we were greeted by a friendly representative that guided us to the parking lot. From afar, the rally appeared as one large summer barbeque. The smell of foods found at festivals filled the air while the muted noise of excited attendees cheering could be heard. As we finally entered, the vendors’ tents selling witty t-shirts and other merchandise gradually gave way to the representative tents. There were two Democratic tents at the rally, which is considerable because overall there weren’t too many of these politically oriented tents.

From my personal interactions, I would describe the actual attendees as amiable and well informed. The signs that were being picketed were very clever but not offensive in any manner. The overall demeanor of the crowd was never angry or spiteful. I never once heard an offensive, uneducated, or racist comment. We simply stood eagerly listening to what the speakers had to say about lower taxes, smaller government and greater personal responsibility. To be completely honest, having been slightly influenced by all of the claims from the media that the protests were characteristically hateful and violent, I was surprised when I left. I was surprised and disgusted that I, like so many other Americans, could believe that these demonstrations were somehow ill disposed. The only thing that the Tea Part is intolerant of is abuse from the government and the raising of taxes.

Now, I completely understand that you may not share my conservative values. I won’t bore you with an explanation of what I believe in, but I will say that I am not ashamed to be a conservative living in a liberal area. I do encourage closet-conservatives to come out; I know there are many kids my age who are simply intimidated by peer pressure to conform to liberal or Democratic ideas. Don’t let your Constitutional right of free speech be oppressed. However unpopular the Tea Party may be at Saint Francis or even in California for that matter, I personally feel that the movement would be less so if it received fair media coverage. That’s why I watch Fox News.