In the spirit of the revolutionary character of this country’s foundation, Thomas Jefferson once told a friend that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Whether Jefferson would have actually wanted revolutionary upheaval is doubtful considering the fact the man was often a detached idealist. Nonetheless, in a similar revolutionary spirit, a number of Americans, spurred on by Fox News, engaged in a “tea party” protest yesterday that proved to be an inane attempt to challenge the policies of the Obama administration, one that demonstrated that many in this country are, more than anything, simply bitter that President Obama won this past November.
This “movement” began after CNBC commentator Rick Santelli, deriding government plans to aid “loser” homeowners whose mortgages were in trouble, declared before the CME Group in Chicago that “we’re thinking of having a Chicago tea party . . . all you capitalists that want to show up at Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing.” Many people immediately turned onto this idea because of anger towards the increase in government spending, creating Web sites and organizing a series of protests nationwide to occur on April 15, the day taxes were due.
While this might sound like a somewhat logical response by some who disagreed with the president’s policies, the tone of this campaign went from simply being an opportunity to vent for those who value small government to a vast right-wing attack on the Obama administration. Fox News was primarily responsible for this development, giving huge publicity to the campaign and providing “tea party info” on its Web site for America’s Newsroom. Moreover, its various shows gleefully hyped the event. Fox and Friends, the network’s morning show, consistently promoted the event prior to the “tea party,” with graphic banners saying “Party likes its 1773.” Glenn Beck utilized the tea party as a part of his “9/12 Project,” with his show reaching an apex of ridiculousness on April 10 when he had a man dressed as “Thomas Paine” issue a lunatic appeal to the American people to battle “government of the government by the government and for the government,” by sending a “shot heard round the world,” following Sean Hannity’s and others recent accusations that the Obama administration’s actions are leading to “tyranny” or even “fascism.” While the tea party idea could have been a legitimate event for fiscal conservatives to rally against increased government spending, it was instead transformed into a part of Fox News’ hyperbolic campaign to attack the president and his policies.
Naturally, on April 15, Fox gave the protest far more coverage than other networks, mainly by having Beck, Hannity, Neil Cavuto, and Greta Van Susteren broadcast live from four major cities around the country. This series of events would not be so disconcerting if it were not for the fact that Fox News operated as the principal propagator of the entire movement. Most of us are used to conservative, often right-wing rhetoric that the network allows to be disseminated over its airwaves on a daily basis but in this instance, Fox News reached a new level of intensity, more or less encouraging people to hate their government. If Obama had committed some gross error or been essentially negligent in the fulfillment of his duties as president, such as invading a country under false pretenses, holding individuals at Guantanamo Bay through suspension of their rights under habeas corpus, or allowing for the politicization of the Justice Department, like his predecessor, I could completely understand the immoderation of the network and its viewers. However, Obama has been in office for three months. Heck, he hasn’t had time to really screw up, yet the opposition’s anger and vehemence have reached inordinate levels.
What it comes down to is that the tea party served as a chance for Republicans and right-wingers to come together in collective bitterness over the fact that Obama is president. Their disbelief at some of his policy maneuvers, ones he promised during the campaign, indicate a distinct lack of understanding for a specific reality: you lost, deal with it. As Jon Stewart put it on April 7, “When the guy you disagree with gets elected, he’s probably going to do things you disagree with.” Apparently, conservatives cannot handle the concept of being in the minority and only now agree with the idea that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” after eight years of viewing it as being “unpatriotic.”
Fortunately for the United States, the wing-nut appeals of many Fox News contributors are unattractive to the great majority of Americans. Most of us would rather have reasoned debate on public policy than claim the actions of the Obama administration are tyrannical. The tea party served as a chance for people to show their disapproval of the recent large government spending, a perfectly righteous thing in this country. However, the increased magnitude of this event by Fox News altered the assemblies from a venting exercise to a place for encouraging people to hate the government. Bitterness is one thing, but hating Obama after just three months is just extreme.
Geoff Skelley’s column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at g.skelley@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
WILLIAMS: Donald Trump will be a threat to student loan forgiveness
By Ryan Williams | YesterdayTo be sure, this is not a problem of the University’s making. Nevertheless, understanding the uncertainty of financial accessibility in education, the University must step up to the plate.
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 6 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | January 13, 2025After all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
