Opposing Viewpoints: The Tea Party is disconnected from reality

Progress is the motivation behind politics.

As the 21st century continues, one must hope for social progress: amending societal ills and aspiring for a greater society.

The Tea Party is not the answer.

They do not reflect the consensus of a majority, nor should they consider themselves a political party.

Christine O’Donnell, who is endorsed by the Tea Party, defeated Congressman Mike Castle in Delaware’s Republican Primary.

O’Donnell attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, initially pursing a career in theater.

According to dailyrecord.com, O’Donnell admitted in a 2004 interview that she was an openly promiscuous partier.

She was “drinking too much and having sex with guys with whom there wasn’t a strong emotional connection.”

After an evangelical Christian conversion, O’Donnell focused her interests in religion and politics. She began preaching sexual abstinence, bringing her austere beliefs to the FDU College Republicans.

After college, O’Donnell joined the anti-pornography group, Enough is Enough.

She advocated sexual abstinence, even making an MTV appearance warning teenagers of the dangers of masturbation. Using Biblical texts, she related masturbation to committing adultery, condemning both as an act of selfish lust.

Her Christian beliefs manifest themselves in her campaign promises: teaching creationism as a counterpart to Darwinian evolution in public schools.

These are not the fanatical beliefs of an individual, but the platform of the Tea Party.

Tea Party beliefs declare that sexual education should not be taught in schools, that not every American should have healthcare, that certain Americans, like homosexuals, do not deserve rights, that the government should not cap carbon dioxide emissions nor interfere with our enormous economy.

If rescinding legislation, rather than bringing new ideas to Congress, constitutes progress, then by all means, elect her.

Somewhere, in the parochial minds of Tea Party members, lays the faulty notion that if we modify traditional values, we lose all of them.

Fear paralyzes those who believe that once revising a belief, there is no boundary to its destruction.

According to sociologist Amitai Etzioni, “not every young woman who allows herself to be kissed before marriage ends up a hooker…societies can reset their moral codes without necessarily losing their grip. And, to reiterate, sliding down the slippery slope is not necessarily the result of an avalanche set off by bad precedents.”

This allows morality to accurately reflect the circumstantial environment we live in.

An entire party cannot base their platform on outdated ideals and expect legitimacy.

Tea Party members blame the loss of American morality on our shifting ethical guidelines. They vehemently oppose new legislation in an attempt to go back to the traditional values of the 1950s, where being an American implied white, Christian and male.

According to Tea Party members, if you’re not with them, then you’re a godless socialist pig.

According to Huffington Post writer Mike green, the Tea Party “boils down the economic crisis in America to the notion that the election of a black president with a presumed socialist agenda has brought the nation to its knees and threatens the future of America, it reveals the depth and width of the chasm between the Tea Party movement and reality.”

The Tea Party’s economic plan involves bringing morality back to Washington. This is an idea Democrats and Republicans support and plan to pursue.

The Tea Party, however, is largely an empty think tank.

Tea Party members are not “taking their country back,” but they are telling us “love it or leave it.” They eliminate room for constructive criticism, alternative ideas, and the progressive stances Americans have been embracing.

This group is completely incapable of running a nation, grossly incompetent when it comes to economic stances and fanatical on social values.

The Tea Party is gradually becoming an authoritarian voice, forcing conformity upon the diverse population of Americans.