On Those Intolerant....Liberals?

My liberal friends: the Tea Party Movement has ruined us.

Now, before you go and get all confused on me, I am not saying that Tea Partiers have ruined America or ruined society...because I don't think they have. I think the Tea Partiers have turned us into monsters. Hateful, intolerant monsters.

I'll admit to having used the term "Tea Baggers" to describe the Tea Party Movement. It's shorter than saying "The Tea Party Movement," and I've admitted that I've gotten angry enough about things that have happened that I've used it as a derogatory term.

But when I realize I'm doing it, I stop myself. The reaction to the Tea Partiers has been hateful. Yes, there are racists in the Tea Party movement. Yes, the most outspoken voices (Limbaugh, Rand Paul, Glenn Beck) are crazies. But the fact of the matter is that there are some normal people who are scared by what has happened to the country they live in and have been dwarfed by the radical right, who really just want a different option from the ones they have now.

Let's face it: the very heart of the Tea Party movement is anti-corporate and anti...big. They don't want big business. They just want to know that their peaceful, quiet lives aren't going to be controlled by things bigger than themselves. At worst, you could call that misguided.

We've made the Tea Party so radical because they're under constant attack. When a child misbehaves, you get the best results for a change in behavior by ignoring them...neither positively or negatively reinforcing their behavior. It's basic psychology. When a movement misbehaves and we respond with press coverage and intolerant hate speech, the behavior is reinforced.

Let security handle the guns at rallies. That's their job. It doesn't need to be publicized and super-politicized. Let the hate speech sit with the people who are truly hateful. The solution to face a hateful movement is not by hating those people.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Hate cannot drive out hate. It can't. The more hate in the world, the stronger the hatred and the grudges become.

D0n't blame the problems of the world on FOX News. Don't bad mouth people just because you believe their opinions are misguided. There is still a moderate Republican. Refusing to separate the individual from the voice of the party is an intolerant mistake we can't afford to keep making.

Peace and Love,
Rachel Leigh