A recent offering from syndicated columnist David Brooks, the “conservative” voice of the New York Times, is a prime example of the Ruling Class mindset that gave rise to the tea-party movement. His column, “No compromises: Fanatics take over the Republican Party,” appeared in my local paper (the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record) on July 6.
I will address the absurdities of Brooks’ piece in the order in which they appear, beginning with the term “fanatic.” According to Webster’s, a fanatic is “a person with an extreme enthusiasm or zeal.” There is nothing inherently menacing about enthusiasm and zeal. My two Golden Retrievers pursue falling leaves with enthusiasm and zeal; my two feline companions stalk and pounce upon shoelaces with enthusiasm and zeal. Equally frightening is the tea party’s “fanatical” devotion to certain principles, such as limited government. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were limited-government fanatics, and so are we. For this, we do not apologize.
Brooks writes that Barack Obama needs to reach a deal with Republicans on the debt ceiling “so he can campaign in 2012 as a moderate.” But one would have to be ignorant of both Obama’s record and the fundamentals of political philosophy to believe the president is a “moderate.” Obama’s ultra left-wing, statist ideology – and its catastrophic failure – is obvious to everyone who has any business within 100 yards of a voting booth.
