Letter to the Editor (Muskogee Phoenix) by Charles W. Sasser
(former Army Green Beret and Tulsa PD homicide detective / and author)
www.CharlesSasser.com former Green Beret & Tulsa Police Homicide Detective
Charles W. Sasser: Tea Party Members Aren't Ill-Informed
http://muskogeephoenix.com/letters/x1243782000/Tea-Party-members-aren-t-ill-informedJuly 31, 2010
THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Tea Party members aren't ill-informed
Why is it that the "opinion" pages of most mainstream media so often seem to go ape
every time they bring up "Tea Party?" The term can't even be mentioned without an
approach that transmutes "Tea Party" into something disparaging like "Tea Bagger,"
followed by portrayal of members as "bigoted, racist, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals"
who are "dangerous, ill-informed, ignorant rightwing extremists."
I won't attempt to debate issues behind the Tea Party movement. What I will refute,
however, is foam-at-the-mouth depictions of the people involved in it. I consider
myself fairly representative of the Tea Party Movement.
I served 29 years in the military (active and reserve), including 13 as an Army
Green Beret fighting for the freedom of those who would now malign me. I was a
police officer for 14 years - four in Miami, Fla., where I was wounded, and another
10 in Tulsa, where I was a homicide detective. I have degrees in history and
anthropology and speak a foreign language. I was at one time director of criminal
justice at Tulsa's American Christian College, and have taught part-time at Tulsa
Community College for nearly 40 years. I have published more than 3,000 magazine and
newspaper articles, including scholarly treatises in archaeology and history, as
well as more than 50 major books; many have been translated into other languages
such as Russian, Chinese, Serbian, and Spanish.
Call Tea Baggers whatever you will, but we are not "ill-informed" or "ignorant." Nor
are we bigoted or racist. Our knuckles don't drag and we are not puppets to any
special interest group or political party. However, I will accept "dangerous" in the
context that ideas about individual liberty and personal responsibility are once
again revolutionary in a nation that seems all too willing to give up freedom for
security in a big nanny state.
CHARLES W. SASSER
Chouteau, OK
