President Barack Obama has affirmed his commitment to middleclass Americans by enacting laws in our favor. These include, The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which puts healthcare within reach for all Americans and ends unfair business practices.

What has President Obama done for the middleclass:

• The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
  • Makes health insurance accessible to all Americans
• Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
  • Title XIV – Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act
  • Title VII – Wall Street Transparency and Accountability
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
  • Guarantees equal pay for women

In contrast, Republicans consistently advocate for the rich at the expense of middleclass and less fortunate Americans. From holding the extension of unemployment insurance hostage for the extension of the high-income Bush tax cuts, to refusing to raise the debt ceiling without cuts to programs for middle-class Americans, Republicans, time after time, have disregarded our interests.

These extreme hostage-taking tactics became commonplace with the rise of the Tea Party. The well-funded Tea Party has hijacked the Republican Party and is now the prevailing voice on the right. When, during a 2011 GOP debate, all of the 2012 Republican presidential contenders said they would refuse a 10 to 1 spending cuts to tax increase deal, we knew we were dealing with extremism. Again, we must make this clear – the extreme Tea Partiers are the controlling influence on the right.

Extremism puts our President “between a rock and a hard place” when negotiating with Tea-Party-controlled Republicans. Note that extremism is defined as, “any political theory favoring immoderate uncompromising policies.” The key word in the definition is “uncompromising.”

In short, we need to send a strong message to the Tea Party. We need to remind the Tea Party that our Constitution created a checks and balances system of government. Our Founding Fathers crafted the Constitution of the United States to prevent groups like the Tea Party from exerting too much power. Extremism conflicts with the Constitution and the intent and wisdom of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Let us restore balance in our government. Let us re-elect President Obama in 2012, and let us remove those members of congress who are obstinately intolerant of opposing views, as this will deprive us of the teamwork we need to explore all ideas to find comprehensive solutions to the problems we face as a nation.