Dear Tea Party: What’s Your Deal?

Scene from the Boston Tea Party rally. Photo by Evan Caughey.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the (mis?)fortune of attending one of the premiere events of the 21^st century – none other than a Tea Party rally featuring America’s favorite gun-totin’, letter-droppin’ ex-governor, Sarah Palin. As a good liberal would, I made sure to distinguish myself from the millions of other people being furious at something or another by composing full, intelligible sentences and being grammatically accurate (kidding). The signs that I encountered, which read anything from “I’m not raceist [sic], I just hate health care” to “Impeach Obama!” showed that, if anything, the Tea Party was more ideologically defined by opposition than a cohesive platform. But unlike the protestors that I encountered, I wanted to conduct more research before formulating my opinion on the party, and sat down to contemplate the following question: what exactly does the Tea Party stand for?

A quick Google search took me to http://www.teapartypatriots.org/, where the mission statement and core values page states that the “Tea Party Patriots” support fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets. A further sweep of the website provided nothing more than a clear affinity for Fox News and articles with such clever titles as “A Tale of Two Obamas.” I left amused by the sound bites, but with many unanswered questions about the Tea Party itself.

Let’s start out with the basics: In theory, the party grew out of an opposition to the stimulus package in early 2009, but has been growing increasingly popular and visible with the rallies in opposition to the health care bill.

But who composes its demographic? A recent poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS News shows that 18 percent of the surveyed population consider themselves Tea Party members. They tend to be Republican, white, male, married, older than 45 and often identified as “very conservative” and “angry” (as opposed to “dissatisfied”) with the current administration. Among their chief complaints were government spending, the health care overhaul and the perception that the government is not being responsive to the people. The poll, and the follow-up questions confirm that the public perception of the Tea Party is more easily defined by the issues that it opposes rather than the issues that it promotes. Of the answers given by respondents, they tended to focus on what the administration is doing wrong, rather than what should be done (right). In other words, the Tea Party has come to serve as a voice for conservative dissent: the radical right arm of the Republican party, if you will.

The Tea Party has expanded rapidly from February 2009 to the present, but will the momentum last? It has become a strong regional force, defined by issues that are pertinent to each section of the country (immigration, for example, is one of the big issues decried at Tea Party rallies in the South), but can collective anger about varied policies unite a movement ? Anger can be a means for the initial union of individuals, but only time will tell whether it is sustainable.

But more importantly, the messages being sent from the Tea Party are ones that only sow division and misconceptions; a party that bases its platform on negativity is unlikely to outlast the administration that it opposes. While at the Boston Tea Party rally, one of the female speakers asked the crowd: “Do you love God? [cheers from the crowd] Do you love your country? [again, cheers] Then you’re a strong, beautiful Conservative woman!” The implicit message that this sent to the crowd — that only Conservatives were religious and “patriotic” — is not only inaccurate, but harms any future discourse between the Tea Party and other political groups. And that’s ultimately what I took away from the rally in my perception of the Tea Party: that it is a current novelty, but that if it wants to be taken seriously and engage in any form of dialogue in the political process, it needs to reassess its outreach strategies.

Despite its impending longevity problems, the Tea Party is still gaining traction from the media. So what will this mean for the November midterm elections? One hot race is for the open Senate seat in Florida, where Tea-Party-backed Republican and former State House Speaker Marco Rubio is challenging the current Republican governor Charlie Crist. Another state to keep an eye on is Arizona, where Tea Party-backed former Representative J.D. Hayworth will fight Senator John McCain for his Senate seat. Undoubtedly, more Tea Party-backed candidates will emerge from the woodwork in the coming months. Keep an open, discerning eye this summer while previewing the races and think about the candidates thoroughly before heading to the polls this November.

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