The Tea Party movement, which started to sprout up all over America about a year ago, has mushroomed into something massive. It recently had a national convention in Nashville which attracted a heavy media presence and was headlined by none other than controversial, former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.
The convention, by itself, is nothing that should give anyone any sort of pause. It was a chance for upset Americans to voice their frustrations about an ever expanding, overreaching government. It was the equivalent of the original protests, but on a much larger scale. The real concern comes from the fact that the movement seems like it is ready to brand itself as a third party, which will ultimately only hurt the conservative movement and everyone who professes a concern about government spending, increases in taxes, and other conservative principles.
There have been “Tea Party candidates” that are entering Republican primaries to try and shake up the Republican candidates that they feel are not conservative enough. This is a valid effort, but why do they need to brand themselves as another party? Why don’t they instead try to shape the Republican platform?
One of the “Tea Party candidates” made the entire movement (and as a result conservatives who sympathize with them) appear foolish, when she, Debra Medina, running for Governor in Texas, stated that she didn’t have an official position on whether or not the United States’ government played a part in the 9/11 attacks. This is a prime example of why the Tea Party movement should only influence politicians and not become politicians: their argument is no longer about ideas that can help America, but about candidates running for office. With the media already focusing on the very few radicals involved in the movement, this was a self-inflicted wound that the movement should have avoided. Instead of running individuals, they should have made a list of good politicians with proven track records of voting for the sorts of values that the movement espouses.
The Tea Party movement has done an excellent job of vocalizing frustration at specific policies of the Obama and Bush administrations, but is beginning to enter dangerous waters with their talks of a third party (in the Q&A segment of Sarah Palin’s speech at the convention, they asked her if she thought that the Tea Party would become a third party. Palin said the Republican Party and Tea Party should complement each other).
The Tea Party movement can become a powerful part of the conservative movement if they follow the example of the amazingly successful Phyllis Schlafly, who was a very effective opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment. Not only did Schlafly stop the ERA, but she has remained a powerful force within the Republican Party, helping to write the Republican National Convention platform in 2004.
Phyllis Schlafly’s movement was not focused inward as the recent steps of the Tea Party (having their own convention, trying to brand certain candidates as theirs, etc.), but rather it was focused outward as a true grassroots movement should be. The Tea Parties started this way. They protested and made outsiders aware of what they thought, but now their focus has become narrowed on themselves. Their vision has become one that is less about protecting America from flawed policy and much more about promoting their own movement and those involved with it.
Instead of trying to convince politicians and American voters that the values professed by the Tea Party supporters are the correct guidelines for running a government, the movement is trying to simply exclude the people who disagree. The Tea Party movement needs to focus on information and education, just like Phyllis Schlafly, because, like the ERA, the economic practices of the current administration seem like good ideas if you don’t look too closely.
Be the first to comment on this article!