THE TEA PARTY, THE NEW CONGRESS AND PALIN - ALL YOU EVER NEEDED TO KNOW

 INTRODUCTION

There is little argument that the Tea Party mobilized the Republican base and is largely responsible for the unprecedented Republican gains in the recent 2010 Mid – Term elections. Ron Christie, a former advisor to President Bush, acknowledges this and states that TIME MAGAZINE got it wrong when they made the Tea Party Voter runner up as the Person of the Year – the Tea Party voter should have been THE PERSON. While to some they may appear to be the lunatic fringe over 40% of the electorate view them favorably.

Who are this group, where did they come from, what do they stand for, what is their agenda and their power and influence? Also how on earth, in the space of a year, did a movement emerge that has so dominated the political discussion and agenda – ostensibly emerging from nowhere?

Whatever the answers to these questions are, the Tea Party is just not going to go away. The question also is what type of an impact are they going to have on the American Political Scene? Are they just a passing phenomenon or will they have a profound impact on the future? Are they going to take over the, GOP, blend with it, or go it alone?  For the immediate future, the GOP is beholden – they owe their massive Congressional majority to them. The Tea Party’s 40% favorability rating is the same as that of the GOP. Most of the Tea Party voters voted for the GOP and the question is where does their ultimate loyalty lie. So the GOP has to mind it’s P’s and Q’s and this has to impact on their stance and negotiating ability with the Democrats and the President.

GENESIS AND BROAD PHILOSOPHY

There is little doubt that the Tea Party arose in a time of great disillusionment of government and fiscal chaos with record Federal deficits. This was coupled with the Obama agendas of social change and introduction of regulatory, fiscal and social policies. Bailouts of the “fat cat” banks by Bush and Obama are generally credited for triggering their emergence. Then came other bailouts of everything, anything and everybody including banks, insurance companies, the car companies, the unemployed and “under water” house owners. All of this a total anathema to those to those who formed the Tea Party.

Someone had to pay for all for this and the Tea Party faithful were determined it wasn’t going to be them.

Although their members are mobilized under several organizations they have been represented as having one voice.  As a cardinal act of faith, they disapprove of Obama and all his policies. The Tea Party are explicitly populist, endorse curbs on government spending, are against “taxation without representation”, socially conservative and against subsidizing both individuals and institutions. They also believe in “less government” and “are sick and tired of the Federal Government controlling everything”. They also believe that as individual citizens, no – one is listening to them. They claim to be strict Constitutionalists but several have a desire to change the Constitution not to allow citizenship to those born in America of non - citizens. They have several out of mainstream policies such as a belief that President Obama was not born in America.

In practical political terms they have moved the Republican Party far to the right.

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The Tea party’s Manifesto was the Contract From America. The GOP showered praise on its contents. The then House Minority Leader John Boehner maintained that it, “Captures the American people’s frustration with a government that has grown too big, too costly and too arrogant". The GOP then produced it’s own Pledge to America which observers maintained was barely distinguishable from the Tea Party’s Contract.

They have, however, to date shown themselves to be long on generalities and short on specifics. For example, one is unaware how they will cut spending.

ORGANIZATION

There are six main national organizations that loosely make up the Tea Party movement. These organizations are growing all the time. There are said to be several thousand local groups. The promoters have used the Internet with same skill and thoroughness as did Obama. They have a literature, e – mails, blogs, tweets, videos and endless rallies, - both local and national as well as conventions and meetings. There are estimated to be over quarter million active participants.

They have had two national rallies in Washington – one official and one unofficial. Both attracted hundreds of thousands of adherents. The first was held to protest what they perceive to be their Cri de Coeur, “no taxation without representation” and was symbolically held near April 15, 2010, the deadline for income tax submissions. Glen Beck, of Fox news, who has been their biggest media supporter, organized the second. The latter was entitled “Restoring Honor”. Beck and Palin were the two-featured speakers.

They held the first National Convention in Nashville in February in 2010 and once again Palin was the main speaker. Here an effort was made to obtain some cohesiveness of disparate groups. The agenda, that the really influential were aiming for, was the amalgamation of the social and fiscal conservatives.

Money does not appear to be a problem. Sarah Palin has had tours such as the “Tea Party Express" that raised money in town after town; Michelle Bachman raised $10,000,000 for a political action committee. It is strongly rumored that the Koch brothers have provided endless funds and there has been an admission of at least a $1,000,000 anonymous donation. With the Tea Party’s non-regulatory attitude to business coupled with the current lack of meaningful regulation for financial contributions, money is just not going to be a problem.

DEMOGRAPHICS 

Analyses have shown that the Tea Party members do not differ from the white demographic of voters. Polling has shown that they have more negative attitudes to Black people then a control group.  Dave Burghart and Leonard Zeskind and the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights have done an exhaustive analysis of the membership of the Tea Party Movement and it’s progenitors. Some of the conclusions are that the Tea Party organizations have given platforms to anti – Semites, racists and bigots and have as a goal a more self conscious and ideological white supremacy. The Center for Responsive politics have shown that the Tea Party members received nearly $4,000 more in contributions from the Oil and Gas industry than a Republican congressman did and double those of a Democrat. ($12,000)

THE GOP AND TEA PARTY CAUCUS AND PALIN'S ROLE

While there are no elected leaders Sarah Palin has been in the forefront of the emergence of the Tea Party. She has been the rallying figure attending rally after rally. She committed herself from the word go and other than her there are not too many big names that have stuck their necks out to be part of the leadership. Dick Amey, past Republican House Leader and current Senator De Mint are the two other established Republican leader claims that he or she is a spokesperson.

Palin let the entire world know once again where she stood after being sharply criticized by Karl Rove, the number GOP one establishment member.  He had considered her reckless in her successful bid to get the unelectable O’Donnell the Republican Senate nomination in Delaware. The next morning on Fox, Palin dismissed Rove’s comments as the musings of "expert politicos." "Bless his heart," she said of Rove. "We love our friends there in the machine ... I say, Buck up” - unabashed paternalism addressed to the man who was, acknowledged as "Bush's Brain" both as Texas Governor and as the 43rd President.

The idea of a Tea Party Caucus was first mooted by then Senate Republican candidate for Kentucky, Rand Paul. It was established in July 2010. Representative Michelle Bachman of Minnesota is the head. Bachman is savvy and articulate and is also said to be considering a Presidential bid in 2012. The Caucus started off with 24 members and now has 52 with the new Congress. They cannot be ignored. At their suggestion the Republican Speaker Boehner has agreed to read the US Constitution every Thursday before the Congressional session opens. Boehner has also agreed to ensure that every piece of legislation produced in the House will be in sync with the Constitution.

STATUS, FUTURE ROLE AND DILEMNA OF TEA PARTY.

So it is pretty obvious that the Tea Party is not some type of a joke. On one level they represent a very powerful faction of the Republican Party with an impending threat to takeover the whole party. On another they may just end up to a passing phase on the political scene. To date, even though they all ran as Republicans, the Republican establishment has succeeded in distancing itself from them, while reaping all the benefits of their activities. This obviously cannot last. One has to realize that not only do they represent a distinct agenda but they also reflect the growing disillusionment and cynicism in the current Washington political scene. They mobilized in record time because of this disillusionment and the Internet provided the vehicle. This time round the Democrats have not produced a movement to capitalize on this sentiment. Obama was supposed to do that!

The Tea Party backers have made it clear that they are going to hold those, who were elected to their banner, accountable. Mark Meckler, who is head of the group, Tea Party Patriots, sent activists to visit lawmakers' offices hours after the swearing-in of the 112th Congress.

Meckler stated that, "It's a pointed reminder for the new class, roughly half of which was elected with "tea party" support or echoed the movement's call for smaller government. The goal is to keep the new members focused on the movement's priorities — slashing federal spending, opposing all tax increases, repealing the healthcare bill and adhering to its interpretation of the Constitution — and out of the clutches of Washington."

Now those lawmakers are standard-bearers of the tea party's hopes and ideals — a responsibility activists like Meckler plan to make sure is not set aside when the voting starts.

At the end of the day the Tea Party Congressmen have to adapt to the politics of power. Already they have adapted all to quickly, combining for over a billion dollar requests for “earmarks” – a procedure that allows members to tack onto existing bills money for their constituencies. This practice has long been the poster child for the corruption and nepotism of Washington politics. Chastened they have had to withdraw these requests. Also the GOP establishment controls the GOP infrastructure. They control the Committee Chairmanships, The Republican National Committee and have all the big business connections. In the business of real politick the Tea Party lost two important Chairmanships that they put candidates up for.

CONCLUSIONS

So the Tea Party, too, are between a rock and a hard place. Most importantly, they have to realize that the Tea Party message only resonates in certain constituencies. This was illustrated in the last election where their general anti establishment message was not enough to avoid the rejection of their political message and some Tea Party Republican candidates were unexpectedly defeated. Their most powerful tool is their ability to mobilize the Republican base. This they did in the last election to get their own candidates nominated and to bring the Republican base to the hustings resulting in this historic victory for the GOP.

If the Tea Party decides to go it alone they are destined to play a minor role in terms of real power. There is no future for a third party in US politics. Their best bet is to hang in with the Republican Party. They then can embarrass them to stick to Conservative values and not allow them to compromise. 

The upshot is that if no accommodation is reached with them they could wreak havoc in Republican Primaries. As the Tea Prty are here to stay the most likely outcome will be that they will drag the Republican Party even further to the right. How this will all play out in the next congress when solutions are needed to resolve the financial crises and high unemployment numbers remains to be seen. At the end of the day the GOP needed the Tea Party like a hole in the head!  They could have got by with smaller gains in the mid-term elections.

How this will ultimately play out really depends on whether Sarah can win the Republican nomination for Presidency. Then all bets are off. One thing is for sure there won't be too many establishment figures backing her - a fact that she will be very quick to point out. This will serve to support her anti insider credentials a badge of honor that everyone wants to run on, it would appear. It got Obama the nomination over Hillary Clinton and then the Presidency over McCain. So Sarah will happily continue thumbing noses at the icons of the Republican Party, whether it is the matriarch, Barbara Bush or the brains, Karl Rove.