Is the Tea Party a third party? 
February 25, 2010 by Matthew Jarzen
Confusion over the affiliation of popular movement
Since its inception, there has been a lot of confusion over what the Tea Party movement represents. Just this last weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Tea Party movement seemed to be the main topic of discussion.
Much of the severe criticism of the Tea Party movement comes from those who’ve never attended a Tea Party rally — mainly from those on the left.
The New York Times last week printed an astonishingly long article devoted entirely to defaming the Tea Party movement.
To the left, the tea partiers are nothing more than extreme, far-right racists who want to overthrow the government and are funded by the Republican Party and Fox News.
But nothing could be further from the truth. I actually attended a Tea Party gathering in August of 2009 as an observer. What I saw was pretty representative of other Tea Party movements around the country.
The movement itself now has about 15 million members nationwide and is composed of both Republicans and Democrats who are fed up with how the country is being run. One thing that the media frequently doesn’t like to report is that the tea partiers point to both the Republican and Democrat parties for doing severe damage to this country.
The Tea Party movement, in actuality, is a movement against big government, high taxes and the ridiculous amount of spending that’s been done by both political parties.
Though they have mostly targeted Democrats as they’re the party currently in power and spending trillions of dollars, borrowing more money and printing more money than any other in history, they also frequently target Republicans who go along with the spending.
In this respect, I support the Tea Party movement as its aims are in line with basic Conservative principles — don’t raise taxes, don’t spend money you don’t have and don’t borrow at all.
The movement has also been criticized for occurring during President Barack Obama’s administration when in eight years of President George W. Bush, the country saw a $6 trillion increase in the national debt.
In this respect, I also partially criticize the movement for not publicly protesting the massive spending that occurred under the Bush administration.
But these tea parties actually started at the latter part of the Bush years, notably during the first stimulus refund package and the subsequent bailouts of businesses. I suppose in this aspect it’s better to have started late than never.
The movement took off mainly because this much spending has been unprecedented in the history of this country. The tea partiers were angry because the government believed it could operate against the laws of nature and economics — you don’t spend more than you take in and you can’t spend your way out of debt.
Criticism of the Tea Party movement is also founded on the belief that they’re all right-wing extremists. But the Tea Party movement, as a whole, is not an extremist movement and such descriptions of it are merely mischaracterizations from those who feel threatened by it.
The majority of the tea partiers are regular Americans. At the event I attended, I saw regular folks, especially mothers worried about their children’s futures.
Does the Tea Party movement have a more Conservative message? Absolutely. But that’s not surprising considering that a total of 46 percent of Americans describe themselves as Conservative while 30 percent describe themselves as moderates.
The makeup of the tea parties — taking into account this statistic — will certainly be made up of more Conservatives, but also contain quite a lot of moderates who are moving to the right.
Granted, however, there are extremist elements that have latched onto the Tea Party movement, which they hope to exploit for their own selfish gains. The so-called “birthers” and “9/11 Truthers” are some of the radical elements who’ve attached themselves to the Tea Party movement.
Something the media doesn’t like to report as well — since facts aren’t necessarily their forte these days—is that these people inhabit the extreme elements of the left as well.
The “Birthers,” for example, originated on the left — particularly during the hotly contested 2008 Democratic primaries between then Sen. Hillary Clinton and then Sen. Barack Obama with the Clinton campaign seeking ways to prove Obama’s ineligibility to run for president.
In a couple states, the movement has been formally registered as an independent political party called the Tea Party.
This is very bad, especially for the Republican Party, as it splits the vote between the Republicans and the tea partiers, essentially allowing Democrats to win elections. Such a move by some Tea Party activists is counter-productive as it doesn’t accomplish their stated goals.
If they’re upset with how the Republican Party is being run, they should get involved in the party and change it from within.
As former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said at a Tea Party conference, “it’s time to pick a party.”
If the tea partiers want to change America for the better, then they should start by changing the Republican Party for the better.
Your piece did not touch on my main concern with this outfit until nearly the end where it was noted that in a couple of states the Tea Party is registered as a third party….This is very bad indeed, because this trend is likely to extend to other states.
The trouble with “King-maker” organizations such as the Tea Party, is that more often than not, they ultimately wind up wanting to be the “King.” The alure of power is just too desireable to resist. It is human nature.
Eventhough I agree with the basic tenets of the Movement one must consider all the ramifications. Will it divide and allow the Socialists to conquer? I pray not.
One thing I forgot to add in the article, was that in fact in Nevada there is an officially registerd ‘Tea Party’. The problem here is it is not affiliated with any of the real TEA party movements.
It’s actually founded by a supporter of Harry Reid and it’s sole purpose is to siphen votes away from whomever the Republican Senate candidate will be so Reid can win.
Nevada’s Tea Party is a Democratic sham.
Unfortunately, I won’t get paid for this comment, but it’s still very important to know.
Thank goodness that there are organizations out there like the TEA Party making sure that we are at liberty to die without getting adequate healthcare and to ensure that our public institutions – eduation for instance – remain under funded. Dangerous socialists like Roosevelt, Eisenhower (if you buy John McCain’s definition of what makes a socialist president) and of course our current president want us all dead and poor and taxed and Communism and other disjointed, nonsensical invective.
Stop supporting the hype. Social programs are not the same as Socialism, Tom, and there’s nothing wrong with helping your fellow citizens. I don’t think there’s any question that our tax dollars are spent poorly (by BOTH conservatives and liberals) nor do I think there’s any question that health care reform needs a great deal more work before it’s passed. I DO, however, think that there is a certain need for such legislation in this country. Perhaps an opt-in taxation program would be more to your needs. Opt-in, pay tax, receive benefits. God help the people who cry socialism, opt out, and then suffer a shift in economic status, though. Just as non-citizens should be disqualified from ever receiving benefits, so too those who wish not to pay in
Without benefit of a fat wallet, adequate medical care can seem like a pretty good reason to pay extra taxes.
Mr. Jarzen is equating Tea Partiers as “regular” and “moderate?” Why am I not surprised by this…? I consider myself a moderate and think these people are gravely missguided, but I supoose it is all a matter of perspective…
The problem with the Tea party “Movement,” though, is that there is no real “movement.” There are so many different opinions hodge-podged together that it lacks direction and focus…at least outside of disestablishmentarianism, I mean. The tea partiers will be absorbed by the Republican party with due time.
-R.C.
There’s no question that the TEA party movement will be absorbed by the Republican party, however, if/when it is, I think the TEA partiers will be a stabilizing force within the GOP and will toss out the RINOs who’ve destroyed the party over the last decade.
As for the criticism, Jarzen is right when he says much of it comes from those who’ve never been to one. They’re all just average people who are genuinely pissed off at how their government is being run.
It’s amazing that whenever the Left protests (which usually turn into riots–i.e. Seattle), they’re praised for dissenting! However, when it’s regular Americans or Conservatives all of the sudden, they’re a bunch of extremists and racists who want to overthrow the government and how dare they dissent against this government!
It’s funny how Nancy Pelosi now says she has a lot in common with the TEA Party movement. Before we were all a bunch of astro-turfing Nazis, now we’re suddenly in the same boat with Pelosi.
The Tea Parties started with a small group in New Hampshire that are part of the Free State Project and some of whom also happened to supporters of Ron Paul. Proof of this can be found with a little digging on either the Free Talk Live or the Free Keene message boards. Since that first Tea Party, the whole concept movement has been corrupted, much like the Libertarian Party, by infiltrators that like Palin. Over all, they are decentralized so it is hard to put a finger on who is really behind it all. Most certainly, the national one that had Palin as the key note speaker was backed by neo-cons.