StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Importance Of The Tea Party Movement - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The advocacy to reduce the national debt and the federal budget deficit through the reduction of government spending is a mainstream concern. The paper "Importance Of The Tea Party Movement" discusses if the Tea Party movement has a legitimate reason for existing…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93% of users find it useful
Importance Of The Tea Party Movement
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Importance Of The Tea Party Movement"

Importance Of The Tea Party Movement On paper, the Tea Part movement has a legitimate reason for existing. The advocacy to reduce national debt and the federal budget deficit through the reduction of government spending is a valid and even a mainstream concern. On this account, it would have been acceptable to say that this political movement does represent the sentiment of a significant portion of the American public. However, the dynamics and the nature of the Tea Party in the American polity runs deeper and far more disruptive than they appear in a simplistic definition. The fact is that Tea Party disrupts the political process and it does not help America move forward. Instead of contributing to the national government, it thoroughly muddles policymaking to the point of paralysis. It’s reason for existence is redundant, echoing that of the Republican, although in a noisier and more populist manner not unlike the voice of the rabble. A core component of the argument that Tea Party is not a helpful addition to the American politics is the fact that it does not have a single uniform agenda. The leaders and organizers try to rationalize this by saying that such fragmentation and decentralization prevents the party from being co-opted and corrupted from within (Rauch 2010). But, unfortunately, this is not the case. The lack of leadership and unifying principles paved the way for divergent goals and priorities among the various groups that constitute the party. The result is raucous agenda that even confounded the very Tea Party members or those affiliated with the group. Consider, for example, the rally that some of Tea Party members staged amidst the debt limit deadline while the Senate is deadlocked and nowhere near the resolution of the crisis. The group converged on the World War II memorial on the National Mall and did some damage to some facilities before proceeding to stage their antics near the White House. As speaker after speaker spoke in unorganized fashion either on a platform or before television cameras, the different messages were vying for the public’s attention. At one point, someone was talking about the government closing down national park. Then, an attendee interviewed by the members of the media covering the event was calling for civil disobedience, demanding that Obama be removed from office (Cooper 2013). A host of other concerns made their appearances - those that are so disconnected from the very reason why the protest was held in the first place, which was the resolution of the debt limit issue being debated in the Senate. It did not help that personages like Sarah Palin, Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee also joined the fray. One is left to wonder what was the point of the entire exercise. There was a controversial issue and it is perfectly alright for people to make take a stand. But in the case of the Tea Party rally, there was no specific or unified position that could have legitimized the affair in its attempt to influence policymaking. The offshoot was a tremendous waste of everyone’s time. Several other incidents show a degree of toxicity and even irresponsibility. In 2010, the movement through its Conservative Political Action Conference endorsed Ron Paul. When it was announced, however, he was met with jeers and boos as if the members did not choose him themselves during the straw poll. In April, Tea Partiers stormed Fox because they felt that the television station needed to report more about the Benghazi attacks, President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and immigration proposals. It is as if the whole organization is utterly off the rails. Even some quarters in the Republican Party, which is the de facto party of Tea Partiers, tend to distance themselves and express dismay about how the group conducts its affairs. For instance, David Frum, a member of the Bush administration scoffed at Tea Party activities, describing them as a couple of hundred thousand malcontents (Younge 2010). One could call Tea Party or its organizers as opportunists. It is not unlike rabble rousing, using the sentiments and desperations in people in order to advance certain causes. There is legitimacy to the claim that a significant portion of the American public experiences fear and concerns regarding the policies that are being adopted and implemented by the government. The Tea Party movement took advantage of this sentiment. Noting this development, John Kerry, the current Secretary of State took the Tea Party to task when he said: “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts of the truth of what’s happening” (DeMint, 2011, 187). There are authors who point out that far from being immune to corruption from external forces, the Tea Party seemed to be serving the purposes of some interest groups, personalities and even big money organizations. Through sheer machinations, for instance, Americans for Prosperity (the group identified with the billionaire Koch Brothers lobbying for conservative policies and an end to the current health care policies) is able to direct the Tea Party initiatives and messages according to its interests. Indeed, several reports point to the role of groups tied with the tobacco companies in creating Tea party (DeMelle 2013). As days pass, it becomes clear that the only theme that unites the fragmented goals of Tea Partiers are their disdain for traditional social conservatism, which is aligned with the known preferences and positions of the Koch brothers. It is important to remember that policymaking in America is heavily influenced by pressure groups. Every stage of the policymaking process provides opportunities for individuals and groups to influence the outcome. This is actually the ideal envisioned by democratic pluralists such as Truman. But such ideal involve pressure groups employing non disruptive tactics such as providing hearing testimony, direct contact to government officials, presentation of studies and communication and information dissemination. The Tea Party movement could have followed this route and it would have been fine. In that case, it would have effectively given a sector of the American public political voice. But its activities and initiatives are bordering on the crazy side. Instead of contributing something meaningful to policymaking, it is effectively helping to delay the process by being needlessly raucous and incoherent. Works Cited Cooper, Ryan. (2013). Why that crazy tea party rally matters. A lot. The Washington Post. Available from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/14/why-that-crazy-tea-party-rally-matters-a-lot/ DeMelle, Brendan. Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaire Koch Brothers. Huffington Post, 2013. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Tea Party Movement - Argumentative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1493041-the-tea-party-movement-argumentative-essay
(The Tea Party Movement - Argumentative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/history/1493041-the-tea-party-movement-argumentative-essay.
“The Tea Party Movement - Argumentative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1493041-the-tea-party-movement-argumentative-essay.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Importance Of The Tea Party Movement

The Tea Party. The impact of the rise of the Tea Party on the American political landscape

the tea party movement has been a center of controversy.... The initial stimulus for the beginning of the tea party was by Rick Santelli who worked in CNBC and he has been labeled by many as the initiator of the tea party.... Different support groups of the tea party formed and worked throughout the country to present their points (Williamson et al 25, 37).... Such was the success of the tea party and its motif that by the end of the year 2009, political candidates who were associated with the Tea Party won 39 out of the total 129 seats of the United States House of Representatives and five seats in the Senate....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Occupy Wall Street

As Tarrow (2011) notes, the tea party had a clear ideology and knew exactly what it stood for – the tea party was against the federal government becoming too big, and it is against the people giving their hard-earned tax dollars to the federal government.... states that the Occupy Wall Street movement was not political, as is the tea party, and, unlike the tea party, did not put forth any policy proposals.... Even though the group had a tremendous level of visibility when it was formed, the movement was not as successful in changing politics as the tea party was, because it did not get politically involved and did not really agitate for change....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Social Movement Explored as ETA

From the paper "The Social movement Explored as ETA" it is clear that ETA was a terrorist group that only represented a minimal fraction of the Basque community.... “The modern Basque nationalist movement was founded in the last decade of the nineteenth century by Sabino de Arana.... It began in the 1960s as a student resistance movement against the dictatorship of France.... ETA is an offspring of the Basque nationalist movement which was a non – violent political party....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

Principles of Liberal Democracy

This assignment "Principles of Liberal Democracy" discusses a political party as an association or group of people sharing the same ideology of governance in a country.... hellip; The main field of interest for political parties is to influence the activities taking place in the parliament by securing majority seats by having a majority of the members of the parliament under the party's affiliation (Mintz, Close & Croci 51).... Under normal circumstances, a political party has to spread their idea to all members of the parliament when they want to introduce a new law or change an old one....
8 Pages (2000 words) Assignment

The Effect of the Tea Party Formed in 2009 on Elections in 2012 in the US

The paper "The Effect of the Tea Party Formed in 2009 on Elections in 2012 in the US" highlights that the tea party movement eschews social issues.... Ceccarelli (2011) explains that the movement is modelled after the tea party movement in 1773.... Just as the tea party movement in 1773 protested because they felt that they were losing their voice to the establishment and that they are being overtaxed, so the current Tea Party movement has these same concerns as the foundation for their movement....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

The Requirements of Occupy Movement

The following paper under the title 'The Requirements of Occupy movement' gives detailed information about the Occupy movement which had both its positive and negative effects.... The other reason for movement to occur was growing inequality in society.... A significant effect on the activation of the protest movement had mass protests in the Middle East and North African countries, which led eventually to the overthrow of existing governments in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study

Social Movements In A Global Context

The paper "Social Movements In A Global Context" aims at analyzing a socio-economic movement, and the conditions that facilitate the emergence and the sustenance of the movement.... hellip; Majority of the movement, first members of parliament came from the Ginger Group, which was primarily composed of Labor member of parliaments, Left-Wing progressive movement, and the United Farmers of Alberta.... The CCF movement was popular in Canada, and the majority of the population were able to identify with its grievances....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Social Movements in China

iscussed within this essay is the real glimpse of the most widespread social protest movement that emerged and spurred by Hu's death in April 1989.... The movement arose unexpectedly while college students, first in Beijing and soon across the country gathered to mourn the former CCP general secretary.... At his point of death in 1989, the student joined up to protests against the death and most of the movement leaders were also the ongoing protests of the 1986-1987 movement....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us