First, we have to understand that, despite the name, it is not a political party. The Tea Party has no conventions, no primaries, and no place on voting ballots. So, can they be classed with Independents? I don't think so. Their members, if that term even applies, run on the Republican ticket and caucus with the Republicans. OK, are they an arm of the Republican Party? Possibly, but on many of their blogs, they are criticizing the Republicans for not being conservative enough.
Well, how about a political movement? Webster's on-line Dictionary defines a political movement:
Noun 1. political movement -- a group of people working together to achieve a political goal. OK, maybe we have a winner here. They are a group of people, from their rallies and blogs, they are working together, and they have a political goal. Or do they?
When I read their blogs I see one goal repeated over and over -- emphatically, venomously, and hatefully -- "Get rid of Obama." In the House debate over the debt ceiling, their goal was not to find a solution and pass a bill, but to shut down the process. So, is obstructing the process really a goal that can be defined?
From Webster's on line Dictionary: Obstructionist...
1. Someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take.[Wordnet]
2. One who hinders progress; one who obstructs business, as in a legislative body.[Websters]
Now we have a definition for the Tea Party: An Obstructionist Movement.
Lets take a look at a little history of the Tea Party Movement. The Tea Party started coming together as a reaction to the election of President Obama and the Democratic Congress. The first I heard of this movement was from local people here in West Georgia and East Alabama on a local conservative Southern blog during Obama's campaign. This was before the term Tea Party was coined. "We don't need no n****r in the White House." They were making all sorts of predictions like riots in the streets by blacks, white discrimination and an Islamic takeover of America if he was elected. After the election, their racism and phobias really shined, and I got banned for disagreeing. So much for free speech...
Then Sarah Palin and the uneducated hate-filled pundits like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh went to work, and the hate movement was founded. You have to understand here that nothing moves people to act more than hate and fear, which is exactly what the pundits and self-proclaimed leaders of the Tea Party played on. Fear that a black President would
dislodge them as the dominant race, fear of Islamic terrorism promoted by the "Muslim" President. The only thing we have to fear is ... the fear of the Tea Party.
The Tea Party is fueled by conspiracy theories promoted by far-right pundits and these theories spread like wildfire on their blogs and hate web sites. Lies, unfounded accusations, exaggerations -- all copied and pasted on hundreds upon hundreds of blogs until a Google search brings back thousands of hits for any one of them -- giving the appearance of
legitimacy. A lie, repeated over and over enough times, becomes truth. So, now, in their minds, we have a black Muslim president who was born in a foreign Islamic country, whose goal is to make America a Muslim nation. And from there, it all goes downhill.
Then, in the 2010 elections we saw the results of the Supreme Court ruling that gives corporations the right to input hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign advertising, anonymously; and it wasn't a pretty sight. You see, somewhere along the way corporate America got on the bandwagon with financial support for the Tea Party Movement. Of course, this is in their best interest; after all, the Tea Party supports lower taxes for the wealthy and big corporations. More Tea Party candidates in political offices translates to more money in their bank accounts.
It's no coincidence that the values of the Tea Party movement are the same as the goals of big corporations, big bankers and Wall Street investors. The fact that the Tea Partiers themselves are being screwed by the very agenda they promote is irrelevant; they are blinded by the hate and fear that has been instilled in the heart of the movement itself.
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