If there is one thing that has influenced politics and the political news media in the past few years, it has been the Tea Party. This group of passionate right-wingers formed in response to increased government spending with the Stimulus Package in early 2008, and has been snowballing down the road to Washington ever since. We saw tangible results of their leaderless forces in the 2010 elections when dozens of Tea Party freshmen found their way into the Capitol building, and State governments found new leaders from the Tea Party's ranks. Now, as premature reports of the 2012 Presidential Elections float into media reports, Tea Party favorites such as Donald Trump and Sarah Palin are making their own political headlines.
These Tea Partiers are a noble bunch; they have their principles and they have their methods of making their principles known. They know how to work hard, have seen success, and have their scopes set on the White House come November, 2012. Not a day passes when the TP doesn't make headlines, and the members have effectively reserved a spot on the national scene in which to make their opinions known. But to me, the Tea Party's success is largely a function of media sensationalism, exaggerated political response and retaliation, and an American partiality toward entertaining, emotional, perpetual, bellicose political dispute.
If there is one thing that bothers me about the Tea Party, it is the emotional drive that empowers their speakers and speeches. I have a difficult time listening to a speech that calls for billions of dollars in budget cuts simply because the United States Government has spent too much for too long. Is what they say true? Has the US been spending too much? Of course they have! But has the government been spending indiscriminately? I don't think so. Surely there is a lot of wasteful spending (we all know the rumors about the $800 toilet seat), but cuts that have been proposed by the Tea Party hardly address these grocery store expenses that account for much of the wasteful spending they seek to eliminate. Paul Ryan, my own Wisconsin homeboy, proposed a landmark budget a couple of weeks ago, and although this proposal does not touch social security with a ten foot pole, it slashes MediCare to a voucher system, continues the system of tax breaks to the wealthy (perpetuating the assumption that trickle-down economics as the dominant fiscal policy will spur job growth and provide the market forces that will reboot the economy and help end the recession), and other drastic measures. I sincerely believe that Ryan's - is courageous the right word to use? - budget would not be able to make an appearance in any other political climate; that is, without the prolific support given to it by the Tea Partiers back on Capitol Hill and around the country.
This emotional impetus behind the Tea Party is visible behind almost every campaign speech and monologue that true Tea Party members give. They speak with great conviction, which is an admirable trait, and an ambition that could not be stopped with a team of wild horses. And this noble characteristic is what is wrong with the Tea Party. They have blind conviction and savage ambition. They have ideals and ideas to get them there, but they lack the kind of political sense that Congressional leaders - John Boehner included - so skillfully utilize when sculpting a platform. Boehner in particular is caught between a rock and a hard place, since he must represent the Republican party in general, and the dozens of Tea Partiers that are now included in the Republican's ranks. Boehner, plagued with a knack for political know-how, now has to compromise between the radical Right on the one hand, and the conventional Right on the other. The far right was elected to cut spending...or at least not spend as much as we were originally planning to spend...and the conventional right knows how to cut spending and still keep the government from shutting down. Boehner, stuck in the middle, has received praise from both sides of the aisle (except the far right) for how he has handled his new role as Speaker of the House and dealt with the dichotomous demands of the President and his House constituency.
Since the radical Right has entrenched themselves so deeply in their own fiscal (and increasingly social) ideology, it seems that the two sides of the House have to both give up a little in order to gain a little, but that is nowhere in the Tea Party's plan. They have no idea what the essence of compromise is. They think they are right, and they are not willing to budge. One Tea Partier, as heard on the news the other day, said something - and I paraphrase here - like, "This is more about being stubborn than it is about compromise..." Come on! Do you honestly think that's how things work in Washington? One would drown in his own political naivety if he thought that control of one half of one third of government means you can stand your ground with no compromise. And what about the Constitution that the TP flaunts with such hubris and sanguinity? The whole thing was based on compromise! The very Founding Fathers that the Tea Party claims to base their belief system on had very strong opinions and very noble ideals, but they had to compromise with others that disagreed in order to make the whole thing work. The angry go-getters in the House really show their political immaturity and lack of experience when they refuse to make simple compromises that would, in the long run, allow them to further their agendas.
In the sense that the Tea Party have strong convictions and lack the ability to compromise their ideas with political realities, they are almost precious. To hear the soundbites of middle-aged women from the breadbasket, old men from Florida, and leading TP figures talk about their ideas with such drive is just kind of cute! I understand that this description sounds pejorative; yet I just can't help but draw the parallel between Nikki Haley addressing a crowd with the line, "It's a great day for a Tea Party!" and a little boy telling his best friend that his dad is way stronger than his friend's. Plus, the connotations that are drawn between tea parties and little girls sitting down with their stuffed animals and little siblings only reinforce my own mental analogies.
So, Tea Party, here is my message - Good for you guys. You all are doing great. The thing is, your ideas are just that: ideas. Find a way to reconcile them with the predefined political structure, find a way to make them work within the preexisting political traditions, and you are golden. It's great that you have your ideas and your plans, but if things don't go your way, you can't just take your ball and go home - find a way to make them work!
