The+Tea+Party

**The Tea Party Movement – What is it, who is in it, and why you need to care. **
To begin, the Tea, or “Taxed Enough Already,” Party started "brewing" in 2009. Why in 2009? The Tea party was created shortly after the economic stimulus package was passed under President Barack Obama. What the Tea Partiers want is a smaller federal government that spends less, taxes us less, and offers less federal entitlement programs. The Tea Party is not an established government organization with a set list of duties that need to be completed, however there is a Tea Party Caucus.

The Tea Party is a grassroots movement. What that means is that it didn’t become a large, well-known organization that was shown in the media overnight. It began in various communities, and spread via social networking websites including Facebook and Twitter. One of the earliest examples of this is when Tea Party supporter, Keli Carender, had one of the first Tea Party protests in Seattle in February, 2009. The small gatherings soon began receiving media attention, especially after the TPE, or Tea Party Express , developed in the summer of 2009. Talk and radio show hosts began discussing the Tea Party on their shows. For example, a “founding father” of the Tea Party movement is Rick Santelli, of CNBC. His initial backing of the Tea Party can be seen in the video below. media type="youtube" key="zp-Jw-5Kx8k" width="429" height="334" align="left" The reason you should care – the Tea Party isn’t going away. As a matter of a fact, the Tea Party Patriots have a loose, 40 year plan for the direction they want our nation to go in. This group describes this as our "pathway to liberty," and it focuses on restoring education, culture, judicial, legislation, elections and economics. If you’re a Democrat, or a﻿﻿  ﻿ ﻿ somewhat conservative Republican, than you will more than likely not agree with the Tea Party's  agenda. The Tea Party has members in the House of Representatives and Senate, and although the exact number may be small compared to the number of people who aren’t members, they can begin “putting pressure on Republican leaders to carry out promises to significantly cut spending and taxes, to repeal health care legislation and financial regulations passed this year, and to phase out Social Security and Medicare” (Tea Party Movement 1).

====As the party gained more popularity, people started wondering, who are these Tea Partiers? The Tea Party is made up of of fiscal conservatives. The Tea Party members are in reality Republicans, yet at the same time threaten not only Democrats, but their own party. This is due to their extreme “rightness,” which is essentially forcing moderate-Republicans to become legitimate conservatives. The political cartoon to the right illustrates the uproar in each party. From their initial start in 2009 to now in early 2011, the Tea Party has various supporters in the government. ====
 * Who are the Tea Partiers? **

[[image:teaprty.gif width="450" height="297" align="right"]]
====Not only have candidates backed by the Tea Party announced their victories in states like Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, Kentucky, Delaware and Florida in Senatorial races, but now one of the parties main proponents is involved with the 2012 presidential nomination race. Sarah Palin is this advocate. If she were to be nominated, it would serve as a prime example for how their movement is proving to be essential for a Republican victory in the 2012 Presidential race. ==== ====Although it is often stated that the Tea Partiers are members of an “anti-government” movement, it’s a misconception. They are simply not for a large government. They believe that for the last few years, this seemingly humungous government is scaring “we, the people,” while we, in fact, should be scaring it. ====

====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Media attention is often short lived, as are groups that have no real financial backing. Therefore, the Tea Partiers began forming groups almost immediately to ensure the Tea Party would not end so soon. Three main groups are the TPE, short for the Tea Party Express, the TPA, short for the Tea Party Patriots, and most recently, the Tea Party Caucus.==== ====The TPE stemmed from a political committee which is known as the “Our Country Deserves Better PAC,” which is run <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">by Wierzbicki. It all began in Sacramento, California. It stated that its purpose would be to serve as a cross-country bus that would take Tea Partiers to various protests. ==== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Mark Williams, a conservative radio host, was once the TPE’s best known spokesperson, yet he resigned after widespread criticism for a controversial letter in July, 2010. Their main strategist is Sal Russo, who served under President Reagan. If the Tea Party is not making headlines in media via television or the Internet, the TPE insures face-to-face meetings with followers and potential supporters. The TPE receives the most criticism out of these three groups, mainly due to various GOP members such as Russo. Tea Partiers are strictly grassroots, and don’t want to be too associated with the GOP. This is because they are not solely blaming the Democrats for our government’s problems. Russo and members have also been criticized for allegedly making a profit off of the TPE, as it receives donations ranging in the millions from its followers.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Tea Party Establishments - **

====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__The Tea Party Caucus__ originated in the summer of 2010 after Michele Bachmann, a Representative from Minnesota, received approval from the House. Regarding what the c<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> ﻿ ﻿ aucus will do, Bachmann described it as “an informal group, dedicated to [promoting] Americans’ call for fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution and limited government” (Bachmann as quoted in Herszenhorn 1). ==== ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">In order to do this, the C<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">aucus will focus on political policies that affect Americans, rather than political goals for the Republican Party. Many of the members wave the “Don’t Tread On Me,” flag, as a sign that they believe the government is overpowering the people with its high spending and tenuous adherence to the Constitution. ==== ====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">As of early 2011, there are 52 members of the House who also belong to the Tea Party Caucus. Nevertheless, this creates contradictions for some Republicans who do agree with various aspects of the Tea Party movement, yet don’t necessarily want to join the caucus as it is often viewed as too anti-government. ====



====<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__The Tea Party Patriots’__ main goal is to organize Tea Party followers. As described by their website, they have three main goals, or “core values.” They include the following: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited Government and free markets. Similar to the TPE, they receive various donations to support their cause. Both groups can be compared to various Christian organizations in the time of “The New Right,” as they had widespread mailing lists, etc. of followers who would provide donations. The Tea Party Patriots are the most unbiased group and therefore receive the least <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">amount of criticism. ====

**Criticism –**
==== Just like any major movement, there are certain individuals that don’t correctly reflect the ideals of the group. The fact that the Tea Party is primarily white and very conservative doesn’t help this either. The problem with these troublesome Tea Partiers is that although they disagree with various political agendas, especially the Democrats and President Barack Obama’s, these individuals forget that he is still our President. After all, he received an extremely high popular vote, and was elected fairly.==== ====The NAACP has called on the Tea Party to expunge these racist members, who can be seen to the right defacing our President. The Tea Party movements cause is to call on Washington’s politicians, congressman, senators, etc. to be more fiscally responsible, adhere more strictly to the Constitution, and cut taxes. The Tea Party does not wish to to deface the President, threaten African-American politicians, and be overall prejudice. Many proponents of the Tea Party movement deny various racist claims, yet from pictures all over the World Wide Web, hateful signs and slandering can be seen in pictures and videos. Nevertheless, the Tea Party, similar to any large movement in the past, will never be flawless because of the individuals who don’t realize what the true movements cause is. ====

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">By: Bob Ungurean

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Beck, Robyn. Defacing of Obama. 27 Mar. 2010. Abcnew.go.com. ABC News Internet Ventures, 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/‌Politics/‌naacp-tea-party-race-debate-heats-sarah-palin/‌story?id=11153935&page=1>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- - -. Defacing of Obama. 27 Mar. 2010. Abcnew.go.com. ABC News Internet Ventures, 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/‌Politics/‌naacp-tea-party-race-debate-heats-sarah-palin/‌story?id=11153935&page=1>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">CNBC’s Rick Santelli’s Chicago Tea Party. Youtube.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/‌watch?v=zp-Jw-5Kx8k&feature=player_embedded#at=12>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Dont Tread On Me Flag. N.d. Iowntheworld.com. iOwnTheWorld, 16 Nov. 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://iowntheworld.com/‌blog/‌wp-content/‌uploads/‌2010/‌11/‌20100327_m_showdown22_t650-500x333.jpg>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">“Editorial Cartoon: The Tea Party Movement.” Worlds News Digest. Facts on File News Services, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.2facts.com/‌wnd_story.aspx?PIN=ca0738&term=tea+party+movement>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Elliott, Justin. “What You Need to Know about the Tea Party Express - 2010.” Salon.com. Salon Media Group, 10 Sept. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.salon.com/‌news/‌politics/‌2010_elections/‌index.html?story=/‌politics/‌war_room/‌2010/‌09/‌15/‌tea_party_express_a_force>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Herszenhorn, David. “Congress Now Has a Tea Party Caucus.” NEw York Times. The New York Times Co., 20 July 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/‌2010/‌07/‌20/‌congress-now-has-a-tea-party-caucus/‌?ref=politics>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Khan, Huma. “NAACP vs. Tea Party: Racism Debate Heats Up as Sarah Palin Joins the Fray.” Abcnews.go.com. ABC News Internet Ventures, 13 July 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. <http://abcnews.go.com/‌Politics/‌naacp-tea-party-race-debate-heats-sarah-palin/‌story?id=11153935&page=1>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Lorber, Janie. “Republicans Form Caucus for Tea Party in the House.” The New York Times. The New York Times Co., 21 July 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/‌2010/‌07/‌22/‌us/‌politics/‌22tea.html>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Scherer, Michael. “Tea Party Time; The Making of a Political Uprising.” Time 16 Sept. 2010: n. pag. Time.com. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://www.time.com/‌time/‌politics/‌article/‌0,8599,2019504,00.html>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Tea Party Express Bus. N.d. Mediaite.com. Mediaite, 27 Oct. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mediaite.com/‌wp-content/‌uploads/‌2010/‌10/‌Tea-Party-Express-1.jpg>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">“Tea Party movement.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/‌Search/‌Display/‌1548371?terms=tea+party>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">“Tea Party Movement.” The New York Times 4 Jan. 2011: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://topics.nytimes.com/‌top/‌reference/‌timestopics/‌subjects/‌t/‌tea_party_movement/‌index.html>. ======

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Weiner, Rachel. “What is the tea party? .” The Washington Post 15 Sept. 2010: n. pag. The Washington Post. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/‌44/‌2010/‌09/‌what-is-the-tea-party-a-primer.html>. ======