Ryan Streeter
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It's time for Tea Party 2.0. The movement and the issues that birthed it have both evolved. The question is whether its leaders realize that.
The Washington Times has an interesting article this morning raising questions about whether and how helpful the Tea Party will be going into 2012. It starts this way:
Republicans, once ecstatic about the energy generated by the 2009 anti-spending tea party uprising, are growing increasingly uneasy about the impact in 2012 of a movement that seems beyond the control of anyone, including its own leaders.
Meanwhile, in its headline story this morning Politico partially attributes Obama's latest bump in the polls and FL Gov. Rick Scott's sagging numbers to a "cooling of tea party passions." The story doesn't cite any evidence that the movement's passions are cooling. It's a highly debatable claim. But it's also noteworthy as a perception. The tea party doesn't appear publicly as focused as it has been.
Clearly the millionaire tea party imposter in New York's special election, Jack Davis, has many wondering if we witnessed a preview to what will become a trend going into 2012: the movement getting highjacked by individuals that end up working against the movement's aims.
But the real issue with the tea party, it seems, is whether it is as focused upon its mission as it was leading up to 2010. I think it is, judging by the money its core groups continue to raise and by the public events it continues to populate. But it seems the mission has changed, whether or not the various groups have completely figured that out and begun organizing around new objectives.
How has it changed?
In one big way: Tea Party 1.0, which led to historic gains in the House last November, was based on cutting (discretionary) spending. It's time for Tea Party 2.0, which needs to be based on reforming entitlements and the tax code. The movement's various leaders have not been as active or vocal on entitlements as they have been on spending.
The freshman class in Congress arrived in Washington thinking they were elected to cut spending, and then learned that the problems were much bigger and deeper than that. Tea partiers in Congress and activists around the country understand that the REAL mission is bigger than they thought, but the movement has not yet updated its rallying cry.
It needs to. If it does, it has a chance to get ahead of the public debate about Medicare reform going into 2012. It also has a chance to bring even newer, fresher faces to Washington who run on entitlement reform.
If any movement can turn entitlement reform into a winning issue for candidates, the tea party can. If it tries.
Which entitlements?
If the Tea Party is going to go after entitlements, it had better make sure it has really good pollsters and PR people to help it through this minefield. There are entitlements and then there are entitlements. Does the Tea Party have the sophistication to handle this properly?
Posted by: Dawn Carpenter | May 30, 2011 at 12:02 PM
I think that as the 2012 election approaches the Tea Party movement will gradually lose focus of it's original aim. If this time next year the objective is getting a Republican in the White House then the movement will have failed itself. I fear that in the whirl of an election year tribalism will overwhelm many of those committed to the cause of smaller government, lower taxes and reduced government spending.
I'm yet to be convinced by any of the Republican figures being touted as potential candidates. With the exceptions of Ron Paul or Paul Ryan I don't really think any of those tipped to run have made any meaningful contribution to the debate over the national debt or the wider issue of the role of government. For the likes of Gingrich, Romney and Palin the overriding concern seems to be election to public office for no other reason than the validation of their own preconceived greatness.
The Tea Party movement should look beyond 2012 and play the long game. It should refuse outright to endorse either of the two main parties on the grounds that neither have the will or the policies to pull America back from the brink of bankruptcy. Only when a politician (Democrat or Republican) enters the arena saying the sort of things that no other politician dare speak and possesses a credible set of policies to address the country's dire economic situation should the Tea Party reveal it's hand.
Posted by: Essexboy | May 30, 2011 at 12:05 PM
The USA needsa a real Republican Candidate, a slower spending Ronald Reagan!!!!!
Posted by: Vincit Veritas | May 30, 2011 at 01:52 PM
If the Tea Party listen to people like Ryan Streeter than that will be the end of that.
There's a beautiful simplicity to the message: "Taxed Enough Already." It emcompasses so many things. Big State. Living on debt. Collapse of industry. Rights before responsibilities.
Tea Party members will tend to be real right-wingers, who understand the problem with living on future wealth. They may bring with them an odd mix of other policies and beliefs which don't always tally, but that's fine. As long as, underneath it all, lower tax (and all its inherent attachments) is core.
Because this problem is not going away in America or much of the rest of the developed world. It will get worse. People who consistently say so, clearly and loudly, will win through common sense and reality in the end.
Posted by: Steve Tierney | May 30, 2011 at 02:05 PM