The Summer of Tea

The Tea Party seems to continue its momentum into the Spring of 2010. Why? Because it is a widespread popular movement of strong beliefs about the role of government in our lives. This is not a protest of one issue that is important this year or next year, this is a movement with an ideology that has long term aspirations and impact. It is limited government (in authority, money, and people), individual rights (they respect the entire Bill of Rights, not just one or two of their favorite amendments), and free markets.

It is large as well. Rasmussen has released a survey indicating 48% of Americans feel the Tea Party Movement reflects their beliefs better than the President (who got 44%). Gallup just released a survey showing the Tea Party is fairly mainstream in terms of its demographics. That means it is not "all white", not "all wealthy", not "all republican", in fact it is not "all" anything.

Will they change things in November? Well lets see the evidence so far: Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. In New York, the conservative activists and tea party supporters successfully kicked the appointed republican candidate off the ballot in favor of the Conservative Party choice. Republicans won big victories in Virginia and New Jersey in 2009. Massachusetts had a lot to do with Scott Brown but you cannot deny that a powerful pro-republican trend is being set. Do Tea Partiers like the Republican Party? Not really, but they have their favorite candidates in various races and guess what, their favorite candidates are all Republican.

They independent-minded men and women with little affiliation with the current party leadership. And that is exactly how the Tea Party likes them.

Where to go from here: There is a risk that the energy from the Tea Party Movement may slow by November, particularly if the jobs situation improves, the economy improves, or Obama manages to get some good PR on a foreign policy issue or illegal immigration. However, I don't believe this to be the case. Like I said above, the anger and emotion of the Tea Party Movement was NOT triggered by the Healthcare Debate. Sure, that definitely strengthened it but the foundation is elsewhere. And in the end nothing will change. The government will still be massive in November, taxes will still be higher in November, the government will still have incredible control of the economy in November, and the government will certainly still try to encroach on First Amendment, Second Amendment, and Tenth Amendment rights in November. As long as those things don't change, this energy will continue.

But let us not ignore the risk. How can the Tea Party remain active and energetic? Well Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, and others have offered their advice and I agree with it. Keep informed, educate yourself on the candidates and the issues, make sure you are registered to vote and that everyone else in the movement is registered to vote, continue events, protests, fundraising activities, crashing town halls, and other such public displays. Continue to pound away at Democratic Congressmen via mail and phone calls. Finally, make sure that the weekend before the election, you set up very LARGE events to peak the energy right as the election is upon us. In fact, space events out evenly such as a 9/12 event, November 1st event, 4th of July Event, and Memorial Day Event. Every two months another big display. Doesn't wear people down but is sufficiently frequent enough to keep people up.

Tea Partiers should strive for nothing less than kicking the Democrats out of power in the House and shrinking the Democratic majority in the Senate. in 2011-2012, Tea Partiers should do their homework and get out the vote for primaries to make sure the right kind of men and women get nominated in the Republican primaries. No more RINOs or career politicians. I think this is all possible, reasonable, and realistic. Even expert analysts place odds of a Republican takeover at 35-50%. Pretty good if you ask me.