The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party: A Trip Through Rhetorical Wonderland

Kenneth Colonel
Class of 2012
College of Arts & Science

The Tea Party is a quasi-grassroots organization composed of the Republican party’s far-right conservative wing. This fringe faction held its first “National Tea Party Convention” on February 5, where passionate politicos participated as self-described “delegates” in deliberation[1]. The party has gained enough political capital and media attention to pose a legitimate political threat to moderates and liberals in Congress. The Democratic Party even plans to specifically address the Tea Party for the 2010 election cycle as a threat to the party’s majorities in the House and Senate[2]. The emergence of the Tea Party will strongly influence the forthcoming U.S. national elections by polarizing their constituency and threatening the stability of the Republican Party. These self-proclaimed conservative libertarians align themselves with the Michelle Bachmanns, Dick Cheneys, and Sarah Palins of the Republican Party[3]. The Tea Party represents the most polarizing wing of the Republican Party that could threaten the competitiveness of Republican candidates or divisively split off and create a third-party, should the Republicans lose their support.

The Tea Party rose to national prominence because of the anti-government efforts of staunch conservatives. Fox News, as a media conglomerate, is significant to the Tea Party’s rise to national recognition because they perpetuated the cause with internal support to extended coverage. As a result, the Fox News Network has helped the Tea Party into the national spotlight[4][5]. The self-proclaimed spokeswoman of the Tea Party movement, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, was hired by Fox News in January as an on-air contributor[6]. Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project, a political club dedicated to “limited government, maximum freedom, and the values of our Founders”, is in Beck’s words a “decentralized tea party”[7][8]. However, these two groups are a muddled product of the Republican party’s polarization that is powerful, combustible, and decentralized. Although the party has much mobilized support from energized anti-Obama administration party activists, the Tea Party has delegitimized itself as a political organization with its disorganized and often volatile political support[9][10]. Protesters have been accused of resorting to threats and profanity against Democratic politicians[9]. This ideologically homogeneous group has yet to decide its long-term course of action as political figures, operatives, and pundits fight for issue space.

This organization ignores the Moderate-Conservative wing of the Republican party in favor of the hard-line neoconservative wing of the Republican party. Sarah Palin tweeted “Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” Pls see my Facebook page”[11]. This references Palin’s fan page on Facebook with a map of twenty competitive Congressional districts marked by rifle scopes[12]. This rhetorical threat to moderate Democrats in Republican-leaning Congressional districts attempts to mobilize support from Tea Partiers. Furthermore, since the foundation of the Tea Party, many political candidates have entered the political arena in the name of the movement[13]. 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain faces a Tea Party primary challenger in his re-election bid, but Tea Party Patriot Sarah Palin stumped for Senator John McCain in Phoenix and Tucson, calling her former running mate a real Tea Partier to reassure her loyal constituency[14][15]. If this act of political polarization is not perplexing enough, the Tea Party has counter intuitively put up three primary-challengers against traditional Conservative Ron Paul[16].

The Tea Party is an inefficient political organization. The party portrays itself as an organization founded on the principles held by the majority of Americans–life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but these vague aspirations are no more than idealistic rhetoric sprouting from the ashes of economic decay. The majority of Americans are not polarized like the Democratic and Republican parties; in fact, the American constituency is rather moderate and politically apathetic[17]. This distortion that the Tea Party is creating is very harmful to America’s political climate. The Tea Party outrage against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 called for the bill’s repeal through an e-mail sent to the organization’s members[18]. Instead of offering amendments or changes they would make to the legislation, the organization focused on the Obama Administration’s radical socialist agenda, portraying it as a slippery-slope to universal amnesty and universal voter registration[18]. Democracy in the form of democratic deliberation is least served by impassioned rhetoric that detracts from the free flow of information available to the general public. Across the board, the Tea Party has failed to offer its constituents tangible solutions to help shape the legislative process. Even though the Tea Party borders on political party status, its purpose defeats the definition of political parties. Political parties are created to collect members with common beliefs, and they act as a vehicle for the interests of its supporters. The Tea Party is by no means a political asset to the Republican Party because it fails as a political party, as a political organization, and as an organization for progress.

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020402884.html. Rucker, Phillip. Tea party convention begins in Nashville.
[2] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/20100329-democratic-group-targets-tea-party.html?wprss=thefix. Cillizza, Chris. Democratic group targets Tea Party candidates.
[3] http://www.startribune.com/blogs/87652272.html. Stassen-Berger, Rachel E. Rally with Bachmann and Palin in Minnesota.
[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/19/fox-news-producer-caught_n_292529.html. Shea, Danny. Fox News Producer Caught Rallying 9/12 Protest Crowd in Behind-The-Scenes Video.
[5] http://mediamatters.org/research/201003270028
[6] http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2010/01/12/fox-news-hires-sarah-palin-as-an-on-air-contributor/. Madon, Connie. Fox News Hires Sarah Palin as an On-Air Contributor.
[7] http://www.the912project.com/category/the-plan/. Beck, Glenn. Glenn Beck Reveals The Plan in Open Letter.
[8] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589225,00.html. The Glenn Beck Show, transcript. March 15, 2010.
[9] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/29/reid-supporters-accused-throwing-eggs-tea-party-buses/. FOXNEWS.com. Reid Supporters Accused of Throwing Eggs at Tea Party Buses.
[10] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589776,00.html. FOX NEWS. Tea Party Protestors Dispute Reports of Slurs, Spitting Against Dem Lawmakers.
[11] http://twitter.com/SARAHPalinUSA
[12] http://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-palin/dont-get-demoralized-get-organized-take-back-the-20/373854973434. Palin, Sarah. Don’t Get Demoralized! Get Organized! Take Back the 20!
[13] http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/02/beck-primary/. Fang, Lee. Glenn Beck-Inspired Tea Party Candidates Step Up to Oust Veteran GOP Lawmakers.
[14] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-weigant/tea-party-excess_b_517877.html. Weigant, Chris. Tea Party Excess?
[15] http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/03/26/2010-03-26_sarah_palin_tries_to_fire_up_tea_party_movement_to_back_her_former_running_mate_.html. Saltonstall, David. Sarah Palin tries to fire up Tea Party movement to back her former running mate, John McCain.
[16] http://www.newser.com/story/80458/tea-partiers-attack-ron-paul.html. Spak, Kevin. Tea Partiers Attack… Ron Paul?
[17] Fiorina, Morris P., Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy Pope. Culture War?: the Myth of a Polarized America. New York: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.
[18] http://washingtonindependent.com/80069/tea-party-nation-draft-health-care-repeal-laws-recall-members-of-congress. Weigel, David. Tea Party Nation: Draft Health Care Repeal Laws, Recall Members of Congress.