Module 6

 

What was the Tea Party, and what has it become?

The Tea party is a conservative faction in the Republican party. After the 2008 elections Republicans had suffered many defeats, and there was no clear leader for the party to rally behind. Many of these individuals worried that conservatism was being left behind, they decided to form their own faction within the Republican party. The Tea Party managed to revitalize right-wing activism in the U.S. and become a political force in U.S. politics. In a way the Tea Party is a cumulation of U.S. conservatism… a grassroots movement of conservatism? But a grassroot movement can only get you so far in this society without backing from a group, especially if they want to get involved in national politics. At its origin it was an interest group, until the people involved in the party started to have a sense of identity then it became a conservative faction. 

Having just learned the differences between political parties and interest groups, please reflect on how you would categorize the Tea Party both at its origin, as described in the article, and as it has evolved until today.

That is a tough question to answer. The more I read into the origin of the Tea Party the more confused I get, but for right now I would say that the Tea Party is a faction in a political party. The people involved in the Tea Party have a sense of identity and have a goal that they want to achieve in government. Sure, the group may have had help from FreedomWorks to get their party started, but many people within that party want to distant themselves from that conservative non-profit organization. This is a big country after all many members of the Tea party have different ideas from one another, as they don’t have a something/someone tying the local groups and the national groups together. Just to clear things up everything I have just mentioned so far is describing the Tea Party today. The first time I heard about this group was around 2012… I think it has been a while, by then they had already become a political party or were known as a political party.

From the article that was given to us to read the Tea Party in its creation was an interest group at first, that was aided by FreedomWorks. The individuals in that party had specific goals in mind that they wanted to see enacted in government. Over time this interest group started to evolve into a political group, as the people involved developed a sense of identity.

This module was a bit confusing for me, as I heard about the Tea Party before and by then they were already a conservative faction.