If you have a group that’s made up of Republican voters, and that party is supported by most Republican voters, then if they broke off and became their own party, I don’t really see how that would be different then the current Republican party just changing its name to “Tea Party”.
If we’re still talking about the “Tea Party” in ten years, it will be because it will have become a euphemism for the Republican party, in the same way “Grand Old Party” is, not as a new political party.
I think everyone is dancing around the central fact of the Tea Party movement: Though they are overwhelmingly Republican, the one key factor that unites them is a shared hatred of Barack Obama. From the recent Democracy Corps analysis:
(Emphasis mine)
I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to discuss the reasons for this Obama-hatred–most folks will make up their own mind on that no matter what is said–but it does show the movement is defined by the man, and so it is unlikely to outlast his political career. My guess is, at some point, this “radical” movement–like every such movement in American history–will be absorbed by one or the other major political party (in this case, the GOP).
What elephant?
So, what has the Tea Party done to repudiate the likes of Billy Roper?
Of course, if they ejected the crazies, who’d be left? And given their incoherence, I can’t see them agreeing on a platform.
They’ll attract independents that are very conservative or lean libertarian. I doubt they’ll attract many Dems. The problem with any political group is that there are so many issues that the group as a whole has a hard time agreeing on all of them and the conflict begins to divide them. I read the GOP platform from Maine that was heavily influenced by the Tea Party ideology. {or a few assertive members} It was scary. It didn’t take long for other Maine republicans to object and change things.
I have some sympathy for certain Tea Party views but when it comes down to , “what do you actually want to do about it” they are often too extreme.
So evidently it’s a way for republicans to pretend to be a down home real American grass roots movement , while actually just wanting to do what they’ve always done.
Bush made it glaringly obvious that the GOP didn’t really care about the principles it touted and the Tea PArty is being used to recapture that illuision.
First off, I’d take you more seriously if you avoided phrases like “the democrat takeover”. It’s Democratic, please.
The Teabaggers are just the racist nutcase fringe of the Republican Party. All they can accomplish is to push the GOP so far right that moderates will abandon it. Once the mainstream Republicans see sure wins in Nevada and Kentucky slip through their fingers, they’ll start to put some distance between themselves and the loony tunes. The mainstream GOP can afford to take the Teanuts for granted, they just haven’t figured it out yet.
As far as I can tell, the tea partiers have a lot of complaints but not a lot of ideas.
Exactly. I agree with some of their basic complaints - government is too big, the deficit is too high. When they actually offer real solutions, and eject the crazies, I might become a tea-bagger. Well, they will have to change their name too. By then they will have been absorbed by one of the other two parties who wants their voting block. Right now they are a series of angry mobs with no direction.
One new party failed, therefore all new parties fail.
Q: What’s the name of the fallacy?
It’s not like there’s only been one new party. Have any of them succeeded?
A couple of my conservative friends have a lot of sympathy for thier basic ideas because they too are fed up with DC. I’d say I do as well. The media can be blamed in part for highlighting the crazies. You can’t realisitically eject everyone whose ideas are too radical but you have to do something. If you can’t stop the guy with the poster of Obama as witch doctor from amrching then at least get some air time and loudly clearly denounce that kind of racism. If you’re worried about alienating the racists by doing that then you got a big problem and there’s a lot of people you will never attract.
I read the Maine GOP platform which got a lot of press because it was “tea party” guided. They had ideas. Extreme and unrealistic ones.
I honestly hope so, and not because I agree with their stance (which I don’t) or because I think it might help the Democrats (though it probably would). Rather, I think a meaningful alternative is necessary to bring about a fundamental shift in the current, two-party system has tended toward passivity and foolishness in recent years.
Fair enough. I’m prepared to modify my earlier statement to make it “workable ideas” the tea-partiers lack.
I’m also prepared to retract it if a state party adopts a tea-party-supported platform that on balance is more sane than insane.
I would love to see a 3rd party become legit because of support. I voted Green Party in Maine to help them. I have serious doubts about the Tea Party becoming a solid viable 3rd party. I think they are too much a branch and tool of the GOP
It hasn’t happened, so it can’t happen.
Come on… you’re not even trying! 
Just dicking around. I see
It can’t happen here. US elections are not publicly funded, and they are bought and paid for - on both sides - by corporate interests. Said interests have absolutely no desire to make things less predictable by introducing a third party to the mix, and thereby being forced to split their campaign spending three ways.