# What has the Tea Party done for the "Little guy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 4, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948 "2016-03-04T19:09:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/1 "2016-03-04T19:09:20Z")
They claim all sorts of stuff, but what have they actually done to help the taxpayers? I can’t see anything they have done so far, but be obstructionist. Now, sure if they obstruct bad things, that’s something, sure. But have they done anything positive? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/2 "2016-03-04T19:21:47Z")
Is the Tea Party still a thing? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/3 "2016-03-04T19:24:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Is the Tea Party still a thing? Two of 'em are running for President. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/4 "2016-03-04T19:27:34Z")
Made them a cup of tea ? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/5 "2016-03-04T19:28:50Z")
Does anyone have a serious answer? Can we stick to serious answers here, please? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/6 "2016-03-04T19:29:10Z")
Provided a focus for their anger and insecurity thereby providing a sense of empowerment to a certain class of voters who were feeling disenfranchised. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/7 "2016-03-04T19:30:54Z")
Their position is that (federal) government is bad, so whatever you do to make it not function is good for us all in the long run if we wait for the eventual privatization of everything. The little guy they are talking about is usually white, rural and a gun owner. Whatever makes Dems and career politicians look bad is to be enacted, so that we can see the 'truth" of how bad govt is. It’s a circular argument that there is no way to be on the other side of. It only gets tallied up at the rapture. By then we will have come down like Rome basically. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/8 "2016-03-04T19:31:00Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Provided a focus for their anger and insecurity thereby providing a sense of empowerment to a certain class of voters who were feeling disenfranchised. Sure, good point. But have they succeeded at any legislation that would _help_ that class of voters? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/9 "2016-03-04T19:42:32Z")
Sure, I understand that. But the sense of empowerment IS an accomplishment, in a sense. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/10 "2016-03-04T20:14:25Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Provided a focus for their anger and insecurity thereby providing a sense of empowerment to a certain class of voters who were feeling disenfranchised. I was going to say “made him feel important”, but this is more high-brow. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/11 "2016-03-04T20:18:11Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure, good point. But have they succeeded at any legislation that would _help_ that class of voters? How do you define “help”? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/12 "2016-03-04T20:19:40Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > How do you define “help”? Assisted. Made a better life, better economically. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/13 "2016-03-04T20:22:20Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Two of 'em are running for President. I have heard maybe three peeps about the Tea Party from those candidates at best. It’s over. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/14 "2016-03-04T20:24:07Z")
Government spending has not gone up much and as a consequence the deficit has gone from 1.25 trillion in 2010 to 250 billion last year. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/15 "2016-03-04T20:33:41Z")
I think it would be hard to draw a direct connection between those things and a direct positive impact on the ‘little guy’. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/16 "2016-03-04T20:33:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Assisted. Made a better life, better economically. So restricted to monetary measures? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/17 "2016-03-04T20:42:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I have heard maybe three peeps about the Tea Party from those candidates at best. It’s over. More accurately _it’s over until the next financial clusterf_ck.\* If the financial projections of CBO are anything like accurate(admittedly they often aren’t) then the movement will return with avengence in some form within a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/18 "2016-03-04T20:54:13Z")
What the Tea Party wants harms the little guy. They want to take away health insurance from millions. They oppose minimum wage increases. They oppose labor unions. They oppose spending on programs that help us all, such as rebuilding decaying highway bridges. They’re working to limit people’s right to vote. They’re fighting against any possible effort to minimize the harm caused by climate change. That they haven’t succeeded in all of this is, perhaps, their greatest accomplishment to the benefit of the American People. They’ve failed, by and large, and that’s helped us all a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/19 "2016-03-04T21:00:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > They claim all sorts of stuff, but what have they actually done to help the taxpayers? This is a bit vague. Maybe you could show us somewhere where the Tea Party claimed to actually do something, we can investigate and see if that thing actually happened, if it helped anybody and if the Tea Party can take credit. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948/20 "2016-03-04T21:36:01Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > So restricted to monetary measures? Assisted. Made a better life, better economically. Note the comma. Made a better life. And/or Made better economically. Do you have anything? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-has-the-tea-party-done-for-the-little-guy/747948.md?page=2)