The government shuts down the DMV to make the public feel the pain of tax cuts. You can be certain that those all expense paid conferences to Las Vegas and Hawaii to boost morale are never cut. I constantly receive phone call surveys where the questioner implies that if don’t agree to tax hikes that the fire department can’t save my family from a burning building because state law prohibits firefighters from rescuing people if there aren’t at least four firefighters present. It’s literally, " Pay more taxes or your family dies."
My mistake, 73%.
Unless you cut one of those 4 things, you can’t really cut government spending.
I respectfully disagree that racism in the motivation for shrinking government.
Not so long ago, I was listening to a talk show where the Hugh Hewitt brought up budget hawks i.e. Tea Party versus military hawks i.e. Establishment Republicans. The point is that the Tea Party wants to shrink the military as well. Unfortunately, from my point of view, too many Republicans wants us involved in too many places across the world especially the Middle East. The Tea Party wants the military to protect our borders not everyone else’s.
Are you a member of the People’s Front of Judea? 
fuzzywuzzy: I guess the CF depends on, in part, who becomes the next President?
Did the Tea Party ever have any coherent message or philosophy? Beyond “We hate Obama,” that is?
SOME of the Tea Partiers were all about lower taxes and smaller government… but those are definitely NOT the priorities of the Tea Partiers now backing Donald Trump.
The Tea Party is popularly presumed to have been kicked off by Rick Santelli’s rant against the bailouts, specifically outrage that the government might consider helping homeowners facing default. It was a conservative middle class movement, but like all things conservative in this country they managed to enlist working class conservatives by riling them up over the potential for “deadbeats” getting goodies they didn’t deserve. But they never had the numbers in Congress to do more than obstruct, make empty threats, and engage in reckless brinkmanship.
I’d stereotype the middle class Tea Party position as being for balanced budgets and deficit reduction. I thought that was a foolish policy to espouse during a recesssion, but it’s a coherent (if simplistic) policy position. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the mass of working class Tea Partiers were primarily driven by a general sense of disgruntlement towards government and modern society, and they’re flocking to Trump in large part because of his blunt style.
Nothing at all. You indicate that they claim “all sorts of stuff.” I have no idea what you are talking about. This is about the vaguest description imaginable.
Your link doesn’t contain any claims of accomplishment either. It talks about what they would like to do. This is different from actually saying they’ve done anything.
I’m asking you because I am not aware of the tea party doing anything or claiming to have done anything, and I’m hoping you will show me what you are talking about.
How’d that work out for Kansas?
Ok, I found some claims. Boehner has stated that he’s proud of what this congress has accomplished, and I’ve seen the sentiment echoed in other Tea party sites. Specifically, they say that they have blocked Obama, because the things that he wants to do will bankrupt this nation for our children. I know that’s still kind of vague, but it beats the crap out of “all sorts of stuff.”
So I think they are saying the government would be spending more money now if they hadn’t stepped in, thus postponing the future debt catastrophe. So they’ve saved us all.
I’m not going to tackle that one.
On the other side of the coin I have seen that Tea Party threatened to boycott Fox News for not sticking with the Benghazi thing, so I think they can take credit for the incredible scrutiny that the conservative press has placed on top democrats and liberals, such as Benghazi, the Clinton emails, Obama’s birth certificate, etc.
I think this actually is a positive accomplishment. I think our leaders should be scrutinized. It informs the public, and keeps the politicians honest. The facts come out and the people can judge them.
It’s a real shame that the left is nowhere near as effective at scrutinizing right wing leaders. Don’t you think somebody really needs to go after Trump’s history?
Frankly, I feel better about Obama and Hillary because of the Tea Party. So they did that much for me.
Oh, I saw a Ted talk with Al Gore and he said that A tea party group blocked additional taxes being put on the installation of alternative energy, and they call themselves the green tea party because the environment furthering alternative energy really should be a bipartisan thing. So, if Al gore is right, they accomplished that (though it was apparently just in one small area.)
Nm
[Taps mike]
Hello? Is this thing on?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19153990&postcount=24
They say great minds think alike. I guess ours do, too. 
For what it’s worth I went to a local Tea Party meeting a few months ago because an acquaintance was speaking. The stated goals of the Tea Party movement in this area are:
-The core principles of the constitutionally of limited government
-Fiscal restraint
-Free markets
Since the Tea Party movement is grass roots he admits these may not be the objectives of all Tea Party gatherings. The makeup of the 50 odd attendees was overwhelmingly white elderly and male, though for the area that is certainly more typical than what a random sample for the entire nation would suggest.
If I was to surmise the concrete goals of the group I would say: they want to organize, they want to be heard, they want less government spending, they want less taxation, government shouldn’t interfere as much with business regarding regulation.
Apparently wanting limited government is racist.
You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
When you say “elderly,” should I be thinking “primarily within fifteen years of retirement,” or “primarily retired?”
Like my OP says, AFAIK, they have done nothing but be obstructionistic. I dont know if they have claimed to have done anything positive but they do claim to be for the little guy, for smaller government, for lower taxes, and the other things on their agenda.
Have they delivered on any of their claims?
[Taps mike again]
Maybe it is off. 
Generally speaking not much on their delivery but then I do think that one should be fair and should acknowledge at least a few things that they do right. Because on some issues we all really do need to make a concerted effort.
Now, to the basic question, "What has the Tea Party done (for the little guy or anyone else)? The answer is… not all that much. They haven’t gotten many candidates elected, which means they haven’t been in a position to do much o to implement any kind of agenda.