# What is the point of the Tea Party? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 7, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038 "2010-02-07T17:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/1 "2010-02-07T17:06:57Z")
Conservatives are frustrated and decide to form their own political party (kind of). WTF!!! You have an irrationally conservative party called the Republican Party, much to the disappointment of Republican progressives like me. So how are the Tea Baggers different than the far right that has hijacked the party for 3 decades and when will us Republicans bring back the Bull-Moose party? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/2 "2010-02-07T17:15:09Z")
> **[Tea Party movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement)** > > The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit through decreased government spending. The movement supported small-government principles and opposed government-sponsored universal healthcare. The Tea Party movement has been described as both a popular constitutional movement and as an " The Tea Party ... \*"The Tea Party movement is a United States protest movement that emerged in early 2009 partially in response to the federal government’s stimulus package, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The movement originated in anti-tax protests and arose in response to the increase in the national debt as a result of the stimulus package, as well as the reaction to increases in home mortgage foreclosures despite TARP bailout money paid to the banks. It grew dramatically after revelations about the bonuses paid to AIG executives in March 2009 and has been most visible through the Tea Party protests of 2009. Protesters have also utilized the social networking outlets Twitter, My Space, Facebook as well as blogs in promoting Tax Day events."\* ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/3 "2010-02-07T17:22:38Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > [Tea Party movement - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement) > > \*"The Tea Party movement is a United States protest movement that emerged in early 2009 partially in response to the federal government’s stimulus package, officially known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. > > The movement originated in anti-tax protests and arose in response to the increase in the national debt as a result of the stimulus package, as well as the reaction to increases in home mortgage foreclosures despite TARP bailout money paid to the banks. It grew dramatically after revelations about the bonuses paid to AIG executives in March 2009 and has been most visible through the Tea Party protests of 2009. Protesters have also utilized the social networking outlets Twitter, My Space, Facebook as well as blogs in promoting Tax Day events."\* Thanks but I already looked that up and it doesn’t add to the debate. Why would Conservatives break from the Republican Party when they already control that party? ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/4 "2010-02-07T17:28:17Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Thanks but I already looked that up and it doesn’t add to the debate. Why would Conservatives break from the Republican Party when they already control that party? Because they need a fringe to the fringe. But some of them really are frustrated with the Republican party as well, because they’ve noticed how the Bush administration spent wildly. Not many, though. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/5 "2010-02-07T17:40:29Z")
One only WISHES the [Bull Moose Party](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Moose) would come back. T.R. is probably weeping when he realizes what happened to the Republican party. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/6 "2010-02-07T18:06:52Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Thanks but I already looked that up and it doesn’t add to the debate. Why would Conservatives break from the Republican Party when they already control that party? I think the tea party is fairly small though (Obama’s rallies generally pulled far larger crowds on much shorter notice than the Tea Party rallies). And my impression is it is largely made up of older, white conservatives whose head exploded when a Muslim Kenyan Marxist who works for Al Qaeda won the presidential election with democratic supermajorities and was able to implement his Stalinist schemes. Thus goes the narrative. I guess they felt the mainstream GOP isn’t ‘scared’ enough of this threat or something. I really don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/7 "2010-02-07T18:25:06Z")
It’s a fairly common thing. A group on the left will attempt to form a separate party, even though they should realize that their beliefs are so far to the left that they have no chance of being elected. Or a group on the right will attempt to form a separate party, even though they should realize that their beliefs are so far to the right that they have no chance of being elected. In some countries with different ballot systems this might have some use. If the elections are to a legislature where the number of legislators elected by each party depends only on the proportion of all the voters who vote for them, this might work. If the elections to a single office are set up so that a voter can submit an ordered list of his preferred candidates and there are automatic run-offs using that list, this might work. However, in the U.S., where elections are always winner-take-all, this doesn’t work and could cause the candidate that a voter likes least to win. Precisely because it’s such a useless idea under the U.S. election laws, new parties don’t get formed very often. This is mostly a rhetorical trick. Someone will claim that they are going to form a new party. The rest of the party that they currently belong to will sometimes slightly change their policies to bring that person back into the fold so that he doesn’t screw up the next election. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/8 "2010-02-07T19:04:56Z")
It also seems like a natural response to the current state of things. Nature abhors a vacuum. Four years ago there were lots of protests from radical groups on the left; plenty of anti-war and anti-corporation rallies. They simply lacked the cohesion we see with the Teabaggers. Now with a Muslim Kenyan Marxist who works for Al Qaeda as the president and a democratic supermajority implementing Stalinist schemes, the crazies on the left have taken a seat allowing for crazies on the right to stand up. I think I’d be more surprised if they hadn’t formed a little gang and marched on Capital Hill. And I expect they won’t be the last. Other radical groups from the right will clump together to protest their own pet cause be it abortion-for-none or guns-for-all. At the moment, those groups have no one in power and no one representing them. From the comfort of their trailers they here a lot of talk about government spending and UHC for them left, but then nothing from the right. Then someone realizes they can make profit from making radicals angry, and poof, the Teabaggers are born. In a few years Palin will be president and MSNBC will supporting the Rusty Tromboners as they cry angrily for more social programs. It’s the circle of life. akumawabe akumbawe… ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/9 "2010-02-07T19:13:17Z")
The Tea Party movement is not an attempt to create a new political party. It is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, thus is comprised of a series of political protests. It is not a faction, it is not a breakaway group from the Republicans, rather it is a bunch of nimrods that like to make fools of themselves in public while simultaneously wrapping themselves in some good-old American history. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/10 "2010-02-07T19:25:58Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The Tea Party movement is not an attempt to create a new political party. It is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, thus is comprised of a series of political protests. You beat me to the punch on that. > [@](#): > > It is not a faction, it is not a breakaway group from the Republicans, rather it is a bunch of nimrods that like to make fools of themselves in public while simultaneously wrapping themselves in some good-old American history. I think they are making an effort to shake off that image. [From today’s NYT:](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/us/politics/07teaparty.html?ref=politics) > [@](#): > > …gone were the placards that protesters carried last year with Mr. Obama’s face wearing a Hitler mustache or superimposed on the Joker. Gone, really, were any placards, unless you count the poster of Sarah Palin in her signature red jacket that hung from one of the wrought-iron balconies of the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. > > Organizers said that anyone “looking too crazy” would have been tossed out. They had a goal that turned out to be shared by pretty much everyone here: to turn the Tea Party into a serious political force, rather than the angry fringe group they say it had been branded as. I’m not sure how successful they’ll be, but I think it’s premature to dismiss them as a bunch of loonies. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/11 "2010-02-07T19:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > The tea party movement is dead…Judson Phillips held it down and Sarah Palin drove a stake right through its heart live last night on C-Span in front of an unsuspecting audience. > > Sarah Palin didn’t give a tea party speech last night. She gave a partisan Republican address. It was a purely political speech designed to position her for a presidential run in 2012 or 2016. Period. She wasn’t there to celebrate the organic nature of a movement she had nothing to do with creating. She was there to co-opt the name and claim the brand as hers. And she did. > > The movement, that came to be officially recognized almost a year ago but whose roots go back further than that, has been snuffed out and replaced in the public mind. The movement that began as a people’s movement of angry independent, libertarians and conservatives will now be thought as the movement of people like Palin, Dick Armey, Judson Phillips, Mark Skoda, etc. Essentially, a wholly owned subsidiary of the “Official Conservative Movement” and the Republican Party. [http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2010/02/07/the-begining-of-the-end-sarah-palin-hijacks-the-tea-party-movement/](http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2010/02/07/the-begining-of-the-end-sarah-palin-hijacks-the-tea-party-movement/) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/12 "2010-02-07T19:45:25Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Thanks but I already looked that up and it doesn’t add to the debate. Why would Conservatives break from the Republican Party when they already control that party? They don’t feel like they do control that party. They feel like the Republican party is to tolerant of, as they put it, RINOs, Republicans in Name Only, who aren’t devoted to the goals of the tea party movement. So one of their main goals is to get involved in the primaries to vote out “fake” Republicans, who aren’t conservative enough for them. Also, the main goal of the tea partiers is to shrink the size of the federal government, and cut taxes, spending, and government regulation. Their main focus isn’t social issues. That’s not to say that they don’t have members who, say, want to abolish abortion, for instance. Most of them do. But that’s not their primary goal. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/13 "2010-02-07T19:58:35Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > … and when will us Republicans bring back the Bull-Moose party? Republicans bring back Bull-Moose Party?? Is this some kind of joke? :smack: Bull-Moose Party platform planks: - support for social welfare - workers’ compensation - strong government regulation - support for (i.e. restricting injunctions against) labor union strikes - mandating employer-sponsered health insurance! - raising inheritance taxes and income taxes - public works projects - reducing military spending. This does _not_ sound to me like post-modern “Republicanism” whether of _either_ the tea-drinking or bourbon-drinking factions. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_apisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/47e85d/32.png) [@Frank\_apisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_apisa)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/14 "2010-02-07T21:17:46Z")
I wish the Tea Partyers the best of luck. The so-called liberal/progressives of the Democratic Party are doing their level best to screw up a real chance to make inroads into meaningful progressive initiatives. They are demanding that the whole enchilada be obtained or nothing…and each day seems to bring them closer and closer to getting nothing. Good to see the other side as anxious to screw up a good thing coming their way. But since I consider the conservative side to be garbage…I gotta root for them to screw up more than for the so-called liberal/progressives to do so. I was beginning to think the progressive side was doomed. They had managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But the other side seems determined to snatch it back. GO TEA PARTY! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/15 "2010-02-07T21:38:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m not sure how successful they’ll be, but I think it’s premature to dismiss them as a bunch of loonies. Like **MOIDALIZE** ’s quote says, I suspect that by losing looniness, they sign their own death warrant. They just get swallowed up back into the big fish. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/16 "2010-02-08T03:01:45Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > **What is the point of the Tea Party?** To get the Dormouse into the teapot. Same reason a raven is like a writing-desk. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/17 "2010-02-08T03:04:10Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Thanks but I already looked that up and it doesn’t add to the debate. Why would Conservatives break from the Republican Party when they already control that party? What was the point of [Code Pink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Pink)? Or the NAACP? Don’t they have a party that supports their interests? (Also I am amused that the initial liberal kneejerk “Astroturf” has turned into a liberal kneejerk “teabagger loonies.” Coldly calculating amoral agents have suddenly turned into unhinged crazies.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/18 "2010-02-08T03:05:51Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > What was the point of [Code Pink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Pink)? Or the NAACP? Don’t they have a party that supports their interests? Kindasorta. Not so much, really. But the real difference is that their existence does not damage the party in question. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/19 "2010-02-08T03:19:02Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > They don’t feel like they do control that party. They feel like the Republican party is to tolerant of, as they put it, RINOs, Republicans in Name Only, who aren’t devoted to the goals of the tea party movement. So one of their main goals is to get involved in the primaries to vote out “fake” Republicans, who aren’t conservative enough for them. > > Also, the main goal of the tea partiers is to shrink the size of the federal government, and cut taxes, spending, and government regulation. Their main focus isn’t social issues. That’s not to say that they don’t have members who, say, want to abolish abortion, for instance. Most of them do. But that’s not their primary goal. Which is ironic because a large % of the population of the tea party movement (larger than the % of the general population) is geriatric and either near or over 65. People over 65 are the biggest welfare recipients in the US, collecting about 1.2 trillion a year in medicare and social security. Almost 1/3 of the federal budget goes to those 2 programs. [http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/02/06/tech-shy-tea-party](http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/02/06/tech-shy-tea-party) > [@](#): > > But the average age of people at this convention is easily above 50 years old and for many, using a computer is still a challenge. > **[Xoilac 365 Trực tiếp bóng đá - Link xem Xoi Lac TV #1 full HD](https://xoilacvzs.cc/)** > > Kênh bóng đá trực tuyến Xoilac365.tv✅ nguồn link trực tiếp bóng đá Xoilac TV full HD. Phát sóng trực tuyến Xôi Lạc TV tructiepbongda chất lượng cao. > [@](#): > > djchefron 9 months ago > OK I’m back from the tea party.There were 100 to 150 people all white and the average age was about 55 to 60. Its like these people aren’t even capable of elementary critical thinking. Tea activist: “Cut the budget. Cut welfare” Government: “OK, lets start with the pension system and medical care you depend on everyday” Tea activist:“Wait, what? You mean social security and medicare are government programs?” If you want to destroy the tea party movement, cut their medicare and social security for 2 months. They will be begging for welfare by the end. These people are the embodiment of every negative stereotype of baby boomers. Extremely stupid, aggressive, self absorbed and extremely spoiled/selfish. Not because they hate welfare, but because they hate welfare that goes to other people and aren’t smart enough to realize they are even more dependent on welfare than the people they criticize. A tea party activist who is 70 probably collects about $30,000 a year in medicare and social security. Then they complain about single mothers getting $4000 a year in food stamps. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038/20 "2010-02-08T03:22:37Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > (Also I am amused that the initial liberal kneejerk “Astroturf” has turned into a liberal kneejerk “teabagger loonies.” Coldly calculating amoral agents have suddenly turned into unhinged crazies.) We’ve always recognized that the leadership of this movement was different from the masses involved. Hell, Dick Freakin’ Armey organized the first of these! But the thing is that the people it attracted really believed this crap. They also have come to the point where they recognize the astroturf nature of the movement. That’s why the crazies avoided this big tea party convention in droves. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-point-of-the-tea-party/528038.md?page=2)