# What is the Tea Party movement, really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 23, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271 "2013-07-23T01:13:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/81 "2013-07-23T19:44:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No, it isn’t. > No, everyone doesn’t. > You can quit with your “TEA Party” acronym pushing-[it’s not catching on among the _Tea_ Partiers.](http://www.teaparty.org/) > Nobody said anything like that-how silly. > Facts is facts, not matter what _you_ think would be a more “rational” explanation. So you honestly believe that before 2002, nobody used the term Tea Party for anything other than a historical reference. And that in 2002, Evil Inc. decided to use the phrase for their planned future staged nationwide protests against … well, who knew back then, but somebody. Slowly, surely, they began to draw their plans against us… And that the machinery and foundations all lay dormant for seven years until the time was right, and in some smoky room somewhere a shadowed figure slithered slowly into the light and said “It has begun”, and _bam_ off we go, in less than two months from the activiation of sleeper agent Rick Santelli on MSNBC, we have Tax-Day protests all over the country. All based on some seven-year (or longer) plan. Not because people we fed up and the idea got out there that it might be a good idea to show it, but because they had been primed and ready for activation by the Puppet Masters. You really believe that? As to your acronym fetish, may I point out that it was only used in the early days of the movement, in the 2-3 month period after Robo-Santelli spouted off. Once the powers-that-want-to-be realized they had a ready-made base to build on (not your pre-made and planted based of 7+ years that you seem to think existed) then they remade it more in their image. That’s when it became “The Team Party” instead of a gereralized loosely-affiliated group of local organizations that may have identifed more as the TEA Party. Oy… you’re wearing me out son. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/82 "2013-07-23T19:45:23Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If I was limited to one word to describe the Tea Party, it would be “paranoid”. These are people who are afraid and feel threatened. > > \ > > So what is the Tea Party? A group of paranoid racists who have been exploited by the GOP elite. As noted in the Parker book, [Hofstadter](http://www.amazon.com/Paranoid-Style-American-Politics-Vintage/dp/0307388441) would probably agree. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/83 "2013-07-23T19:47:22Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > So you honestly believe that before 2002, nobody used the term Tea Party for anything other than a historical reference. And that in 2002, Evil Inc. decided to use the phrase for their planned future staged nationwide protests against … well, who knew back then, but somebody. Slowly, surely, they began to draw their plans against us… > > And that the machinery and foundations all lay dormant for seven years until the time was right, and in some smoky room somewhere a shadowed figure slithered slowly into the light and said “It has begun”, and _bam_ off we go, in less than two months from the activiation of sleeper agent Rick Santelli on MSNBC, we have Tax-Day protests all over the country. All based on some seven-year (or longer) plan. Not because people we fed up and the idea got out there that it might be a good idea to show it, but because they had been primed and ready for activation by the Puppet Masters. > > You really believe that? I believe that you seem to have a definite problem accurately stating other poster’s positions. Come back to me when you care to discuss what I actually wrote instead of your silly strawmen. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/84 "2013-07-23T19:48:29Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > One more time - Tea Party is American social shorthand for tax protesting, and it actually started to be used in 1777. EVERYONE uses it to mean that. TEA (acronym) Party was not a Koch/FreedomWorks/Cheney/Bilderberger/etc. “front”. Or are you saying that Freedom Works originally set sleeper agents all around the country, 7 years prior, waiting for the precise moment to strike with “spontaneous” protests of actors or something? Wouldn’t a more “rational” assumption be that it WAS a nearly spontaneous outpouring that was then hijacked by the Puppet Masters? Try Occam’s Razor on it and see what works better. I prefer "It was a collection of small disconnected groups of disgruntled right-wing people who had someone from the Puppet Masters come around (metaphorically) in late 2008 and say “Say, we really like what you people are doing and we want to help. We’ll organize some local events, a couple of trips to DC, a lot of talking points and media coverage in heavy rotation on FoxNews and related RW media sites. How’s that sound to you?”, which then resulted in a right-wing feedback loop as FoxNews viewers joined the movement complete with all the _other_ right-wing talking points of the day and so it went. It would hardly be the first time a political movement has stirred up the proletariat (I hesitate to use the apocryphal “Useful Idiots”, but…) in order to use them to further their political aims. Of course, if history shows us anything it’s that the proletariat often refuse to go away when they’re no longer needed, and often hijack the movement. Sound familiar? > [@](#): > > I wasn’t talking so much about content as how it is delivered. I’m sure I’d probably find much of the information fascinating and even agree with huge swaths of it if it weren’t for the “look how cutting, ironic and hipster we are, and oh yeah, fuck you Stupid-McStupiderson who doesn’t think like us” presentation. As it is, I doubt I’ll ever even skim any of it if the entire content of the site is written in that manner. Yes, they’re pretty snarky, which is why I tend not to read it either. Doesn’t mean they’re wrong. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/85 "2013-07-23T19:56:32Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > One more time - Tea Party is American social shorthand for tax protesting, and it actually started to be used in 1777. EVERYONE uses it to mean that. TEA (acronym) Party was not a Koch/FreedomWorks/Cheney/Bilderberger/etc. “front”. Or are you saying that Freedom Works originally set sleeper agents all around the country, 7 years prior, waiting for the precise moment to strike with “spontaneous” protests of actors or something? Wouldn’t a more “rational” assumption be that it WAS a nearly spontaneous outpouring that was then hijacked by the Puppet Masters? Try Occam’s Razor on it and see what works better. Nah, everyone can see why timelines needed to be avoided to make your point of view valid. It was not. Freedom Works has been pointed as one of the big financers of the Tea Party movement. > **[FreedomWorks - SourceWatch](https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/FreedomWorks)** > [@](#): > > Tobacco Industry and the Tea Party > > According to a study published February 8, 2013 in the journal Tobacco Control, “Rather than being a purely grassroots movement that spontaneously developed in 2009, the Tea Party has developed over time, in part through decades of work by the tobacco industry and other corporate interests.”[19] Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, both of whom have worked to oppose smoke-free laws across the United States since at least 2006, were major players in this effort, with help from the PR firm, DCI Group.[19] > [@Werekoala](#): > > I wasn’t talking so much about content as how it is delivered. I’m sure I’d probably find much of the information fascinating and even agree with huge swaths of it if it weren’t for the “look how cutting, ironic and hipster we are, and oh yeah, fuck you Stupid-McStupiderson who doesn’t think like us” presentation. As it is, I doubt I’ll ever even skim any of it if the entire content of the site is written in that manner. That is not your cup of tea is clear, but the fact is that like the other Wiki they link to supporting evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/86 "2013-07-23T19:58:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I believe that you seem to have a definite problem accurately stating other poster’s positions. Come back to me when you care to discuss what I actually wrote instead of your silly strawmen. Hey, you know what, you’re right man. I’m sorry I doubted you all along. The website states the organization called The Tea Party was founded in 2004. It was a setup all along, and I was just blinded by the notions of smaller government and less taxation. Clearly, everything I have come to believe about politics and society and individualism is nothing more than a cleverly constructed fantasy placed in my head by some guys I never heard of before a couple of years ago. I really don’t care about the Tea Party in it’s current itteration - I was mildly interested in 2009, but I quickly saw that it was being corrupted - or I thought I did, but apparently it was corrupted from its very inception. If only I had been wiser back then, I wouldn’t have spent… well, nothing and wouldn’t have joined.. well, no one, and wouldn’t be such a…well, non-Tea Party member - like I am today. I assure you that my non-association with the people who call themselves Tea Partiers (or more jovially, Teabaggers) will continue from this day forward. So go forth secure in your knowledge that you (and your associates) did, in fact, beat me at a game of Internet Jousting. I yield to your superior whatever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/87 "2013-07-23T20:00:21Z")
Was there a pro-tobacco or anti-smoking-law component to Tea Party protests? I don’t remember that, and all Google is finding me are references to that same study. Did Big Tobacco get what they paid for? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/88 "2013-07-23T20:02:15Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > Hey, you know what, you’re right man. I’m sorry I doubted you all along. The website states the organization called The Tea Party was founded in 2004. It was a setup all along, and I was just blinded by the notions of smaller government and less taxation. Clearly, everything I have come to believe about politics and society and individualism is nothing more than a cleverly constructed fantasy placed in my head by some guys I never heard of before a couple of years ago. > > I really don’t care about the Tea Party in it’s current itteration - I was mildly interested in 2009, but I quickly saw that it was being corrupted - or I thought I did, but apparently it was corrupted from its very inception. If only I had been wiser back then, I wouldn’t have spent… well, nothing and wouldn’t have joined.. well, no one, and wouldn’t be such a…well, non-Tea Party member - like I am today. I assure you that my non-association with the people who call themselves Tea Partiers (or more jovially, Teabaggers) will continue from this day forward. > > So go forth secure in your knowledge that you (and your associates) did, in fact, beat me at a game of Internet Jousting. I yield to your superior whatever. 🙂 I can see how the snark from those websites offended your delicate sensibilities. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/89 "2013-07-23T20:03:53Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > I think the points could be made in a less…vile manner. It’s clearly written by the convinced, for the convinced, nobody on “the other side” would possibly be swayed by any of that. You think that’s somethin’, check out the pages on [Rand,](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand) [Objectivism,](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Objectivist) and the [Austrian School](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Austrian_School)! 🙂 > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. > > —John Rogers[1] > > **Ayn Rand** was a philandering, Russian atheist,[2] the author of vast doorstop-sized tomes like _Atlas Shrugged_ and the ripped-off biography _The Fountainhead,_ and other thick, boring books espousing, essentially, psychotic libertarian themes and ideology. > > Rand claimed to be a philosopher, though preferring the title “Objectivist.” In fact, her simplistic versions of philosophy were misunderstandings of Aristotelian metaphysical notions formulated thousands of years ago. Whether that makes a philosophy or an excuse for being greedy and selfish is, ironically, subjective. > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Conspicuous by their absence from Rand’s list of virtues are the “virtues of benevolence,” such as kindness, charity, generosity, and forgiveness. > > —Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy > > > [@](#): > > > > How do you read fiction and come up with a political philosophy? It’s fiction! > > —Lewis Black[1] > > **Objectivism** is a “philosophy” formulated by novelist Ayn Rand. It has various tenets, but is best known for defining self-interest as a moral virtue. As one might imagine, Objectivism is very popular amongst those who hold a me-first view of the world. It lets them say, “Hey, I’m not being a selfish jerk, I’m following a philosophy!” > > Objectivism has not met wide acceptance in academia. When they bother to comment on it at all, academic philosophers usually dismiss it as a rather juvenile imitation of a real philosophy.[2] It is nevertheless very popular, and informs the beliefs of a great many libertarians and assorted whackjobs. Although it shares some beliefs with conservatism, it has not had much influence on that branch of politics due to its radical, anti-traditional, atheist nature; see, for example, Whittaker Chambers’s criticisms of Atlas Shrugged.[3] Objectivism introduces religious elements that were previously accessible to atheists only via some forms of communism, viz., an inability to define any non-self-serving epistemology and a violent idiocy on the part of believers. It was called Objectivism because, as Rand was the single smartest person in the history of the world, anything she said had to be objective.[4] > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I tremble for the reputation of my subject… > > —Paul Samuelson on the Austrians[1] > > **Austrian economics** (or the **Austrian school** of economics) is a school of economic thought that eschews mathematical modeling and empirical testing in favor of a narrative approach termed “praxeology.”[2][3] > > As the claims of Austrian economists are difficult to verify through empirical testing (and the same economists _openly_ admit to it), it is generally considered to be a heterodox approach[4] or outright pseudoscience.[5] Austrian arguments as to why statistical methods cannot adequately describe human behavior can seem intuitively compelling, but they fail to provide the mathematical proof demonstrating why normally unbiased estimates suddenly become biased simply because they are dealing with people who make decisions. Perhaps one reason they are so uncomfortable with empiricism is that Austrian economists are more interested in defending the political ideology of libertarianism than they are in advancing economic understanding,[6] and rigorous testing can sometimes undermine deeply held political beliefs. > > Can we take anything positive from it? Well, to start, its use can be found in _no economy in the world_… except Somalia.[7] ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/90 "2013-07-23T20:04:06Z")
> [@Werekoala](#): > > Hey, you know what, you’re right man. I’m sorry I doubted you all along. The website states the organization called The Tea Party was founded in 2004. It was a setup all along, and I was just blinded by the notions of smaller government and less taxation. Clearly, everything I have come to believe about politics and society and individualism is nothing more than a cleverly constructed fantasy placed in my head by some guys I never heard of before a couple of years ago. I’m pretty sure that all falls under “silly strawmen” too. > [@](#): > > So go forth secure in your knowledge that you (and your associates) did, in fact, beat me at a game of Internet Jousting. I yield to your superior whatever. 🙂 Ooh, the “whatEVER” retort. Are you a 15-year-old girl from the 1990s? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/91 "2013-07-23T20:05:22Z")
Jeebus, **BG** , you’re turning into **NotFooledbyW**. Enough with the Wall-O-Text thing. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/92 "2013-07-23T20:10:58Z")
The tea party started out as a bunch of sore losers and racists who wanted to pretend that history bagan on January 20, 2008. Their view of the world had been so utterly discredited that they had to change their logo to keep going. Over time, they learned to camoflauge their racism. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/93 "2013-07-23T20:13:00Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Was there a pro-tobacco or anti-smoking-law component to Tea Party protests? I don’t remember that, and all Google is finding me are references to that same study. Did Big Tobacco get what they paid for? For many years they did, that profit gained for all those years where they managed to press FUD and about restrictions to tobacco was money in the bank, incidentally I became familiar with those groups thanks to seeing now virtually the same faces in the current efforts to discredit climate science and delay any changes on the control of emissions in the USA. https://www.youtube.com/embed/Py2XVILHUjQ?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=TLLbMFZPv3hGs Video showing the sorry tale of Dr. Seitz that claimed that no tobacco study of his showed any harm coming from tobacco, then the same Dr. shilled for the fossil fuel industry. The same groups supporting Seitz morphed to the ones now denying anthropological climate change, guys like that know what rackets are profitable. ¨Any money is good as long as it´s green, I´m not quite clear about this moralistic issue.¨ -Dr. Seitz ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/94 "2013-07-23T20:16:08Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Jeebus, **BG** , you’re turning into **NotFooledbyW**. Enough with the Wall-O-Text thing. Hey, it’s a lot more work than it looks! (If you want to replicate all the bolds, italics, etc., from the original.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/95 "2013-07-23T20:19:49Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > The tea party started out as a bunch of sore losers and racists who wanted to pretend that history bagan on January 20, 2008. > > Their view of the world had been so utterly discredited that they had to change their logo to keep going. > > Over time, they learned to camoflauge their racism. Most TPers are white and most of those probably racist, but it’s not a racist movement – nor a deficit-hawk movement, either – it’s based on feelings broader and more diffuse and less articulate than that, a general reaction against the country and society changing. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/96 "2013-07-23T20:28:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I can see how the snark from those websites offended your delicate sensibilities. Touche’, pussycat. I just have a problem with self-righteousness from any side of the spectrum. I’m certain there must be many right-leaning sites with similar, if not worse, examples. I, of course, am not self-righteous, I’m simply right. 😃 (_Editor’s note_: That was not intended to be a factual statement regarding the current, past, or future discussions, it was merely the author’s misguided attempt at humor in a political “discussion”. Govern yourself accordingly.) ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/97 "2013-07-23T20:30:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You think that’s somethin’, check out the pages on [Rand,](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand) [Objectivism,](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Objectivist) and the [Austrian School](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Austrian_School)! 🙂 Ouch. Ok, THAT time you got the kittens. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/98 "2013-07-23T20:32:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Most TPers are white and most of those probably racist, but it’s not a racist movement – nor a deficit-hawk movement, either – it’s based on feelings broader and more diffuse and less articulate than that, a general reaction against the country and society changing. ♪ Feelings… Nothing more than feelings.. ♫ Science vs. the Feelies [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OjD0e1d6GgQ/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gPCgyMA8=&rs=AOn4CLBd5S181iOMH5yc7it73A1YAUEFFw "26 -- Science vs. the Feelies") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjD0e1d6GgQ) I think that video from Science Writer Peter Hadfield (AKA Potholer54) is appropriate since many Tea Partiers are indeed living in the ¨Feelie¨ world \*\*\*and going to congress to make policy based on those feelings used by deniers. \*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Renee\_RL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7c8e57/32.png) [@Renee\_RL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee_RL)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/99 "2013-07-24T00:45:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But, do we have any reason to think the Tea Partiers approved of all that? Being silent is being complicit. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271/100 "2013-07-24T00:56:56Z")
> [@Renee\_RL](#): > > Being silent is being complicit. Nah, that’s just the Silent Majority doing their thing. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-tea-party-movement-really/664271.md?page=6)