The Tea Party Political Movement

5. Overview of Tea Party Ideology

The Tea Party is an American political movement, popularly known for its conservative positions within the larger Republican Party. Their main ideology is the reduction of taxes and to lower down government spending, which is connected with the American National Debt. They are angry about the policies regarding Obama administration and especially the reform bills. The Tea Party supporters are concerned with the government’s representation of the people, health care reform bills, economy, government spending and the unemployment issues. More than 80% of the people disapproved of his job performance rating him as the socialist, and the issue they have raised in the recent years related to the taxes levied on most of the American people.

4. History of the Movement

The movement’s name is similar to that of Boston Tea Party, which started on December 16th, 1773. In that pre-Revolutionary War event, the protest was against the taxation policies of Great Britain without any representation of the American populace they were taxing. Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch from Koch Industries founded the CSE (Citizens for a Sound Economy) and made Ron Paul the chairman of the organization. They published the official website of the Tea Party as well, and worked towards the lowering of taxes, lessening regulations, and decreasing the scope of U.S. Federal Government policies. With its inception in the year 2009, the Tea Party found a loyal following with the help of social networking sites and made an electoral mark in the year 2010. However, in the year 2014, Republicans came to the consensus that it is a radical party and costing seats and votes in Congress. The Tea Party activists consider themselves as a part of the citizen’s movement and express their hostility towards elite classes.

3. Accomplishments

The Tea Party after sitting in the Senate worked towards the renewal of the Patriot Act while keeping the government away from the proceedings. They are also concerned about the economy so, expressed their views for not raising the budget deficit that will make the capital city of Washington, D.C. to work towards the Federal Budget of the country. The healthcare bill was also a major concern of the Tea Party, and there were mass slogans against the bill that offered a huge amount of money for the social sector.

2. Criticisms

The Tea Party Political Movement got a lot of criticism from the opposition for their way of working as they dumped tea packets across the cities, and some packets in the local water bodies. Many protesters held these during their protests and, during one of the protests, one threw a tea bag into the White House as well. The Tea Party supporters targeted the national debt, large government, and taxes, and protest the bailouts of the financial firms situated in Wall Street by the U.S. Federal Government.

1. Significance to Contemporary U.S. National Politics

The Tea Party has changed the face of the American Politics by raising the question of federal debt publicly and made it a national-level question, and kept in front of the Senate. In the last few years, the Tea Party has strongly influenced the governmental decisions made on several bills related to healthcare and taxes. It is also an influential party today even though there is lesser media attention.