The Tea Party. It’s been the subject of fierce political discussion since Barack Obama’s election as President in 2008 and the subsequent rise of the movement for what’s been called a “new conservatism” in 2009. When examining the upcoming midterm elections, the significance the Tea Party cannot be underestimated. Many Republicans self-label as modern “Tea Party” members; however, others within the party and observers decry the Tea Party’s affiliation with the GOP. After thorough analysis, the campaign strategy of those who have affiliated themselves with the Tea Party or self-labeled as Tea Party candidates has been unsuccessful, on balance, in these 2010 midterm elections. This is partly due to the absence of a unified party platform; if this lack of unified belief is perpetuated, it will be the Tea Party’s demise. One needs look only to the West to see why this has been the case.
Sharron Angle’s latest offense, as portrayed by her Democratic opponents and critics, has the political world buzzing. And not in a good way. This Republican candidate from Nevada is running against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the U.S. Senate seat from that state; many political junkies point to Angle as a prime example of how the Tea Party movement has been a failure. Most recently, she made some controversial remarks about health care regarding how the government lumps undesirable health care charges under the category of “autism” at a political rally. Sharron Angle’s embarrassing moments, though, are tempered by those of her East Coast colleague, Christine O’Donnell, who we must not forget once dabbled in witchcraft. Such embarrassing instances for these candidates create the perception that they are extremist; their actions result in their turning into marginalized candidates. Despite people’s anger towards Harry Reid in Nevada, for instance, Sharron Angle has managed to alienate herself from much of the Nevada electorate.
There are some legitimate Tea Party candidates who come from conservative districts that have a decent chance at victory, and Barack Obama is indeed having trouble rallying the Democratic base in these areas. Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, and other conservative Tea Party-affiliated GOP candidates stand a decent chance at winning their respective races, and the Democratic Party is right to take their electoral challenges seriously. Many concede that the Democrats will lose seats in Congress this year, as is so often the case in midterm election years where the major party in control of Congress and the presidency loses seats to the other. However, through an objective political lens, the Republican Party stands to gain much more in November than it could today if these Tea Party campaign efforts remain as ineffective as they are today.
The inefficacy of central campaign efforts, especially when political polarization about Obamacare and the national debt exists to such extremes in different congressional districts, is an extremely unproductive waste of a tremendous opportunity for conservatives around the nation. The Tea Party has, in effect, become a marginalized group of dissatisfied people instead of a unified bloc with actual policy plans that can be effectively conveyed to the public. Its anti-taxation arguments, for instance, are widely seen as pragmatic among those who hear them – the problem for Tea Partiers is, though, that many people don’t even get a chance to hear them. Simply running candidates on their personality is unsustainable; the efficiency of Palin-style personality politics will not last forever in the American political arena.
Of course, the Democratic Party has its fair share of out-there candidates, too. Alvin Greene, the out-of-nowhere South Carolina Democratic Senate nominee, is an honorably discharged war veteran who has been indicted on charges related to pornography. He won the Senate primary in the overwhelmingly Republican state with no apparent campaign apparatus in place; his party’s charge is to now win the election against incumbent Republican Senator Jim DeMint, an outspoken voice against earmarks and excessive government spending, among other issues. Clearly, Greene isn’t going to have the easiest time pulling a fast one on the South Carolina GOP. But he doesn’t have the advantage that the Tea Party does.
The Tea Party, if it wants to be successful and victorious, must take advantage of the movement in America that supports its central tenets. With the political capital it stands to gain from smart organizational moves, the Tea Party has the potential to develop into a formidable political force. However, if it doesn’t get its act together soon and behave in a more unified manner, the Tea Party’s hopes for political success in November will remain slim, and the Republican party will not reach its full potential for victory this fall. There are no unified beliefs in the Tea Party, and it remains decentralized. If this continues, it will be the Tea Party’s demise. Ironically, decentralization is key to the Tea Party’s view on government and how power should be allocated in our federalist system. If the status quo persists, the Tea Party’s most principled belief will also be its downfall.
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Updated October 31, 2010