18th century protest with a new twist

Who would have thunk it? A protest in the 18th century over taxed tea would lead to culture shift in politics in the United States in 2011. With conservatives’ beliefs that the country is going to hell in a hand basket, fear and anger has lead to new ideas to solve issues troubling America. The Tea Party Movement is America’s new fad in politics.

The movement started in early 2009 when conservative voters angry with the government over bank bail outs, tax money being spent on government programs, public debt being passed on to their children, and President Obama inauguration took to websites such as Market Ticker to air out their grievances about the state of the country. On one of the chat sites in Market Ticker someone suggested posting tea bags to their elected representatives in Congress. Many people followed suit after seeing the suggestion. The movement went viral on February 19, 2009 after Rick Santelli, CNBC reporter, made a televised rant on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in front of Chicago traders with tea bags stuck to their computer screens and phone banks. In his rant Santelli gave harsh criticism of the Obama administration and talked of organizing a tea party rally in Chicago. Angry conservative voters that agreed with Santelli started setting up their own tea party groups connecting through the internet. Then on Feburary 27, 2009, Tea Party rallies were being held in major cities across the country.

According to TeaParty.org, some of the Tea Party movement core beliefs are for stronger military, pro-gun ownership, no deficit spending, and less government. The Tea Party Movement is slowly but surely is gaining clout in Washington D.C. In the Senate races of 2010 Tea Party candidates upset Democratic and Republican parties in Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, Kentucky, Delaware, and Florida. “It’s more a cause than a campaign,” Christine O’Donnell, at the time Delaware Republican nominee for Senate, told her supporters about making a change in Washington as a Tea Party candidate. “And the cause is restoring America.”

The United States have more than 54 political parties and 37 have had candidates that ran for presidency. Sean Wilentz, director of the American Studies program at Princeton University said, “Third Parties, are the ones that raise the issues that no one wants to raise and in the process they change the political debate and even policy, but themselves as a political force, they disappear.” Only time will tell if The Tea party can buck this trend.

Sources:
Nwazota, K. (2004). Third Parties in the U.S. Political Process. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from pbs.org.
Pilkington, E. (2010, October 5). How the Tea Party movement began. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from www.guardian.co.uk.
Scherer, M. (2010, September 27). It's Tea Time. Time , pp. 27-30.