Tough love for the Tea Parties

As has been noted at length by supporters and opponents alike, the First National Tea Party Convention, which occurred earlier this month, was far from representative of the Tea Party movement as a whole.

This is largely because this convention was put on by one company that saw an opportunity to capitalize on the enthusiasm of the movement’s supporters, not an official party organization that purports to speak for all Tea Partiers, as such a young movement cannot and should not yet have a national organizational structure.

Nevertheless, the fact that the convention took place, commanded such high ticket prices (more than $500), attracted former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and garnered as much media attention as it did, speaks to the continuing importance of the movement.

The convention’s for-profit business model and attendant high prices also created controversy within the movement, and this is further reason to examine the movement as it stands today, including its flaws and its merits.

First, let’s examine the movement’s merits.

Given that the movement has drawn inspiration from the Boston Tea Party of 1773, which was sparked by ire about oppressive taxation, and that the core of its case against the country’s current political developments is an economic one, it is clear that the participants’ primary motivation is wholesome.

That is, it is clear that, generally speaking, Tea Partiers are not motivated by racism or bogus conspiracy theories about foreign-born presidents.

Additionally, the general policy preferences of this movement’s adherents are sound and are in keeping with the principles of government in a free society. These include dramatically scaled back taxation, robust national defense and a leaner, more limited federal government, although there is plenty of ongoing debate about the particulars.

The fact that most in the movement are equal opportunity assigners of blame (that is, they blame deserving Republicans just as much as Democrats for the nation’s woes), and that they have a strong suspicion of those who would try to co-opt them (Sarah Palin included), is also to their credit.

Despite its merits, however, the Tea Party movement has a number of flaws in need of shoring up.

Most importantly, Tea Partiers need to better understand and better articulate why returning to the ideals of our founders is a good idea. Perhaps they just feel this goes without saying, but it is paramount that we bear in mind that the founders’ legacy should be revived not because they were our founders but because they were right about the primacy of individual liberty and happened to found this country.

That is, it wouldn’t be wise to honor our founders simply on the grounds that they were our founders if they had been socialists or adherents to some other anti-liberty political philosophy.

On policy issues, some Tea Partiers need to re-examine their support of unattainable and undesirable policy goals such as “energy independence.”

Finally, those who erode the movement’s credibility and obscure the relevant issues by focusing on speculation that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen or is secretly a Muslim should get a grip.

All things considered, though, to the Tea Party movement, I say: Keep up the advocacy for liberty. Party on!


E-mail: jarlower@indiana.edu