The Death of the Tea Party

For a short moment in time, the Tea Party captured our imagination. With wonder we said, THIS is what a grassroots movement looks like! THIS is what a small government organization looks like! And now it’s over.

Not to say that the Tea Party is losing influence. It continues to be influential and will probably continue to become stronger. But that is how it dies. When did this turn into an entity that collects millions of dollars in donations? When did it grow things like political strategists and alliances? How did the Tea get taken over by the Party?

By becoming more than a grassroots movement it fails its origin and becomes another member of the establishment. There are good things and bad things about this.

On the up side, it would be exciting to have a strong national movement that was all about small government. The Tea Party’s momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In fact, as more people become educated, they join in the snowball. The threat it now poses to incumbents might force big-government Republicans to temper their ways and start voting like their constituents expect them to.

On the down side, large political organizations inevitably become corrupt, so there you go, Tea Party, your first step into hell. It seems that powerful people will stop at nothing to commandeer any threat to the establishment, so as this movement becomes bigger and more centralized, the less we will be able to trust it to represent us. Like the other two major parties, the more power this has, the more its power base will seek to entrench itself. Finally, it has positioned itself as a dependent arm of the Republican party, and has no influence on the liberal half of America.

The Tea Party was significant. It served to show those of us who believe that America is a haven for the free are not alone. It threatened and even toppled several of our ugliest incumbents. It also served to ignite the passion of liberty in previously apathetic people. More than anything else, it showed people’s true colors. Those who have hated it love power, they love debt, irresponsibility, backroom deals, entitlements, controlled economies, and manipulation. Those who have supported it have come from many different places, but generally we want decentralized government, free enterprise, and accountability for the horrible actions our government has taken recently.

As the Tea Party lives on you will see it engage in the very deceptions it originally opposed. They all do, eventually, and it’s sad. You will watch a grassroots movement be co-opted by those it set out to topple, and become one more power grab for the very rich. If it becomes powerful, they will make it permanent and divisive.

It’s sad. That’s the America we live in. Let’s continue working to take it back.