Letter to the Editor

Dear All Things Considered:

                I agree with the assessment that Tea Party Movement politics and members are the logical evolution of the subset of Republican supporters referred to as the “value voters” of the most recent presidential election.

                To the value voters, as the name implies, social issues are paramount. They vote based on the candidates’ stances on these values, be it familial, religious, or generally social, like abortion or gay rights. The Tea Party movement is similarly aligned. Both groups tend to be rural-based and ideologically right-of-center.

                I feel that the Tea Party Movement, like the value voters before them, will do more harm than good to America as a whole. They tend to describe their opponents as “socialist” without fully understanding what exactly Socialism actually entails. Often, these cries of derision are followed closely by calls for astronomical increases in government spending in areas like defense. The irony of this is often lost on Tea Partiers. The values both the Tea Party and the value voters adhere to tend not to be representative of the core values of the country as a whole, but are more indicative of an extremely vocal minority. Almost uniformly, Tea Partiers include family concerns which are often intertwined with the Christian faith. “I think there is a strong faith component in the Tea Party movement,” says Sen. Jim DeMint. This blurring of politics and religion can be dangerous. They use their religious beliefs to direct their political leanings and aspirations. Historically, and also in contemporary global politics, this intertwining leads to extremism and almost invariably to violence.

                Unfortunately it is these people who participate in the rallies and are the most vocal and exposed of current political groups, both locally and nationally. It is easy to rally extremists; we must find a method to motivate the vast majority in this nation who are moderate, progressive, and apathetic.

Capital Hill Hootenany

I'd like a little less "Yee-hah!" in my Tea, Please.

Most people tend to be bat-shit crazy, which is why I often avoid them. They scare me. So it probably goes without mentioning that when I see and hear a Tea Party rally going on in what ostensibly is my own backyard, I fear for the children. Which is ironic, because it's the children the Tea Partiers claim they are most concerned with. 

Tea Party Christmas Party Party

First some background: This Tea Party Movement draws its name from the Boston Tea Party of 1775, and if you paid even the slightest attention in high school American History, that part should be obvious. It's a grassroots organization that rallies around rural courthouses and farmer's markets with big signs proclaiming their hatred of abortions and gays and government spending and taxes and Barack Obama. (Spellcheck must be a Tea Partier because it tells me Barack Obama is WRONG.) They sit around yelling at each other from podiums, then break for apple pie. The disturbing part is their increasing popularity. Normally this sort of thing doesn't even blip on my radar, as I tend to care more about the difference between sedimentary and metamorphic rock than I do politics, but because the Tea Party is SO VOCAL and SO EXPOSED, it's difficult to ignore. With is surprising, because I can ignore a lot. (Ask my girlfriend.) Tea Partiers, according to the NY Times, are overwhelmingly white, Christian, and wealthy. Also, most people who identify themselves as a member of the Tea Party tend to be married males older than 45. 

Tea Party Cheerleaders.

 

 

So what does this mean for American politics going into the next decade? Well, if the Tea Partiers get their way, essentially it'd be more akin to a Christian Iran than the America most of us are familiar with. No abortion, no gay marriage (or any rights to gay people for that matter) huge increases in military spending, deep tax cuts to the highest income brackets, and Orwellian immigration and foreign relation laws. So basically just the Republican party, except meaner and less apologetic. 

Terrifying. 

The biggest problem here is not the Tea Party, though. I think the issue is the fact that people like me, the more progressive, moderate (okay, maybe a little left-of-moderate) young adult Americans, are also the most apathetic group of people to be alive. If that offends you, good. Do something. If not, well, you're just like me, and you probably read that and just said, "meh," and tabbed back to Facebook. But think about it: Do you want the Tea Party calling the shots? Do you like the idea of people who live in $1,500,000 houses and wear cowboy hats on the weekends to direct the policies that will directly affect your future children, whenever you get around to caring enough to have them?