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.
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