Just how scary is the US Tea Party movement?

PHILADELPHIA - Over the last few weeks, a ragtag social movement dubbed the Tea Party Movement (TPM), which has been coalescing countrywide around issues like taxation, bank bailouts and the growing role of government in the economy, has come to great prominence in US media.

A major, front-page story in the New York Times last week underscored the growing importance of this grassroots movement, which emerged on the scene last year with a series of anti-tax demonstrations. The movement - although it's perhaps too decentralised and amorphous to call a ‘movement' - is essentially a response from Americans who are reeling over the brutal impact of the Great Recession, and who have serious doubts about the government's plans to ameliorate it. It's just one response, of course, but it has several aspects to it that make it a rather alarming one.

Brief background on the TPM
The name "tea party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 protest against imperial Britain in which disgruntled Bostonians threw chests of tea into the Boston Harbour to demonstrate their anger at what they saw as unfair taxation (obviously the story was a lot more complex than this, but that's the gist of it.)

The TPM, as noted, got its start through a series of tax protests that kicked off in April 2009, hence the association with the Boston Tea Party. Americans were worried that the massive increases in public spending that the government authorised in response to the recession were going to result in higher tax rates, something that Americans are highly allergic to. The movement was nurtured by extensive coverage by Fox News (especially Glen Beck) and by conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

The movement also made great use of social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, blogging, and it conducted an e-mail campaign with the unfortunate name of "tea bagging" (if you don't know the slang meaning for the term, check out Urban Dictionary's take on it).

From those beginnings, it has grown into a much wider phenomenon, with a number of small, local organisations signing on to the TPM bandwagon, as well as several larger, more structured national and regional institutions.

Tea Party ideas
Generalising about the TPM is tricky given the fact that the movement is dispersed, decentralised, and made up of many different organisations and groups. By way of illustration, a Google search for the term "tea party movement" turns up dozens of sites claiming to be the official site of the movement, including the Tea Party Patriots and Tax Day Tea Party, and many other sites that discuss various strains of Tea Party ideology like http://www.resistnet.com/, http://www.wnd.com/ and http://www.infowars.com/.

Although it's tough to make sweeping statements, there are however some unifying ideas underlying the movement.

The Boston Tea Party is widely seen as a shining example of ordinary Americans refusing to submit to unfair policies, even when those policies were being enforced by some local rulers. It's symbolic of a rich vein of American thought and protest that holds that the only guard a country has against tyranny is the actions of ordinary people, and more importantly, that ordinary Americans have a moral right, even an obligation, to break the law when the law is tyrannical.

This all goes back to the Declaration of Independence, which says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

In other words, people have a right to overthrow their government if that government is doing things that will abridge their rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

This idea is very important to Tea Party types, as is illustrated by one of the darker aspects of the movement: its cosy relationship with a number of right-wing militias. America has a long history of non-governmental militias (see the Michigan Militia, A Well Regulated Militia, and Oath Keepers for some examples of these groups and their rhetoric), and some elements of the TPM are aligning with these para-military groups, talking about armed struggle against the government and the need to violently overthrow the Obama regime.

In an interesting document, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged this issue, warning that "The economic downturn and the election of the first African-American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalisation and recruitment." And sure enough, TPM adherents with no history of radical politics are increasing being drawn in to the darker side of these right-wing groups.

In the past, terrorist attacks in the US have been carried out by right-wing extremists. In 1995, for example, Oklahoma City was bombed by right wingers, and just this month, Joseph Stack crashed his airplane into an Internal Revenue Service building (see Newsweek article on right-wing terrorism).

So perhaps the main reason to pay attention to the TPM is its potential for violence, its violent rhetoric and the danger that radicalised right-wing ideology poses. America is in a tough place. In many ways, it's a great power in decline. Its status as sole superpower is being challenged by the emergence of China, while its sense of safety is under threat from radical Islam. Economically, it's experiencing its bleakest times and worst unemployment since the Great Depression, and politically it seems paralysed (see previous column and this week's Economist cover story).

In short, conditions are ripe for fundamentalist ideology (like the TPM's emphasis on the founding documents of the US and constitutional purity), social instability and even violence, which could further weaken American economic prospects and political functioning. That's a pretty dour cup of tea.

Write to Felicity Duncan: felicity@moneyweb.co.za or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FelicityDuncan

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Oh phuque I thought the tea party movement was an intiative by Her grand-maternal excellency Winnie (diamond-smuggler) mandela to instill some elements of pedi culture into the otherwise dull, drab and breitling-less shack dwellers of caster semenyiville . .more where men are men and girls are men. As usual I have been duped by the sinister forces of yellow communism and capitalist media. Ag bhugger it-- I think we should nationalise the tea plantations of the transkei and Limpopo---- oh hang on a minute we already did. Funny thing, ever since we nationalised them they haven't produced any tea . .less by Julius mal-enema on February 24 2010, 12:34 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Viva Hugo! Viva Osama! For too long, the world has been subjected to the radical ideas hatched by liberal a**sholes on the US east coast, for example that one-man-takes-all democracy is the only viable model. As South Africa as well as Afghanistan have . .more convincingly shown, this is not valid. Earth to Uncle Sam: there are people on this planet that think differently, whose views are equally valid. . .less by Hugo Chavez on February 24 2010, 13:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

"A RAG TAG SOCIAL MOVEMENT" NO THEY AINT FELICITY! The tea party movement is a vibrant right wing tendency that wants some real CHANGE and not the Wall Street C*** that Obama dishes out. I only wish they would get going here and put this current crowd of buffoons at the ANC out of . .more business. Maybe we could start a ROOIBOS PARTYchapter? Who knows it might be the start of some real reform. God knows, us whitey's need it! . .less by ER on February 24 2010, 13:18 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

What do we whiteys need, ER? I'm curious. What exactly do we whiteys need that we haven't got? From where I sit the ONLY thing we don't have is political control. We control the best schools and universities, the boards of the top companies, the mining houses, the media..you . .more name it. So what are you REALLY asking for? A return to white rule? . .less by Chucky on February 24 2010, 14:12 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

They have been living of the fat of the world They have been living on the borrowings of the world rather than raising taxes. Money that should and could have been used better where it came from. Now they are starting to pay there own way like the rest of us. This is just the beginning, once . .more the world stops buying US treasuries we will really see how unreal the American Dream really is. . .less by Lynne on February 24 2010, 21:32 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Sara Palin and the Tea Party Movement? Thought you would allude to the potential role of Sarah Palin in the Tea Party Movement. by Derick on February 24 2010, 23:53 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Tea-time These salt-of-the-earth fiscal conservatives never raised a squeak when their poster-boy president, Geo Bush ran up the largest USA budget deficits ever. They also never complained when the mortgage loans on their houses were bundled into the . .more "toxic debt" mortgages that CAUSED the financial melt-down. . .less by Theseus on February 25 2010, 00:05 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@ Theseus The "toxic debt" mortgages date from the last few months of the Clinton era. by Margaret on February 25 2010, 00:27 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

TEA Party Don`t confuse issues.TEA(Tax Enough Already) Party is a legitimate civic organization protesting against looting of people hard earned money in the form of inflated taxation.We need such movements in South Africa to protest against Politicians . .more redistributing our wealth.You and I work hard for Malema and company who are totally unproductive not contributing to GDP.Remember Government has nothing,it must first tax,print fiat money or issue useless bonds to function.We are the backbone of production and economic activity and keep politicians alive.American people understand these things better than us who glorify overrated and useless big governments. . .less by Edward Mudau on February 25 2010, 00:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

TPM lets get going in SA I agree with Edward lets get a similar movement going in SA! As a start can we not a taxpayers and citizens demand to see which of our politicians have their taxes up-to date? Lets demand a list from SARS to be published of all MP's and other . .more politicians that simply states that they have assessment done for the following years for the following MP's etc. After all dont we have the right to expect these persons to be squeaky clean as regards tax? . .less by Peterw on February 25 2010, 01:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Too good for too long Americans are starting to revolt, yes, but what few realise is that it is a backlash against hard times. They have had it too good for way too long - low interest rates, lax lending, low goods costs, tax breaks. The first signs of problems started . .more when the oil price went through the roof and Americans started to realise that their lifestyles were completely out of sync with the realities of the rest of the world. Instead of adapting, however, they simply started to B**** and moan about how bad tings were getting. It's time to wake up to the fact that there is no "American way of life". They are going to have to sweat like the rest of us. These groups are desperately trying to cling to a lifestyle that is no longer sustainable and try to use history and their constitution as grounds for their protests. . .less by positronia on February 25 2010, 01:29 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

T E A Party We may just end up imbibing (in a little tea party) ourselves shortly. Municipalities DO NOT DELIVER. Roads, water reticulation, sewage, general City maintainance is not done = WE HAVE NO MONEY! National Government is doing no . .more better. Just now there is going to have a culture of NON PAYMENT. Then salaries will not be paid - that is all they care about anyway! . .less by Taffy Dee on February 25 2010, 01:46 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Chucky We whiteys need the same things as the blackeys. Service delivery, transparent accountable government, a fully functioning justice department ... need I continue? by Ambrose Bierce on February 25 2010, 01:58 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Must be the Obama Trillions Last time I looked, Obama had pushed the deficit up to over a $Trillion from GW's already staggering $221Billion, a fact Felicity conveniently forgot to mention. Dunno about you, but a $Trillion in deficit would upset me... by Julian on February 25 2010, 02:43 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Chucky What do we need? Sustainability! A fully functioning infrastructure was delivered in 1990 to the ANC. How would you describe the current state of our infrastructure? Hope this helps, dear Chucky. by ER's mate on February 25 2010, 02:56 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

why no mention of MASSIVE problems To ascribe only the far right involvement (as you do in this article) in the TEA party is really sloppy. The TEA party stands for Taxed Enough Already.. This is the central theme of the movement and it lays blame at both the Bush and Obama . .more adminsitrations. That this movement is huge in the states is the most encouraging sign for world stability in quite some time. America and most of the western worlds reliance on huge fiscal deficits and ever growing government spending is a romanesque problem (i.e civilization destroying). America's socail security and medical obligations in 2035 will equal there WHOLE tax revenue. So any further spending on education, police, military etc will be debt financed. Major MAJOR reform is required.. I am glad there is a grassroots movement that is growing that is putting pressure on the government to reform.. As for extreme Right wing groups.. They have never needed an excuse to be a menace but there real influence and size is puny.. Please in future report on the destruction of the tsunami and not the great surfing conditions it creates.. . .less by lefty article on February 25 2010, 03:00 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Felicity, this kind of cut-and-paste job and your preference for faux melodrama does not justify your conclusion about the potential for violence. I thought you were supposed to be (Ful)bright? You write as though no one else has access to the same web as you. You'd display . .more your intellectual talents better by doing a guide to the best assessments of and insights into the Teabaggers to be found on the web. Your attempt is more high school history lesson. One can see you understand the mechanics of linking, now how about linking to something worth following rather than using the academic essay referencing style as the links? Your assessment is useful only to the handful of commenters here who apparently have web browsers that limit them to South African sites or, more likely, intellects severely limited by absence of curiosity. The patronising history lesson about the Teabaggers speaks volumes about the audience you're writing for here. Your decision to refer to it as the TPM rather than the Teabaggers says all one needs to know about your ideological preferences. Surely you know that TPM is a left politics web site? Why is it that when South Africans go overseas they write for the audiences back home as though we're children requiring the obvious and widely available to be explained slowly in small words? . .less by Wingnut Winder on February 25 2010, 07:11 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

@Chucky What we are asking for is: More political say based on 25% of the tax payers paying for 75% of the countries bills. (The BEE majority have all the say and the funders for it have relatively little..) This MUST be acknowledged politically, a . .more new movement similar to the Tea party crowd is needed to organise intelligent, focussed debate on this issue in SA! Why should BEE be funded by 25% of the tax base who were not even of voting age under aparteheid, and who are VERY much discriminated against by law, (sounds familiar doesn't it??), - the question is when will this end, because IT MUST, its divisive and not a nation building norm! . .less by JWise on February 25 2010, 07:27 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

If the USA opened it's doors to all there would be millions who would flock in And about nil who would flock out. If South Africans could get entry in the USA and take all their money out without the punitive tax then I would think millions would move out. The Malema government is shocking really horrifying. He is the devil. by Manuel on February 25 2010, 08:24 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

The fouth Force I thought the Tea Party Movement was a code name for the Black Sash. by Joko on February 26 2010, 03:44 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Tea Paty No Picnic The tea party movement has a few problems. Firstly it is politically fragmented with left and right wing attributes. Secondly a black man is President. This means that anything anti government is also anti Obama and thus anti Black or anti . .more Minority. However that being said the traditional minority in the USA is just about as big as the traditional majority these days. Therefore half the population is excluded from this populist movement. This begs the question. Just how popular is it. However what we could be seeing is the beginnings of a collapse of the center. The movement that will ultimately emerge is a right wing National Reformist Group led by a charismatic Figure. (Think Arnold Schwarzenegger). The left (the Democrats) could thus be anti reformist and will be trapped inside the existing paradigm of government. I think business as usual but with pro advancement of minority interests. Either way the outcome is not likely to be terribly good. If it right wing reformist it will likely be radical and militant. If its left wing and anti reformist it is likely to suffer from existing problems of corruption, vested interests and suppression of freedoms . .less by Reader of tea leaves on February 26 2010, 04:13 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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