Runaway Party

Recently, Tea Party protestors swarmed Boston Common. But even before that they had laid claim to Boston and more so, to the Republican Party. Their turnout arguably contributed to Scott Brown’s election to the senate seat formerly held by Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56, and although many Tea Party-supported Republican candidates have failed, most of the “Tea Party patriots” are staunch Republicans. However, the Republican Party would do well to steer clear of this extreme, disordered group.

What is sometimes called the “Taxed Enough Already” Party poses the danger of offering a slightly more libertarian alternative to the Republican Party. The Tea Partiers delve into strange territory with their discussions on the constitutionality of government, among other things. Their oft-regarded founder, Eric Odom, is a confused Libertarian-Republican, and his party followers seem to be the same. He has re-joined the Republican Party, it seems, only because it is currently the best avenue for the Tea Party’s cause; the Tea Parties are hardly a loyal branch or even ally for the Republicans.

In fact, Odom’s party is willing to contest the seats of current Republicans, including, it seems, Senator John S. McCain (R-Ariz.), the 2008 Republican presidential candidate and one of the most prominent and respected members of the Grand Old Party. During the first National Tea Party Convention this February, former Congressman, 2008 presidential candidate, and founder of the Tea Party Convention Tom G. Tancredo exclaimed that McCain was a repeat of “Bush one and Bush two” and “thank God John McCain lost the election.” Although this antipathy may have stemmed from Tancredo’s own primary loss to McCain, his words were met well by the convention attendees and its main organizer, Judson Phillips.

Because of the party’s hostility toward mainstream Republicans, it comes as a surprise to me that Republican Party Chairman Michael S. Steele has called himself a member along with prominent Republicans like Republican House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt L. Gingrich. Perhaps this is because the party is, at least, united with the Republican Party in their criticism of Congressional Democrats, big spending, and most importantly, President Obama.

Although this united opposition to the Democratic establishment is healthy for the Republican opposition, the Tea Party’s rhetoric is not. Calling the president of the United States a socialist is the type of extreme language the Republican Party needs to disassociate itself from, and using similarly harsh language toward Republicans in office or the idea of government altogether is certainly not conducive to a GOP electoral victory this fall.

The Tea Party’s methods also alienate mainstream Republicans. In April 2009, protestors threw boxes of tea bags at the White House—hardly patriotic. Unlike what some of the protestors’ signs contend, President Obama is not King George III. The colonists that the current “Tea Party patriots” profess to follow were rankling under taxation without representation under the Townshend Acts and the 1773 Tea Act. By melodramatically associating their movement against a democratically elected government with the fight against British imperialism, modern tea parties only belittle themselves by comparison.

The Tea Party movement adds more disunity to the Republican Party and has the potential of alienating the party even more from mainstream voters. I alternate between “party” and “parties” when referring to the Tea Party movement because the organization is a confusion of several groups. I am sure Republicans would not want to add such incohesiveness to their already-scrambling coalition. The popularity of these Tea Parties suggests that the Republican Party should articulate coherent policies of their own to reach out to unsatisfied masses instead of simply blocking Democratic attempts at reform—especially since Tea Parties include a sizable segment of the Republican voter base. This is unfortunate because the organization has proven that it has more potential to create revolutionaries than loyalists within the Republican Party.

Nafees A. Syed ’10, a Crimson editorial writer, is a government concentrator in Leverett House.