There has been entirely too much made of the Tea Party and its potential for real impact outside of this election. The primary reason being the small number of candidates that really stand a chance of winning relative to the number that have already spoiled opportunities--see Sharon Rangel, Carl Palodino and Christine O'Donnell. In time they be recognized as too extreme for the majority of the population and by 2012. Tea Party candidates that do win, Rand Paul et al, will probably be greatly diminished when their libertarian views and ramifications are fully understood by the electorate.
So The Tea Kettle Movement by Tom Friedman in today's New York TImes, column attached below, was refreshing given the national attention and clear deficiency of ideas and misplaced anger that it really represents. I greatly admire Tom Friedman for his ability to parse the partisan divide and have tried to do the same. He is also especially impressive with his ability to provide a snap shot of the moment while synthesizing the hypocrisy and opportunity that exists on both sides within any issue.
Within the framework of the historical role of minor party politics in America it is easier to gather perspective on its evolution. Most historically third parties evolved around a personality with name recognition that pulled on either side of the electorate in a specifically in a presidential campaign. While minor parties do exist in America our first past the post electoral system, relative to proportional representation a more representative distribution, minimize their potential for long term impact. The spoiler result brought us Bill Clinton and George W. Bush but tend to minimize the long term policy impact and general representation of the people.
The Tea Party movement is another chapter in this evolution and provides an important new wrinkle into third parties and a foundation for further development and implications for the American democratic process. The so called Blue Dog Democrats became a recognized faction or voting block in this session of Congress. Surely, Tea Party candidates will form a group within the Republican party that requires separate negotiations for passing legislation.
Could it be that the effort to bring a multi-party system to the US has to come from within the established system? A Tea Party Strategy.
I first glimpsed the change that was coming during the Kerry campaign. Then the only way for Kerry and the Democrats to get elected would be to run on a platform that would change the system. All hope was lost for any positive policy developments and Kerry didn't stand a chance so why not. However, I should have known any progress would come from within the GOP. Even during the presidency of George W. Bush the party was only held together by the legendary manipulation of the base by Karl Rove. But by the end of his presidency the fractures within and the damage to the core ideals were so great it was only a matter of time until a splinter group developed. Just add fuel in the form of Barack Obama's election, plunging retirement accounts, Fox News and that fire starter Sarah Palin and watch it combust.
Ironically, the Tea Party candidates and supporters with their small government, low tax ideology are running for office with the insitutional support and framework of the Republican Party. A new and often overlooked wrinkle on an old problem: subverting the two party systems strangle on elections. In this way the Tea Party candidates are uniquely able to keep the umbrella title of Republican candidate without having to work within the party hierarchy or start a party from scratch with little or no historical support, name recognition or competition from close substitutes.
So who needs who more and who gains in the end?
Republicans are clearly happy to ride the wave of Tea Party support and coopt their platform with similarly outlined priorities and even fewer policy specifics all for their own national gain. Never mind that as early as two years ago the Republican party was both expanding the size of the governmen and the need for greater
taxes with their behavior. In the end the Tea Party candidates will be a mixed bag and the Republican Party will be happy to cast them aside, if they can. It seems the best thing both Republicans and Democrats in the long run is the two party system first past the post electoral system will continue to prevail.
Still despite the Tea Party manifestation and its inability to provide for any real clear policy solutions, without the prerequisite personal or ideological sacrifice, it does inspire hope. Hope for the continued development, media attention and inflated hyperbole except with more meaning or purpose. All Americans should hope for the continued success of groups that garner the necessary funding and media attention to push for a change in the status quo. America needs a brave movement from within either party to put the electoral system on the ballot. It will electrify the electorate to finally be FREE from the tyranny of the two party plus special interest government that currently under-represents us.
However and Wherever that movement breaks out along the political spectrum let's hope next time they come with the recognition that both parties are to blame. And the real policy solution a generally disinterested populace needs is more broad based representation. Until we change the electoral system that fails to represent every American, movements will continue to come and go but Democrats and Republicans will remain the same.
The Tea Kettle Movement
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
There are actually two Tea Party movements in America today: one you’ve read about that is not that important and one you’ve not read about that could become really important if the right politician understood how to tap into it.
The Tea Party that has gotten all the attention, the amorphous, self-generated protest against the growth in government and the deficit, is what I’d actually call the “Tea Kettle movement” — because all it’s doing is letting off steam.
That is not to say that the energy behind it is not authentic (it clearly is) or that it won’t be electorally impactful (it clearly might be). But affecting elections and affecting America’s future are two different things. Based on all I’ve heard from this movement, it feels to me like it’s all steam and no engine. It has no plan to restore America to greatness.
The Tea Kettle movement can’t have a positive impact on the country because it has both misdiagnosed America’s main problem and hasn’t even offered a credible solution for the problem it has identified. How can you take a movement seriously that says it wants to cut government spending by billions of dollars but won’t identify the specific defense programs, Social Security, Medicare or other services it’s ready to cut — let alone explain how this will make us more competitive and grow the economy?
And how can you take seriously a movement that sat largely silent while the Bush administration launched two wars and a new entitlement, Medicare prescription drugs — while cutting taxes — but is now, suddenly, mad as hell about the deficit and won’t take it anymore from President Obama? Say what? Where were you folks for eight years?
The issues that upset the Tea Kettle movement — debt and bloated government — are actually symptoms of our real problem, not causes. They are symptoms of a country in a state of incremental decline and losing its competitive edge, because our politics has become just another form of sports entertainment, our Congress a forum for legalized bribery and our main lawmaking institutions divided by toxic partisanship to the point of paralysis.
The important Tea Party movement, which stretches from centrist Republicans to independents right through to centrist Democrats, understands this at a gut level and is looking for a leader with three characteristics. First, a patriot: a leader who is more interested in fighting for his country than his party. Second, a leader who persuades Americans that he or she actually has a plan not just to cut taxes or pump stimulus, but to do something much larger — to make America successful, thriving and respected again. And third, someone with the ability to lead in the face of uncertainty and not simply whine about how tough things are — a leader who believes his job is not to read the polls but to change the polls.
Democratic Pollster Stan Greenberg told me that when he does focus groups today this is what he hears: “People think the country is in trouble and that countries like China have a strategy for success and we don’t. They will follow someone who convinces them that they have a plan to make America great again. That is what they want to hear. It cuts across Republicans and Democrats.”
To me, that is a plan that starts by asking: what is America’s core competency and strategic advantage, and how do we nurture it? Answer: It is our ability to attract, develop and unleash creative talent. That means men and women who invent, build and sell more goods and services that make people’s lives more productive, healthy, comfortable, secure and entertained than any other country.
Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world — and create good jobs here in the process. Without that, we can’t afford the health care or defense we need.
This is the plan the real Tea Party wants from its president. To implement it would require us to actually raise some taxes — on, say, gasoline — and cut others — like payroll taxes and corporate taxes. It would require us to overhaul our immigration laws so we can better control our borders, let in more knowledge workers and retain those skilled foreigners going to college here. And it would require us to reduce some services — like Social Security — while expanding others, like education and research for a 21st-century economy.
In other words, it will require a very smart, subtle and focused plan to use our now diminishing resources in the most efficient way possible to get back to our core competency. That is the only long-term solution to our problem — to grow our way out of debt with American workers who are more empowered and educated to compete.
Any Tea Party that says the simple answer is just shrinking government and slashing taxes might be able to tip the midterm elections in its direction. But it can’t tip America in the right direction. There is a Tea Party for that, but it’s still waiting for a leader
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