The Tea Party movement is a populist movement. The desire of Tea Party members to take back our government, rein in its profligate spending, and have a more just tax system has a lot of support among many Americans.
It takes courage to run for public office without the support of one of the two major parties. And Tea Party members have shown that courage, taking on incumbent politicians who saw the Tea Party candidacies as impossible-to-win "suicide missions," and defeating those incumbents.
But here's the dirty little secret that two-party politics don't want Tea Party members to figure out. And it has to do with simple math.
Republicans today amount to about 28% of all voters. Their only path to victory is to get out all or most of their vote, convince Tea Party members to vote Republican, and then hope to sway enough Independent swing voters to achieve a majority.
The problem for Tea Party members is, they have very little power within the Republican Party. Republicans treat them like just another voting constituency with no place else to go, the same way they treat Christian conservatives (and the same way Democrats treat key constituencies like women, African Americans, and gay rights advocates).
If Tea Party members want real, fundamental government change, it's not going to come from the Republicans (it's not going to come from the Democrats, either). It can come from joining the fastest growing group of swing voters in the country -- Independent Voters of America. Join us today.
Follow Bill Hillsman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@BillHillsman
Loading comments… 
