By Dawn Teo and Alex Brant-Zawadzki
The current consensus among pundits and politicos is that the Tea Party movement will fail in 2010 unless a national leader or organizational structure emerges. These predictions are based on fierce infighting and turf wars that have broken out recently among Tea Party leaders who are grappling for control within the fledgling movement. However, while fights between Tea Party leaders have been highly visible, their efforts to organize and prepare for 2010 have gone largely unnoticed.
So far, the Tea Party movement has been organized in opposition to issues: the stimulus package, cap and trade, and health care reform. However, electoral campaigns and issue-advocacy campaigns are two different animals. In issue-advocacy campaigns, like-minded groups work alongside each other, often at odds, advocating for variations on the same policy. In electoral campaigns, disparate groups (many of whom may be at odds on legislative and policy agendas) come together for a finite period of time for the singular purpose of electing the best available (not the ideal) candidate.
For some, including important figures in the conservative power structure, Tea Parties are a reaction against a floundering Republican Party. For others, Tea Parties are a Republican Renaissance. For the many libertarians in the Tea Party movement, they are a means to bucking the two-party system. Regardless, Tea Partiers of all stripes want the same thing in 2010: electoral victory.
In 2006 when Democrats swept elections and gained a majority in Congress, they did not have a clear leader or singular progressive agenda. Even during the primaries of 2008, politicos fretted and wrung their hands over divisions between Obama supporters and Hillary supporters. Similarly, although some Tea Partiers and their supporting groups are skirmishing over turf, they aren't necessarily working at cross purposes. Disparate Tea Party groups share libertarian ideals, and their work continues in parallel with one another.
Many local Tea Party groups are taking the initiative to prepare for 2010 elections on their own. In at least 21 states, local homegrown Tea Party groups are already recruiting precinct leaders and providing them with formal training. Many are also hosting candidate recruitment and training seminars. Some are hosting multi-day "boot camps" for activists and candidates. In Texas, Tennessee, Illinois, Nevada, Utah, Michigan, Arizona, and New Mexico, local Tea Party groups have set goals of gaining control of enough local offices to control city and county budgets.
Fox News commentators and conservative talk radio hosts are already actively promoting Tea Party preparations for 2010. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mike Huckabee, Michelle Malkin, and others have already begun encouraging their audiences to begin working toward a 2010 Republican victory. They are promoting the Tea Parties and encouraging the "not conservative enough" meme against Republican incumbents engendered by the Tea Party movement.
On Saturday, Glenn Beck announced an ambitious plan to turn his media megaphone into a community organizing pulpit. He already had a list of "912 candidates" and an "In or Out in 2010" challenge. Now Beck promises to step up efforts to elect like-minded politicians in 2010 by sponsoring voter registration drives and several day-long educational seminars culminating with the release of his upcoming book The Plan, which he will launch on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in August 2010 on the National Mall. The Plan will detail Beck's 100-year plan for America. Beck's educational "conventions" will include policy-specific education, community organizer training, and Beck's personal take on history and economics (god help us).
From day one, well-funded libertarian groups have been commandeering the Tea Party movement for electoral gain. American Majority, along with their sponsoring organization, Sam Adams Alliance, and several other like-minded groups, are sponsoring a National Tea Party Convention. Local Tea Party leaders attending the convention will participate in workshops, seminars, and organizing training. Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker.
American Majority is also co-sponsoring PrecinctProject.com, along with RedState.com, to provide online training to Tea Partiers to "take back the Republican Party."
The American Future Fund, one of the well-funded organizations that organized Tea Parties over the August recess, is already hard at work trying to get robocall restrictions lifted to make it easier and cheaper to conduct robocalling operations during the 2010 elections.
Eric Odom, who is most often characterized as the Tea Party founder, is organizing week-long 2010 Tax Day Tea Parties across the country through his new organization American Liberty Alliance (and his former employer Sam Adams Alliance). In each city, the week will kick off with a full day of activist training on Saturday, April 10. Tax Day Tea Party protests will be held on Thursday, April 15, and the week will culminate with door-to-door voter canvassing on Saturday, April 17.
Odom announced recently that he is re-joining the GOP, but he qualified his support for the GOP by saying his new Liberty PAC (1) will not support any incumbent Republican, (2) will help libertarian candidates defeat Republican incumbents that are not conservative enough, and (3) will educate the electorate on why it makes sense for Republican candidates to be Scozzafava'd. Odom explained his plan, "Love or hate the Republican Party, it's our only vessel in the short term."
The same Tea Party leaders (like Odom) who made NY-23 a lively battle will likely make 2010 Republican primaries just as contentious. But after the primaries end, Tea Partiers will likely fall in line. After all, far-right activists who refuse to vote for moderate Republicans in primary elections are even less likely to vote for a Democrat in the general election.
This article is the third in our series, Reading Tea Leaves. Read them all:
Alex Brant-Zawadzki is a writer who has studied in both the United States and abroad. He is a former contributing Writer at OC Weekly. He edited his university newspaper, The Saint, and received the honor of Best Student Newspaper in Scotland. Alex has been passionate about journalism from a young age, and is extremely proud of a reporting credit he managed to get in Time Magazine. Alex currently resides in the heart of San Francisco.
Follow Dawn Teo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dawnteo
This proclaimed hatred for government is a thin veil for hatred of Democrats. Most of us recognize that. But the Tea Partiers are not going to get what they want from Republicans, because Republicans in the last 50 years have never cut spending, reduced the deficit or national debt, created jobs or improved the economy (for anyone but the very wealthy), let alone done all of these at once.
Seriously. What would the Tea Party Party do, in terms of actual day-to-day governance and public policy, if they were actually elected to office?
Having teabaggers on the ground, getting all this great press every single day, creating this states rights thing - where the federal government is somehow the enemy, will get voters to turn out in state elections. Then, once the GOP has the states under control, they'll win back Washington and go back to not giving a crap about states again.
In a way, I'm sorry that the Dems in Washington prevented a GOP fillibuster attempt. Because I think that showing the republicans as obstructionists...having it on the news every day that they're stopping poor and middle class people from getting health care....could only help the democratic party. I was salivating looking forward to that PR war. But the Repubs and blue dogs quietly let it go forward.
Dems have a PR problem, and they'd better get it fixed soon.
And ultitmately, as I've always said, it's about conrolling the message. Like Rove always said, reality is what we say it is.
History tells us young people and minority groups don't turnout in mid term elections. If this comes to pass it will be a disaster. We've already seen the GOP strategy, they will NEVER support a thing this President tries to do. If Pres. Obama loses a majority in the house he'll be stopped in his tracks, which has been their plan from day one. So laughing is fine but ignoring these people we can not, we'd better be ready to engage and fight back. We must get democrats out in droves to vote come mid terms because believe me there will be no shortage of republicans turning out.
2) The goals of health insurance reform are to increase access, increase quality and decrease costs of health care.
3) Pulling out of Afghanistan would in fact create a much greater risk to our nation and the world at large. Thus, if one seeks peace, one must do what one can to quell the insurrections in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We must fight for peace.
4) When hugging trees, watch for splinters
They are fighting over zip.
People aren't going to spontaneously go protest at someone's direction unless they fervently agree that the issue needs to be addressed loudly.
Yes, as a Liberal I HOPE the Tea baggers start their own party.
But IF they simply take over the remnants of the Republican party and then push the crazies to the back of the bus.....they just might surprise everyone.
There is a populist storm rising in the US, it's been slowly building for over 20 years now. This great recession MAY be the catalyst for it to explode.
The President and the Democratic Party ignore it at their own peril, I believe
Stand up and let's make a difference in 2010. Of course I know the Progressives will disagree but that is the beauty of a free country.
But if the Right dropped all the god talk, I might believe some of the liberty rhetoric a bit more.
1. The erosion of the separation of Church and State
2. Weakening of 4th Amendment protections
3. Warrantless wiretapping/data mining
4. Suspension of Habeas Corpus
5. The invasion of Iraq (ie, using the military for more than domestic defense).
Just because you want to wear a tri-corner hat doesn't give you the monopoly of the use of the term "liberty".
I think we should know who is writing this article............progressive libs?
Alex Brant-Zawadzki, Volunteer for Organizing for America (forgot to add this?)
From Future Majority website:
"Dawn Teo's initial post about the Arizona State University honorary degree situation was an example of speculation and inflammatory editorial license entitled misleadingly "ASU Stiffs Obama, Claims Too Inexperienced For Honorary Degree." link: www.futuremajority.com/node/5743
...my credibility is shot now that people know I don't get paid for this.
And for the record, I was an independent journalist long before I was an OFA volunteer. It's called keeping your portfolio current.
www.ocweekly.com/authors/alex-brant-zawadzki
With respect,
Alex Brant-Zawadzki
Watching the local blogs, watching the activism on YouTube, watching deliberate distortions of the news on a local grassroots level, is starting to get disturbing. What progressives, liberals, Democrats, left and whatever else they wanna call themselves, don't understand is that a grassroots movement that benefited Candidate Obama mightily can also be used against President Obama. Grassroots tools are simply that, tools to be used. And you can bet they will use it against the Democrats in 2010 and 2012. So don't let your guard down for a minute.
And if you think things were ugly in 2000, 2004 and 2008. All three combined will pale in comparison to what you are about to see in 2010. Then 2012 will likely make 2010 look like child's play. Things are getting THAT serious people.
In the long run, progressives probably should be worried about losing their political punch. But the truth is that the results of progressivism's utterly stupid policies will do more to hurt their political power than any confederate flag waving yahoos.