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Benjamin Morley
ANTH 655 Social Movement Profile
12/10/12
The Tea Party
Abstract
The Tea Party is a hybrid of grass roots conservative social movements and corporate
created social movement, yet the movement itself has shaped American political debate for four
years and has co-opted the Republican Party from 2009 to the present second term of President
Obama. This co-opting has led to more extreme policies by the Republicans and alienation of
their moderate base, leading to a growing backlash within the party against the Tea Party
movement. Yet the Tea Party also has internal divisions and different groups operating on
different issues.
Words
Astroturffing, Originalism, Co-opting, Fiscal Conservatism
Introduction
The impression of the Tea Party varies, either they’re the protestors who dress up as
colonials at any government protest and fringe neo conservatives or they’re proxies of the Koch
brothers and big business. Some analysts and likened them to the Occupy Wall Street movement
for the Right. Yet the truth about the Tea Party is more complex, and the movement itself differs
from Occupy while having similar concerns to some of Occupy. The Tea Party is a social and

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fiscal conservative movement that arose from anxieties about the economy, massive national
debt, and the election of Barack Obama at the end of 2008. While the movement has been
affiliated with the Republican Party, it was in fact a response to the unresponsive behavior of
both political parties and the desire to change Washington politics that gave the Tea Party their
initial motivation. While skeptical of the two parties, the Tea Party worked in the system to
influence the Republican Party, leading to the election of several Tea Party favorites in the
midterm elections of 2010, and later the intransigence of the Republicans in Congress during the
deficit ceiling battle in 2011. The Tea Party lost much with the reelection of Obama in 2012 but
is still alive, if in a different form than the early Tea Party of 2008. Even with the 2012 defeat,
the Tea Party made inroads in their goals by capturing the Republican Party ideologically and by
securing their influence to an extent in the think tanks that help to shape Republican policies
(Bykowicz 2012).
History
The Tea Party grew out of the anxieties facing conservatives at the end of 2008, during
the fallout of the financial crisis and the election of Barack Obama. One origin of the Tea Party
was the famous rant given by Rick Santelli of CNBC on February 19, 2009 in which he criticized
the Obama Administration for considering policies aimed at helping homeowners who suffered
from the financial crisis, such as indebted homeowners and those who lost their homes because
of the loan practices of the banks (Goldstein 2011: 832). In his rant, Santelli specified the need
for a new Tea Party, referencing the imagery of the Boston Tea Party, and called for others to
join him. The Chicago Tea Party website was created hours after the rant by Santelli, who gave
the impression of a spontaneous rise in the movement since he was not known for a conservative
leaning or being a spokesman for social conservative views. Three days before the rant by Rick

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Santelli, a rally against the 787 billion dollar stimulus was launched by an activist Keli Carender.
The title of “Tea Party” came after the protest from the Santelli rant, though the Tea Party credits
her with helping to start the movement (Zernike 2012).
In 2010, the Tea Party started to consolidate into a cohesive social movement. The Tea
Party solidified from the many different sub groups that arose in 2009, on February 2010 during
the “Tea Party Declaration of Independence”. This solidified the Tea Party into the current form,
even though this was more to form a list of goals and beliefs rather than an attempt to make a
single centralized movement (Goldstein 2011: 842-3). During the midterm elections, the Tea
Party helped to win 63 seats in the House or Representatives, allowing the Republicans to control
the House and allowed the Tea Party to start controlling the Republican Party’s agenda and
policies in the process.
During the debt ceiling fight of 2011, the Congress was held in deadlock over the issue as
the Republicans refused to negotiate over the issue. This intransigence was a result of the
pressure of the Tea Party in rewarding those who followed their ideology and punished those
dealt with the Democrats. The Tea Party was split over the issue internally, with Allen West and
the Florida Tea Party favoring compromise along with other member Tea Party groups (Brown
2011). By October 2011, the Republican Party had adopted the Tea Party stances on most
policies, even if they were unpopular in general or harmful. Republican politicians that did not
follow the Tea Party line were attacked and either failed to win an election or had to curtail their
heretical stances (Kornacki 2011). Yet the popularity and influence of the Tea Party had started
to wane by late 2011, resulting in the defeats of Tea Party favorites in 2012, particularly in the
Republican primaries. The Republican Party today is now trying to attract more groups to the

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fold while reinvigorating their moderate base, which was hollowed out by Republicans in an
effort to appease the Tea Party.
Organization and leadership, the structure of the movement
The Tea Party is a decentralized movement made up of many autonomous groups under
the umbrella of the Tea Party namesake. This was a deliberate move by Tea Party activists as
individual groups, such as the Dallas Tea Party or the Massachusetts Tea Party, are focused on
local issues that might not have nationwide significance and the differences within the various
Tea Party groups. Besides a decentralized nature and no official leaders of hierarchy, the Tea
Party also relies on a nationwide network of fundraising and private donations, though only one
in five individuals who affiliate with the Tea Party actually donate time and help with the actual
organizing of rallies and initiative to support candidates and voting registration. The average
Tea Party member doesn’t usually know about the groups that fund the Tea Party itself, mostly
conservative business groups whose views on government policies mirror the Tea Party
(Williamson, Skocpol & Coggin 2011: 28).
The use of the media to spread the message and beliefs of the Tea Party was a major
factor in uniting the various groups affiliated with the Tea Party. The news organization
primarily responsible for this was Fox News, which aired stories dealing with the Tea Party,
brought on proponents of Tea Party views, and covered extensively Tea Party events and rallies.
This served to link up the various Tea Party groups while countering the negative images other
media organizations were labeling the Tea Party with, such as accusations of racism and a lack
of a coherent list of demands. Individuals such as Glen Beck and Sarah Palin, helped to give a
public face to the movement, though the Tea Party remains leaderless.

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The individual who makes up the organization and movement
The Tea Party demographics are similar to the demographics of the Republican Party.
The average Tea Party member is usually an older, White male with a conservative background
and a higher education, a distrust of government, and anxieties about the changes in the United
States. Most watch Fox News as their primary or only source of information and news. For the
average Tea Party member, the focus is more on financial and economic issues rather than social
issues like gay marriage or abortion, as the primary issues that tie most Tea Party groups together
are debt, limited government, and a belief of America in danger from spending and a non
responsive government.
Views of the Constitution are central to many in the Tea Party, but these views are based
on an Originalist interpretation of the Constitution, that is a view of the Constitution as
unchanging and perfect, with the full meaning already available (Goldstein 2011: 830). This
view doesn’t account for changes in time, culture, or language and is similar to literalist
interpretations of the Bible by Evangelicals and Biblical literalists, though the Tea Party does not
ascribe religious importance to the Constitution, rather it’s that the document was perfect in its
original form and later deviations from the Constitution by the government have corrupted the
government and inhibited the Constitution.
While the Tea Party is mostly White, they are not racists by en large, and try to curb
racist sentiments in the party that might fliter in. One example of this anti racist aspect came
when the leader of the Tea Party Express, Mark Williams, was kicked out of the organization
after he wrote racist comments. After he was expelled from the organization, the Houston Texas
Tea Party claimed he was placed in the Tea Party to make it appear racist (Williamson, Skocpol,

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Coggin 2011: 29). The views on race, while present in the Tea Party, are based on perceived
deserving or undeserving of the individuals, so minorities are not viewed negatively because of
skin color or racist attitudes but because they’re viewed with the belief that such groups are
unfairly favored by the government.
The average Tea Party member resents illegal immigration and programs for the youth
due to the belief that both are undeserving of government assistance. Perceptions held in the Tea
Party are that illegal immigrants do not pay into the system of taxes that allows for the benefits
that illegal immigrants supposedly take advantage of, and they are not paying their share in the
United States. Similar to the view of illegal immigrants are the views on the youth and younger
generations, as the Tea Party typically attack the younger generation as undeserving of
government programs they supposedly did not pay for.
Surprisingly, most Tea Party members are not active in actual meetings or rallies. The
amount of people actually participating in Tea Party events was smaller than the amount who
claimed to support the Tea Party. According to a nationwide poll done in April 2010, one in five
respondents who claimed to support that Tea Party actually donated or participated in the Tea
Party. Most who supported the Tea Party self identified with the Republican Party (Williamson,
Skocpol & Coggin 2011).
Politics
The Tea Party has been fairly consistent in their professed political agenda. The core
politics of the Tea Party are fiscal conservatism, limited government, reduced spending, and rigid
adherence to the Constitution, albeit a form of the Constitution as interpreted by the Tea Party’s
Originalist views. While skeptical of both parties, the Tea Party operates within the political

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system to enact their goals, supporting candidates that promote their particular policies and
rallying against those who do not support their policies.
The Tea Party is not a monolith however as there have been some changes to the Tea
Party from the early days of 2009 to 2012, particularly the internal divisions over how to enact
policies and goals. In the early years of the Tea Party, the debt and healthcare were major issues,
but other issues were added regionally depending on the concerns of the local Tea Party. In
places such as Arizona, immigration became an issue, while in Florida some of the stances of the
Tea Party personalities, like Glen Beck and Sarah Palin, were treated with mild ambivalence.
During the debt ceiling fight of 2011, a schism developed between moderate members of the Tea
Party and the elites over how to deal with the debt ceiling (Brown 2011). Elites favored the use
of non compromise and dead lock while the moderates wanted to compromise, even if the elites
and moderates both agreed on the need to deal with the debt. So while they may agree on most
of the policies of the Tea Party, different Tea Party groups differ on the tactics.
Differences and Similarities with Occupy
The Tea Party is different from Occupy in several ways. While Occupy tried to stay out
of the system, the Tea Party actually used the political system to achieve their goals. The Tea
Party never fielded its’ own political party, instead favored candidates that followed their
policies, and rewarded those in the Republican Party who followed their views. Those who did
not were targeted for negative press and forced to contend with angry voters the Tea Party was
able to rally. The use of corporate money did influence the Tea Party, but not in a way to subvert
the Tea Party itself, as some of the core goals aligned with corporate interests such as tax rates
and limited government.

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Where Occupy and the Tea Party are similar are in the set up and some of their goals.
Both are grassroots movements, decentralized in structure with many different movements under
the umbrella terms “Occupy” and “The Tea Party”, and both have origins in the financial crisis
of 2008. There is some common ground for both groups, such as the demand for accountability
with government corporate relations though the Tea Party seems to focus more on government
spending for bailouts while Occupy focuses more on corporate influence within the government.
In essence, both recognize a problem but have different solutions and go down different paths.
Both groups also share the negative publicity of the media early in their movement’s histories, as
both have be caricatured to have unclear messages and made up of “hippies who need a job” and
racists. Occupy has countered this by making its own media while the Tea Party co-opted Fox
News. Also, like Occupy, the Tea Party is not dead but has taken new form by infiltrating the
think tanks that shape Republican policies and conservative doctrines.
Conclusion
The Tea Party is conservative social movement based on limited government spending,
lowering the debt, and strict adherence to a popular originalist interpretation of the Constitution.
The movement started with several different groups and protests, which eventually coalesced
into the collective group known as the Tea Party, even though they represented different sub
groups. As part of their strategy to make Congress listen to them, the Tea Party decided to
operate within the system itself and started co-opting the Republican Party for their own goals,
using voter registration and the media to promote their message. In the midterm elections of
2010, the Tea Party favorites for the Republican Party won several seats and increased the
influence of the Tea Party on the Republican Party. By November 2011, the Tea Party had
pressured the Republicans into political brinkmanship with the Democrats over the debt ceiling,

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leading to the United States being downgraded by credit rating agencies. Yet in 2012, much of
the Tea Party platform remains unfulfilled and the Republican moderates are trying to reassert
their presence in the Republican Party, which could mean a possible expulsion of the Tea Party
influence on the Republican Party.
Yet the Tea Party is not dead, nor a monolith. Some affiliated groups of the Tea Party
have stuck to local political and social concerns and changed their stances to reflect such views.
The Tea Party is also filtering into policy making think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation,
giving the policies and ideals of the Tea Party a chance to influence the Republican, and
conservative, views even if the Tea Party itself officially disintegrates (Bykowicz 2012). The
decentralized nature of the Tea Party also means there is not official leadership nationwide, and
different groups can operate independently. Like Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party has been
caricatured in the media and presented as a monolithic entity, yet the Tea Party is made up of
educated individuals with legitimate grievances due to changes within the government and the
United States. While socially conservative, the stances of the Tea Party on the debt and the need
for a responsive government are echoed by Occupy Wall Street and this could lead to some
cooperation between the movements. Whether the Tea Party manages to stay in the Republican
Party or is dislodged by moderates, the social movement is likely to survive and reincarnate into
different groups or even reemerge, assuming the government remains indifferent to the demands
of the population.
Bio
Benjamin Morley is a student in the Master’s of the Arts Global Affairs Program in
George Mason University. He is studying issues dealing with corporate accountability and

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population movements in a globalized world. Benjamin is currently focusing on working with
ICE or the Department of State.
Work Cited
Brown, T. (2011, July 29). Tea party shows clout in debt ceiling debate. Huffington Post.
Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/29/tea-party-debt-
ceiling_n_913673.html
Bykowicz, J. (2012, December 07). Tea party gains control of republican incubators.
Businessweek, Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-06/tea-party-gins-
control-over-republican-policy-incubators
Goldstein, J. A. (2011). The tea party movement and the perils of popular originalism. Arizona
Law Review, 53, 828-866. Retrieved from http://www.arizonalawreview.org/pdf/53-
3/53arizlrev827.pdf
Kornacki, S. (2011, October 24). The tea party paradox. Salon, Retrieved from
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/24/the_tea_party_paradox/
Lind, M. (2012, June 20). The tea party movement has fizzled out. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/06/20/what-happened-to-the-tea-
party/the-tea-party-movement-has-fizzled-out
Malcolm, A. (2010, April 05). Myth-busting polls: tea party members are average americans,
41% are democrats or independents. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/04/tea-party-obama.html
McGrath, B. (2010, Feburary 01). The rise of the tea party movement. The New Yorker,
Retrieved from
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_mcgrath?currentPage=all
Tanenhaus, S. (2012, January 14). G.o.p. history vs. the tea party. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/sunday-review/gop-history-vs-the-tea-
party.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Williamson, V., Skocpol, T., & Coggin, J. (2011). The tea party and the remaking of republican
conservativism. Perspectives in Politics, 9(1), 25-43. doi: 10.1017/S153759271000407X
Zernike, K. (2010, Feburary 27). Unlikely activist who got to the tea party early. The New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28keli.html

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This is the exclusive property of Benjamin Andrew Morley. This piece shall not be
reproduced without expressed permission of the author.