Origin of Tea Party
The origin of the Tea Party is interesting in the context of Republic policymaking. The way forward that they suggested for cutting down taxes was to reduce government spending and lower taxes (Madestam et al. 2013).
The movement is also unique in its aspect as it openly opposes the idea of the way government-sponsored healthcare needs to be worked out (Nguyen et al. 2015). The movement has been defined as a mix of populist and conservative activism (Madestam et al. 2013). There are some libertarian tendencies as well throughout the process. The starting point of the movement was the inaugural speech of Barack Obama in 2009 when his administration called for some bailout packages, especially for home mortgage holders (Madestam et al. 2013). There was public criticism of the policy, especially against the bailouts, and the situation escalated so much at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that there was a need to create a new tea party (Zernike et al. 2010). Later on, about 50 conservatisms agreed over the conference call that they were going to coalesce against the agenda that had been propagated by Obama, and some protests were scheduled in the given period (Nguyen et al. 2015). The supporters of the movement and the way they worked had major repercussions on the way the Republican Party was functioning (Madestam et al., 2013). The movement started at the grassroots level but, with the passage of time, escalated and gained considerable support from pressure groups such as Americans for Prosperity (Karpowitz et al. 2011).
Impact of the Tea Party on Republicans
Before one assesses the impact of the Tea Party on overall politics, what needs to be understood is that what is the affiliation of the people who are linked with this party (Williamson et al. 2011). Most of the people who have associated themselves with the party are Republicans, and it played a huge part in making sure that some shake-up is witnessed in the way this party is working at the moment (Madestam et al. 2013). Some political commentators have opined that this is in the context of republic politics. Even though they are not a huge political group, they have made sure that the rebranding of the Republic ideals as per the given policies is shaped up in the right manner, to say the least (Madestam et al. 2013). There are many activists who have expressed support for Republican politicians time after time, showing how the ideal inclinations of these movements are more prone toward the republican thought process (Madestam et al. 2013). The other thing that it did was that the Republicans were also under due pressure to make sure that they delivered under the ideologies that formed the basis of this party (Madestam et al. 2013). There are some conservative officials (Madestam et al. 2013). The Tea Party, at many levels, had made sure that at the national level, there were about 12 individuals who showed this indication of how the republican thought process is supposed to be applied (Williamson et al. 2011). There are some political pundits who have opined that if the Republicans who come into power do not get rid of Obamacare, then it will turn out to be a huge political disaster (Madestam et al., 2013).
Way Forward for Tea Party
At the moment, the way forward is interesting for the Tea Party, to say the least. They are managing three cultural tenets at the moment that include fiscal responsibility as well as making sure that the government’s influence over the proceedings, as well as the functionality of the free market, is being taken care of (Karpowitz et al. 2011). The dilemma for them is to make sure that how they can appear as a forceful pressure group while at the same time making sure that they do not tend to lose their clout and individuality in the whole process (Karpowitz et al. 2011). The interesting thing that is happening is that not only are they acting as a pressure group on the government, but they have also done well to make sure that enough pressure is exerted on the Republicans to ensure that they do not go astray as far as their party politics is concerned (Karpowitz et al. 2011). Thus their separate presence is important to make sure that they create this pressure, the problem though is that they need to maintain this presence to make sure that they allow greater political mileage and visibility (Nguyen et al. 2015). This presence is not going to be possible if they are looking for a separate route as a political party (Williamson et al. 2011). In the current political landscape of the United States, it is very difficult to make sure that they would be able to maintain their political clout as well as make sure that they are in the position to establish enough credence as a political party that can seriously pose a threat (Karpowitz et al. 2011).
How the Tea Party Would Fare Independently in Texas
The performance of the Tea Party in the state of Texas is going to be an interesting case study. In the recent primaries and some of the other states, the Tea Party candidates or the ones who are backed by it have not performed well, to say the least (Zernike et al. 2010). The only state, though, where the performance has been rather dominating is the state of Texas, where Republicans who were backed by this message gained greater political mileage, to say the least (Zernike et al. 2010). The performance that was shown by it was not even surprising, to say the least, as the victory was handed over to the favorites as well as the given period (Karpowitz et al. 2011). Many analyses pointed out that the sort of candidates that represented the ideology of the Tea Party in all the states was also quite different, to say the least (Nguyen et al. 2015). Another thing that was interesting with regard to the result in the state was the fact that in the history of the state, the incumbent had been defeated for the first time during their primary state (Nguyen et al. 2015). Comparing the same thing to the other states, the candidates that were standing in those states were not strong nominations, to say the least, on the part of the Republicans (Nguyen et al. 2015). Not only did they have limited political influence, but they also did not have the right sort of credentials to pose any serious threat in the given period (Karpowitz et al. 2011). The interesting thing that can be seen with regard to the results from that region is the fact of how some of the renowned party names performed in the given period (Karpowitz et al. 2011). Today, there are alternative coalitions that one could imagine, in theory, but that never come together. There could be a left-right cross-party coalition forming around, say, economic development in areas hit hard by the decline of the coal industry or one advocating stronger support for Social Security.
Number of Political Parties in the United States
In the context of the current political environment, a classic case can be made: there was a need for an alternative voice and stand during the elections. If there are more than two political parties, the case can be made that these would have a huge influence on the passage of time with regard to the way they are performing, to say the least (Karpowitz et al. 2011). Even if there is going to be a case in which people do not agree with the agenda that is put forth by these parties, the argument can be made if there is going to be an alternative force. It would go a long way towards making sure that the political landscape is improved in one way or another, allowing a greater wealth of options for the general voters and the public. American political system has delivered decent results across its history, but if there is criticism that can be made, it is how rigid it is when it comes to the way opinion formation is concerned. Both of the parties that are operating in the current landscape are the ones that are armed with enough money and strongholds to make sure that they are stable in certain states and branches at the moment. However, it tends to take away any room that might exist for a compromise (Karpowitz et al. 2011). At the moment, there is a need to make sure that new solutions and new coalitions are being made (Karpowitz et al., 2011).
Works Cited
Karpowitz, Christopher F., et al. “Tea time in America? The impact of the Tea Party movement on the 2010 midterm elections.” PS: Political Science & Politics 44.2 (2011): 303-309.
Madestam, Andreas, et al. “Do political protests matter? evidence from the tea party movement.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 128.4 (2013): 1633-1685.
Nguyen, Viet-An, et al. “Tea Party in the House: A hierarchical ideal point topic model and its application to Republican legislators in the 112th Congress.” Proceedings of the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics and the 7th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing (Volume 1: Long Papers). Vol. 1. 2015.
Williamson, Vanessa, Theda Skocpol, and John Coggin. “The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican conservatism.” Perspectives on Politics 9.1 (2011): 25-43.
Zernike, Kate, and Megan Thee-Brenan. “Poll finds Tea Party backers wealthier and more educated.” New York Times 14 (2010).
