Why the Tea Party will keep delivering surprises
Posted on September 9, 2010Have you noticed that every time the Tea Party succeed in something – getting huge numbers of protesters out, beating Republican establishment candidates in open primaries – it is greeted with shock and amazement by British commentators? Time and again the Tea Partiers are defying expectations for one simple reason: British media expectations and understanding are wrong.
Some of the misleading portrayal of the Movement is undoubtedly deliberate – when the Today Programme referred to the Tea Party as a “rebel yell”, for example, it was a sly smear intended to suggest Confederate and therefore racist associations.
However, much of the misreporting is inadvertent – and comes about for the same reason that the Republican establishment and the Democrat Party as a whole have failed to get a handle on the Tea Partiers.
A typical example is the repeated suggestion that Sarah Palin is somehow the leader of the Tea Party. Barely a news report goes by without either a clip of her or a reference to her involvement, but she is loosely associated with it at most. Indeed, the Tea Party is much more popular than she herself.
So far, the British media has struggled and failed to develop a plausible narrative for the Tea Party. It’s obvious how many would like to paint it: borderline racists, “only in America” nuttery, an unelectable lunacy dragging the Republicans away from the supposedly hallowed centre ground, a fringe group out of touch with most Americans and based exclusively in Hicksville.
But that doesn’t stand up. There is a strong thread of radical live-free-or-die libertarianism, there are chapters all across the USA, over 50% of the American electorate self-identify as members or sympathisers with the movement and as for being unelectable, the Tea Party’s “unelectable” Marco Rubio has now opened up a 15 percentage point gap over his mainstream Democrat rival in Florida.
It’s understandable why London-based media elites fail to get what the Tea Party is about or why it is proving so popular. To an extent it’s because the individualist, small state tradition in America is expressed very differently to the way it is here in the UK, but more importantly it’s because well-paid media folk in North London dinner parties struggle to accept the idea of a popular, atomist, leaderless uprising that wants lower taxes and a smaller state.
It’s easier and more comfortable to assume this is a lunatic fringe that is of no importance other than as a source for footage of occasional fancy dress protesters. But as long as people in the media keep assuming that, they will keep getting shocked and shown up.
Tags: America, International, Media, opinion, Politics, public spending, Socialism, Tea Party
This is a great assessment and it comes on the heels of a weekend of anti-democratic sentiment within UK media outlets whenever they talk about the Tea Party. Thanks for writing this up!
20.09.2010 07:42
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Wallace, Mark Wallace. Mark Wallace said: @ChristineOD this will interest you and your followers- how UK media misrepresents the #teaparty http://bit.ly/aB0eOs [...]
20.09.2010 08:12
God forbid that the media’s stance on the Tea Party has anything to do with the opinions of their most prominent commentators and restrictions they want to place on all our lives: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-18-christine-odonnell-sees-no-need-to-prevent-pregnancy-use-condoms/. A ‘small state’ wouldn’t step into the bedroom.
20.09.2010 09:06
Why the Tea Party will keep delivering surprises | Crash Bang Wallace…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
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20.09.2010 10:13
Totally agree Mark. There is also a massive gap in “the market” for this small state low tax initiative in the UK but somehow it never seems to galvanise. Those mainstream politicians who seem to favour this approach appear too scared of leaving the comfort of their well paid sinecures to launch a true movement.
20.09.2010 10:20
Wasn’t there a survey which revealed that Tea Party supporters were better educated than the population at large? The British left can’t believe that people don’t just disagree with the left, but are actually demonstrably more intelligent than th eleft, too.
20.09.2010 10:47
Yes, not just well educated, but spurred into action. I’ve just been listening to three very educated tea party activists – three housewifes and mothers who have never taken an interest in politics before but have become so enraged by the trampling all over the constitution, the lack of moral leadership amongst politicians, the trampling over state’s rights and the misuse of taxes that they have started their own local tea parties. There is one clear divide and it is between those within the bubble, the political Elite who live within the rarefied air of the Washington beltway, and “we the people”. What politicians cannot seem to grasp is that “we the people” have a different view to the political elite, and are enraged. How dare we when they ‘know best’!
20.09.2010 17:26
How do we get our own Tea Party movement in Britain? The desire for less tax, less regulation and a smaller state is not unknown here, even if our culture is different from the American one.
20.09.2010 12:01
Sadly I fear you will wait a long time. The British people abdicated their responsibilities wrt reining in their rulers a long time ago.
20.09.2010 13:23
Aetius, you asked about the UK TEA party movement, well, there IS one already. It started in February 2010 and was launched by Daniel Hannan to a crowd of hundreds of people (and people were also turned away because the place was packed), the campaign is organised by The Freedom Association, and recently The Taxpayers Alliance has got involved in some way. I suggest you join the group on facebook and come along to any future protests!
20.09.2010 20:16
I think that you have missed a key part of this. It is not really lower taxes and a small state that seems to irk the commentators in this country. It is the religious zeal and negative imagery that is used. Can good ideas really come from a movement that portrays Obama as Hitler.
These people also see *no* role for big Government in the US. But if given the option I am glad that in September 1957 the President of the US took control of the Arkansas National Guard to ensure that the State Govenor could not use armed men to block black children going to school.
20.09.2010 13:15
I belong to the Plymouth Rock Cape Cod and Islands Tea Party and the House of Adams Tea Party. For starters, those who portray Obama as Hitler aren’t really tea party folks, but are followers of Lyndon Larouche. That’s not to say that all tea party folks are angels, but to say that the mission of the Tea Party is to enlist as many citizens as possible. As a result, it would be senseless to offend the very people you would like to enlist.
The major difference between the US an other countries is we have a federal government, where most countries have a national governent. Obama and the Democrats are trying to transform the US into a national government which is in violation of the manifest tenor of the US Constitution. It was the states who created the Constitution which in turn created the federal government which is limited in its powers. Obama is usurping power above and beyond his Constitutional authority. Unfortunately, our only recourse is through the ballot box to elect Congressmen and Senators to thwart Obama’s designs.
Republicans aren’t immune from voter wrath either. It’s become apparent that many Republicans are like their Democrat counterparts and treat Washington DC as a for of social club for their mutual benefit.
01.10.2010 02:47
The British politico-media class guide to understanding of US politics: Democrats = fine upstanding fellows driven by logic, wisdom and concern for their fellow man and the planet. Republicans = idiots and stooges driven by the oil industry and dollars. Tea Partiers = dangerous rednecks driven by racism and excessive religion.
20.09.2010 13:20
Obviously you are all concentrating on the tax & spend/small government aspect of the Tea Party people and choosing to ignore their awful gun n’ bible attitudes,
It would seem that for this group, freedom is*very* selective and it does not extend to the freedom to live your life as you choose. In those cases is seems the Tea Party people are more than happy to tell people how they should live!
I hope to God their nasty, narrow minded social attitudes do not spread over to the UK.
20.09.2010 20:45
Maisie, get back to the Guardian, there’s a good little girl!
21.09.2010 04:57
Maisie….You couldn’t be more incorrect. There are over 2500 Tea Party groups in the US. We all have a different focus since we’re spread all over the country. Here in Massachusetts, the tea parties aren’t as concerned with guns as they are in the other parts of the country. On the other hand, our state government is more corrupt than most state governments, therefore our focus is in that area. BUT we all support Arizona’s right to protect its borders for example. I’m a member of 3 local tea parties and 2 national tea parties and I can’t even tell you the general character of a tea party member.
Sign up for the Tea Party Patriots and see for yourself what topics are discussed in the forums…You’d be stunned and woefully unprepared to participate if you are British since you have to be familiar with the US Constitution, The Federalist Papers, The Anti-Federalist and the Declaration of Independence for starters. To be a leftist or a Democrat, all you need to know is tax and spend.
01.10.2010 03:11
Maisie, I think you’ve been watching too much ‘Newsnight’
20.09.2010 22:40
Excellent analysis, Mr. Wallace! Would we had such a popular movement here! No wonder al-Beeb and the mainstream parties are glancing nervously in their direction.
21.09.2010 04:53
What a great resource!
21.09.2010 17:46
Awesome post kellie, it’s been a long-time since I’ve been on here. I see that nobody has lost their passion. Good to be back.
27.09.2010 02:56