Time for Tea?: Should Tea Partiers Join the GOP?
It’s a fair question.
When Dick Morris came to Arkansas for a triad of “Taxed Enough Already” parties on April 15th, he certainly did his best to persuade his Fayetteville, Fort Smith, and Little Rock audiences that their place was in the GOP. “There is no such thing as a conservative Democrat,” he said to cheers -- but his pronouncement came off ironic in a state that practically owns “conservative Democrat” as a registered trademark.
The warm reception Morris received was an indication that, in Arkansas anyway, the GOP may be able to snag Tea Partiers into its banner. Allyi
ng with the GOP is certainly the most pragmatic path Tea Partiers can take. To start a third party is to split conservative votes and, perhaps, assure Democratic dominance. But if the Tea Partiers melt into the Republican Party, will they retain a relevant voice?
The GOP, you see, isn’t as far-right as it currently lets on. John Boozman, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, is considered a solid conservative -- yet he voted for spending bill after spending bill in the Bush years and won’t apologize for supporting the bailout in late 2008. Morris didn’t mention any of that to his audience of deficit hawks -- in fact, he didn’t caution them about Boozman at all.
Maybe that’s because Boozman was the establishment candidate. Morris’ silence on Boozman contrasted with his rhetorical bombardment of Steve Womack, the frontrunner and eventual winner of the GOP 3rd District House primary. Womack had said he would keep tax increases on the table as a last resort, prompting Morris to dub him “a Democrat.” (By the end of the day, Womack had caved to the pressure and signed a no-tax pledge, and Morris then recanted his anti-Womack rant.)
It has become clear that the national GOP’s fiscal platform is twofold: (1) We don’t need to curb federal spending, unless it’s for something the Democrats want. (2) Cut taxes at all costs. The Tea Party only agrees with one of those planks. (Quite sensibly, by the way -- it doesn’t take Alan Greenspan to figure out that your government won’t last very long on a diet of low taxes and high spending.)
You may agree or disagree with the Tea Partiers, but they undeniably have an appeal to a broad range of Americans. That’s because most Tea Partiers are not part of the system. The Tea Party is, for the most part, a grassroots movement of ordinary Americans who see major problems in our fiscal policy and want to do something about it. Sure, some are radical, but that’s the price you pay for being a free and open movement, as the Tea Party is.
If the Tea Partiers ally with the GOP, however, all that folksy appeal goes away and they become part of the establishment. While the establishment may not be the great evil many Americans believe it to be, it is mired in lobbying and partisanship, and the Tea Party has made a living off criticizing it.
The national GOP sees the Tea Party as a prime opportunity to gain a legion of rabid grassroots supporters. Tea Partiers may see the GOP as a vehicle for political influence. But they had better be warned -- they’re going to have to settle for John Boozmans and Tim Griffins instead of Jim Holts and Scott Wallaces. The Republican Party isn’t interested in outsiders.
Tea Partiers are going to have to decide if that’s OK with them. Their message has captured the nation’s attention in the last year and a half. While they can increase their influence by joining the Republicans, it just might cost them their political souls.
When Dick Morris came to Arkansas for a triad of “Taxed Enough Already” parties on April 15th, he certainly did his best to persuade his Fayetteville, Fort Smith, and Little Rock audiences that their place was in the GOP. “There is no such thing as a conservative Democrat,” he said to cheers -- but his pronouncement came off ironic in a state that practically owns “conservative Democrat” as a registered trademark.
The warm reception Morris received was an indication that, in Arkansas anyway, the GOP may be able to snag Tea Partiers into its banner. Allyi
ng with the GOP is certainly the most pragmatic path Tea Partiers can take. To start a third party is to split conservative votes and, perhaps, assure Democratic dominance. But if the Tea Partiers melt into the Republican Party, will they retain a relevant voice?The GOP, you see, isn’t as far-right as it currently lets on. John Boozman, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, is considered a solid conservative -- yet he voted for spending bill after spending bill in the Bush years and won’t apologize for supporting the bailout in late 2008. Morris didn’t mention any of that to his audience of deficit hawks -- in fact, he didn’t caution them about Boozman at all.
Maybe that’s because Boozman was the establishment candidate. Morris’ silence on Boozman contrasted with his rhetorical bombardment of Steve Womack, the frontrunner and eventual winner of the GOP 3rd District House primary. Womack had said he would keep tax increases on the table as a last resort, prompting Morris to dub him “a Democrat.” (By the end of the day, Womack had caved to the pressure and signed a no-tax pledge, and Morris then recanted his anti-Womack rant.)
It has become clear that the national GOP’s fiscal platform is twofold: (1) We don’t need to curb federal spending, unless it’s for something the Democrats want. (2) Cut taxes at all costs. The Tea Party only agrees with one of those planks. (Quite sensibly, by the way -- it doesn’t take Alan Greenspan to figure out that your government won’t last very long on a diet of low taxes and high spending.)
You may agree or disagree with the Tea Partiers, but they undeniably have an appeal to a broad range of Americans. That’s because most Tea Partiers are not part of the system. The Tea Party is, for the most part, a grassroots movement of ordinary Americans who see major problems in our fiscal policy and want to do something about it. Sure, some are radical, but that’s the price you pay for being a free and open movement, as the Tea Party is.
If the Tea Partiers ally with the GOP, however, all that folksy appeal goes away and they become part of the establishment. While the establishment may not be the great evil many Americans believe it to be, it is mired in lobbying and partisanship, and the Tea Party has made a living off criticizing it.
The national GOP sees the Tea Party as a prime opportunity to gain a legion of rabid grassroots supporters. Tea Partiers may see the GOP as a vehicle for political influence. But they had better be warned -- they’re going to have to settle for John Boozmans and Tim Griffins instead of Jim Holts and Scott Wallaces. The Republican Party isn’t interested in outsiders.
Tea Partiers are going to have to decide if that’s OK with them. Their message has captured the nation’s attention in the last year and a half. While they can increase their influence by joining the Republicans, it just might cost them their political souls.
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