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Tea Party movement goes from grassroots to top-down
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by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | January 31, 2010 at 06:29 am
647 views | 38 Recommendations | 23 comments
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Tea Party movement goes from grassroots to top-down
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Grassroots movement threatens to become top-down organization, to be co-opted by the major parties
The Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tenn. - the first ever annual convening symposium- is going forth within a conflict which calls into question the very future of the movement.
Once a grassroots movement of rugged individuals, it has become a celebrity laden top-down structure, which illuminates the GOP and major profit-making speakers, at the expense of its origins, some think.
The upscale lobster dinner is the greatest contradiction of the rugged individualist origins which the movement could undergo. The price is $549 to get into the convention, and $349 to hear Palin speak: The message is clearly that the rugged masses are not needed here.
Looking more and more like a GOP Trojan horse to earn millions, the idea of the grassroots energy of the yeomen - the rugged heartland farmer who would also be constitutional scholar - of the Jeffersonian imagination has given way to the cult of personality, earning six figures for the likes of Sarah Palin, and ignoring the yeoman all together.
Despite the Tea Partier disdain for the Obama elitism and cult of personality which dominated 2008, their own movement has fallen into the same snare.
A spat between organizers of the National Tea Party Convention, which starts Thursday in Nashville and will feature Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker, has largely centered on fees, speakers and profits.Those were among the concerns cited by two key conservative lawmakers, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, as they pulled out of the event last week. They echoed similar complaints other grass-roots Tea Party supporters have been making for weeks.
But at the core of the division lies a more fundamental question of where the Tea Party should go from here and what it's really all about.
Supporters of the convention to be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center say the national conference will build alliances across state lines, strengthening into a force that can press the Democratic and Republican parties to change their ways or face a threat to their existence.
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Edmund Jenks
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Susan Marie Kovalinsky
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Spydermonkey
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Rhonda J Mangus
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nanute
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Rory Cripps
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (23)
at 06:41 on January 31st, 2010
You know what really ticks me off about Tea Party activity? I know the root goes to the Boston Tea Party, a sophisticated protest against taxation without representation, but in modern times, don't mess with my tea time. The demographcis that I see at many of the "tea parties" are more likley to be tailgaters and beer blasters. Not my cup of tea. Move on down the block for your rally in the alley, if you please.
at 19:53 on January 31st, 2010
Did someone forget to couch spank today?
at 06:54 on January 31st, 2010
Yes, YJ, and those same are getting a huge shock, as it slowly dawns on them that they are not wanted at their own convention...............
at 07:02 on January 31st, 2010
People arrive at the convention and are sent to one of two lines: steak or bratwurst.
at 07:01 on January 31st, 2010
It's beginning to sound a bit like a "pity party." Note that Sarah Palin has not pulled out, and is insisting that she can use her "speaking" fee, to donate to worthy causes aligned with the movement. I'll bet even money, she donates the proceeds to her daughter's new found consulting firm.
The tea party is nothing more than a fringe element of the Republican Party.
at 07:03 on January 31st, 2010
The dirty part of the fringe that touches the ground.
at 07:14 on January 31st, 2010
nanute: I'm surprised that you have any money left to bet!
I must admit that I share some of the Teabaggers sentiments when it comes to government. However they do look and act preposterous at times. Tail gate parties no doubt as J indicated.
Yes, most tea party members are Republicans. When tea parties first emerged on the scene I was hopeful that they would consist of a more eclectic and independent mix. . . .
at 07:31 on January 31st, 2010
I came back ahead. Even if I didn't I'd still have money to bet. lol
at 07:41 on January 31st, 2010
nanute: It must be nice to be a rich New Yorker . . . . BTW: Has there been very much Tea Party activity in your neck of the woods? I would think not due to the high concentration of "progressives" in your area--especially in CP which has always been a bastion of liberalism and deep progressive thought . . . .
at 07:54 on January 31st, 2010
I think Billy and Joe D. (no longer a Pointer) might be signed up with the "club." I barely scratch the surface of the median income for NYC. But, I'm rich in other ways. We may have grown up a few blocks away, but we seem to be worlds apart philosophically. Funny how that works. Anyway, let us not hijack this great thread. I don't see how you could have been hopeful that the "movement" would have been more eclectic from the outset. As soon as I saw pictures of the new President in "blackface" and references to Nazis and socialism, I didn't see any hope for populist progressives joining in.
at 08:13 on January 31st, 2010
nanute:
Anyway, let us not hijack this great thread.
No no never! You guys have won! Perception of the tea baggers is everything. When the tea baggers start holding $500 a plate dinners any credibility that they've established with the common everyday average working Joe is shot . . . .
at 07:05 on January 31st, 2010
I guess attack is the best defence. Hoooah.
at 07:38 on January 31st, 2010
Can someone please define this "elitism"? Is the son of a navy admiral that owns 7 houses and married a beer distributor heiress a member of the elite? What about the son of a President that went to Yale and Andover prep? Elitist? No, it's the black guy that uses that fancy lettuce and brown mustard.
The only thing funnier then watching the teabaggers implode is watching Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin suck every last penny out of those rubes. Hilarious.
at 07:51 on January 31st, 2010
mrbarky: I love that name for some reason . . .yes!
' . . . it's the black guy that uses that fancy lettuce and brown mustard.'
No doubt about it! I think that elitism has more to do with perceptions and aires than it has to do with how much wealth one has.
at 07:59 on January 31st, 2010
Yes. It is rather a sad commentary on how people that actually might benefit from the "elitist" black guy's vision for the middle class seem easily distracted and fooled by the very elitists that Mr.Barky mentions. It is amazing how people continue to vote consistently against their own self interest.
at 08:55 on January 31st, 2010
nanute: Yes, yes! The dumb hicks that live in fly-over country do not know what's best for them . . . . I see your point!
at 11:46 on January 31st, 2010
Apparently not. As Einstein once said: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results."
I never said the dumb hicks in fly-over country don't know what's best for them, Rory; you did. I said that I don't understand why people continually vote against their own self interest. (middle class.) If you think that the Republican Party represents middle class America's interests, well, keep voting for em'. And God Bless You.
at 11:58 on January 31st, 2010
nanute: Screw you! Just kidding . . . . lol!
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results."
Yes! Some of us know all about that no doubt! I hope that you're not accusing me of thinking that the Republican party represents middle class interests--because if you are, it's simply not true. And by the same token, if you think that the DEMS represent middle class interests you're out of your mind. There's no evidence to suggest that ether the Dems or the Repugs have average American's best interests at heart. Of course you and I are certainly not average Americans so the point is moot in both our cases.
at 11:07 on January 31st, 2010
Maybe in fairness to the Convention someone should have looked at the purpose of it and also which other organizations are attending. I agree with Rory, obviously those in NYC and DC know what's best for flyover country.
Source: nationalteapartyconvention.com
at 11:15 on January 31st, 2010
Right: They get back as good as they dish out. They do not take such into account when calling the Democrats elitists, do they?
at 11:39 on January 31st, 2010
This often happens when a grass roots movement becomes popular and gets media coverage.
at 15:16 on January 31st, 2010
ROY:
YES! WE MUST HAVE MORE BALANCE! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!
Can you imagine the state of the nation if the lunatics on either side of the political spectrum managed to have their way? It's almost come to that point now, but thank God the great unwashed have finally been stirred.
at 15:56 on January 31st, 2010
This occurrence that has revealed many of those involved in what is known as the Tea Party movement are not the non aligned individuals often said to truly represent this movement should come as no surprise.
The roots for funding to this movement have long been exposed to be coming from the Republican Party and those closely affiliated with them.