Where does the tea party philosophy come from? One hint is in its name.
It鈥檚 still unclear what contribution the tea party movement 鈥� its grass-roots element, its behind-the-scenes funding apparatus, and the surging national candidates it鈥檚 brought forward 鈥� will make to the good of the republic.
But one thing for sure: It鈥檚 a dream come true for political science departments around the world. It may well do for poli sci what Watergate heroes Woodward and Bernstein did for journalism. Let a thousand doctoral dissertations bloom!
In a nutshell, the movement鈥檚 philosophy can be summed up in its name and imagery: 鈥淭axation without representation,鈥� which in the 21st century means the size and complexity of government. Strip away all the sillier elements (President Obama鈥檚 birth certificate) and sometimes threatening fringe (guns and occasional hints of racism) and that鈥檚 pretty much it.
Does it line up with big business types pushing the same agenda for many years through K Street lobbyists and Chambers of Commerce? (That鈥檚 you, Koch brothers.) It matters not to most tea partyers.
Many news outlets (including the Monitor) have tried to figure out the tea party, not an easy task since there is no such thing as the 鈥淭ea Party鈥� per se. It鈥檚 more scattered than organized in any traditional sense, and sometimes there are conflicts within the movement.
The 鈥�Tea Party of Nevada,鈥� for instance, has its own candidate running for the US Senate even though GOP candidate Sharron Angle 鈥� who may well send Senate majority leader Harry Reid into involuntary retirement 鈥� has been endorsed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express.
STORY: Tea Party 101: Who are its followers and what do they want?
Two recent articles attempt to look at the historical roots of the tea party movement.
In the magazine The Atlantic, senior editor Joshua Green lays out the case for concluding that US Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas is 鈥渢he tea party鈥檚 brain.鈥�
When the Great Recession hit, , libertarian Paul 鈥渨as ready and waiting.鈥�
鈥淗e is not the Tea Party鈥檚 founder (there isn鈥檛 one), or its culturally resonant figure (that鈥檚 Sarah Palin), but something more like its brain, its Marx or Madison,鈥� he writes. 鈥淗e has become its intellectual godfather 鈥� and its actual father, in the case of its brightest rising star, his son Rand Paul, Kentucky鈥檚 GOP Senate nominee.鈥�
鈥淭he Tea Party has overrun the Republican Party everywhere from Alaska to Kentucky to Maine, and a version of Paul鈥檚 bill to audit the Federal Reserve just passed the Senate unanimously en route to becoming law,鈥� Green reports. 鈥淭oday, on matters of economic politics, Paul is at least as significant as any of the Republicans he shared the stage with in the 2007 South Carolina [presidential primary] debate. And has anyone noticed that he鈥檚 a fixture on Fox News?鈥�
For Ron Paul, a libertarian gadfly within the Republican Party, his political philosophy was formed when he was in medical school and he read Austrian economist and philosopher Friedrich Hayek鈥檚 1944 work 鈥淭he Road to Serfdom.鈥� This led him to Mr. Hayek鈥檚 mentor, Ludwig von Mises, and to Mr. von Mises鈥檚 argument against any government interference in free-market capitalism.
Many tea partyers (indeed, many Americans) may not be familiar with Hayek or von Mises, but the work of these Austrian economists undergirds much of what the tea party movement is all about, writes Green. 鈥淲ith the Tea Party gathering force, [Ron] Paul is at last where he has always wanted to be: in the vanguard of a national movement.鈥�
Now flip over to the New Yorker and Sean Wilentz鈥檚 recent piece titled 鈥淐onfounding Fathers: The Tea Party鈥檚 Cold War Roots.鈥� (OK, OK. The Atlantic and the New Yorker may be seen as elitist publications, but let that go for now.)
Mr. Wilentz, a Princeton University historian, goes straight for Fox News commentator Glenn Beck, whom he describes as 鈥渂oth a unifying figure and an intellectual guide鈥� for the tea party movement.
But it鈥檚 not just Mr. Beck鈥檚 pro-tea party broadcast shtick, which draws millions of listeners and viewers every week. Or the he launched last summer, an online program offering a 鈥渦nique learning experience bringing together a variety of experts in American History.鈥� (One month for $9.95 or a full year for $74.95.)
is that 鈥淏eck鈥檚 version of American history relies on lessons from his own acknowledged inspiration, the late right-wing writer W. Cleon Skousen, and also restates charges made by the John Birch Society鈥檚 founder, Robert Welch.鈥�
And, he adds, 鈥淭he popularity of Beck鈥檚 broadcasts, which now reach two million viewers each day, has brought neo-Birchite ideas to an audience beyond any that Welch or Skousen might have dreamed of.鈥�
Wilentz walks the reader through the history of Birch-derived thinking and political activity through the post-war era to the present.
Will everybody agree with his analysis or conclusions, or with Green鈥檚 in The Atlantic? Of course not. But they鈥檙e a good place to start in trying to understand one of the most interesting political phenomena in recent decades.
STORY: Tea Party 101: Who are its followers and what do they want?
