Contract from America: 'tea party' crafts its election manifesto
| Atlanta
So far, the 鈥渢ea party鈥� phenomenon has ridden waves of witty protest signs 鈥� 鈥淒on鈥檛 tax me, bro鈥� 鈥� to surprise and buck the Democratic establishment in Washington on issues from healthcare reform to the federal deficit.
But protest only goes so far. All legitimate movements need a manifesto. So now at least one group of tea partyers is turning directly to 鈥渨e the people鈥� by using technology in an unprecedented way: build a party platform from the bottom up.
Taking cues from the 鈥�Contract with America鈥� that led to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, a group known as Tea Party Patriots used a website to gather ideas for what they're calling the .
Thousands of ideas
Among the thousands of ideas submitted by more than 100,000 people so far are 鈥淒rill Here, Drill Now,鈥� 鈥淎bolish the Department of Education,鈥� and 鈥淐ongress shall not exempt themselves.鈥� The group will ask Americans this month to start winnowing 20 ideas down to a 10- or 12-point platform. The contract will be unveiled on Tax Day, April 15.
鈥淭his is a way of taking this protest movement and turning it into a very strong reform movement,鈥� says Ryan Hecker, a Tea Party Patriots spokesman and activist in Houston, Texas. 鈥淎nd I think, at the end of the day, this document will offer the biggest tent possible and 鈥� will be very broad, very bold, but yet also viable.鈥�
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the architect of the first contract, in New Hampshire this weekend: 鈥淭he idea is to go out to the whole country and say, 鈥榃hat would you have in a contract with America to politicians?鈥� It鈥檚 a very interesting idea.鈥�
After playing a role in Republican victories in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, the tea party movement still presents a challenge for incumbent Republicans as much as it does for Democrats.
Many tea partyers are politically to the right of the average Republican and most have little party loyalty. As Politico , 鈥淩epublicans who paint tea partyers as a fringe group risk primary challenges, while those who embrace the group risk drifting too far rightward to win a general election.鈥�
Tea party infighting
In that light, the crowd-sourced contract will shed more light on tea party priorities, but it could also play into widening fissures in the movement, evidenced at least in part by infighting over the upcoming Tea Party Convention in Nashville.
鈥淩ight now, they鈥檙e certainly against Democrats, they鈥檙e pretty often against Republicans, but they鈥檙e an oppositional force more than a party or organization that鈥檚 aiming to do anything constructive with government,鈥� says Martin Johnson, a political scientist at the University of California in Riverside. 鈥淭he other tension here is they鈥檙e going to have to become insiders if whatever they鈥檙e proposing here is going to have a deep and sustained effect on policy.鈥�
The emerging contract is also, in many ways, the opposite of the Contract with America, which was written by party operatives in the standard Washington mold 鈥� via polls and focus groups.
University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, author of 鈥淎n Army of Davids,鈥� 鈥渁 crowd-sourced party platform 鈥� more in the nature of a contract of employment from the voters, which politicians may choose to accept or look for alternative employment.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檒l be interesting to see what the intellectual differences are between what emerges out of this process and the kinds of things we saw with Contract with America,鈥� says Professor Johnson. 鈥淥nly time will tell whether this will rise beyond clever political marketing and showmanship.鈥�
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