Don’t throw the tea party overboard

by Gary Bauer, president of American Values, published in Politico, November 1, 2013.

In the wake of the government shutdown and near default, a Beltway consensus has emerged: The GOP lost, the tea party movement is to blame and, therefore, the former must abandon the latter or risk being consigned to permanent minority status.

The first proposition is probably correct (at least in the short term), and the second is debatable. The third, however, is exactly wrong.

To understand why requires recognizing that there is a significant gap between perception and reality when it comes to the tea party movement. There is the radical and racist tea party of the leftwing imagination. Then there is the real tea party – a loosely affiliated coalition of ordinary Americans and grassroots groups brought together in support of reducing the size of government and electing people to public office who believe in the same.

Since the movement’s inception, its supporters have been variously labeled as “hostage-takers” (President Barack Obama), “terrorists” (Vice President Joe Biden), “anarchists” (Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid), “Confederates” (Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel) and “domestic enemies” (Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen). In a recent fundraising email, Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson equated the tea party with the Ku Klux Klan.

And those are just the attacks from liberal office-holders. Leftwing pundits and In the wake of the government shutdown and near default, a Beltway consensus has emerged: The GOP lost, the tea party movement is to blame and, therefore, the former must abandon the latter or risk being consigned to permanent minority status.

The first proposition is probably correct (at least in the short term), and the second is debatable. The third, however, is exactly wrong.

To understand why requires recognizing that there is a significant gap between perception and reality when it comes to the tea party movement. There is the radical and racist tea party of the leftwing imagination. Then there is the real tea party – a loosely affiliated coalition of ordinary Americans and grassroots groups brought together in support of reducing the size of government and electing people to public office who believe in the same.

Since the movement’s inception, its supporters have been variously labeled as “hostage-takers” (President Barack Obama), “terrorists” (Vice President Joe Biden), “anarchists” (Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid), “Confederates” (Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel) and “domestic enemies” (Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen). In a recent fundraising email, Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson equated the tea party with the Ku Klux Klan.

And those are just the attacks from liberal office-holders. Leftwing pundits and activists have been even more vicious. With the media’s help, liberals have made “tea party” a byword for extremism, racism and everything that’s wrong with our political culture.

Sadly, the demonization has worked. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that “The Tea Party is less popular than ever.” Forty-nine percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of the movement, while 30 percent had a favorable view. Pew noted that in February 2010, when the tea party was in its prime, the favorable-unfavorable split was 33 percent/25 percent. Other polls have found similar drop-offs in the tea party’s popularity.

After the shutdown, some pundits are urging the Republican Party to break with the tea party for the good of the party and the nation. David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, recently penned a column with the title, “A tea party exit would be a blessing for GOP.”

But that would be suicidal.

The views and values of tea party supporters – from their suspicion of federal power and belief that the government has gotten too big to their opposition to an unworkable healthcare reform plan and skepticism of D.C. elites—are well within the mainstream.

Surveys have found that tea party supporters are mostly middle class. Yes, the tea party is predominantly white. But so are other movements, including liberal ones such as the environmental movement. Does that make environmentalists racists?

Tea party supporters are also more highly educated and affluent than the average American. Yale Law Professor Dan Kahan recently published a paper in which he analyzed the political outlooks of American citizens. He wrote that he had expected to see “a modest negative correlation between identifying with the Tea Party and science comprehension.” In other words, the good professor had hoped to prove that tea party types are unintelligent Neanderthals. Instead, he discovered the opposite. Kahan said that he is now “embarrassed” by his anti-tea party prejudices. Tellingly, he also admitted that he doesn’t know anyone who identifies with the four-year-old movement.

The tea party emerged as an organic grassroots reaction not to a black man in the White House but to the gradual realization that very few political leaders — Democrats or Republicans — seemed interested in enacting meaningful fiscal discipline and reform. The tea party’s goal is to pull both parties toward supporting policies that make government smaller. It’s that simple.

None of this is to say tea-party politicians haven’t made tactical mistakes. But that doesn’t mean the tea party should go. Whether Republican elites like it or not, the GOP’s future success is inextricably linked to that of the tea party movement. A Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 76 percent of tea party supporters identify or lean toward the GOP. And according to a July Pew Research poll, tea-party supporters make up 49 percent of Republican primary voters. The tea party is not an extremist fringe — it is the mainstream of the Republican Party.

Calls to jettison the tea party remind me of the Republican elites who perennially advocate abandoning conservative positions on social issues. But just as the GOP can’t win without socially conservative voters, it couldn’t win without the energy, ideas and votes of tea party conservatives.

The tea party movement is young, and it’s raw. Like any new movement, it will go through up and downs, make mistakes and mature. But it will continue to have an important role to play in our national politics — a vital one, in fact. And it will survive because it is a grassroots movement whose first allegiance is to voters, not Washington elites.

Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer is president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families.

Activists have been even more vicious. With the media’s help, liberals have made “tea party” a byword for extremism, racism and everything that’s wrong with our political culture.

Sadly, the demonization has worked. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that “The Tea Party is less popular than ever.” Forty-nine percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of the movement, while 30 percent had a favorable view. Pew noted that in February 2010, when the tea party was in its prime, the favorable-unfavorable split was 33 percent/25 percent. Other polls have found similar drop-offs in the tea party’s popularity.

After the shutdown, some pundits are urging the Republican Party to break with the tea party for the good of the party and the nation. David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, recently penned a column with the title, “A tea party exit would be a blessing for GOP.”

But that would be suicidal.

The views and values of tea party supporters – from their suspicion of federal power and belief that the government has gotten too big to their opposition to an unworkable healthcare reform plan and skepticism of D.C. elites—are well within the mainstream.

Surveys have found that tea party supporters are mostly middle class. Yes, the tea party is predominantly white. But so are other movements, including liberal ones such as the environmental movement. Does that make environmentalists racists?

Tea party supporters are also more highly educated and affluent than the average American. Yale Law Professor Dan Kahan recently published a paper in which he analyzed the political outlooks of American citizens. He wrote that he had expected to see “a modest negative correlation between identifying with the Tea Party and science comprehension.” In other words, the good professor had hoped to prove that tea party types are unintelligent Neanderthals. Instead, he discovered the opposite. Kahan said that he is now “embarrassed” by his anti-tea party prejudices. Tellingly, he also admitted that he doesn’t know anyone who identifies with the four-year-old movement.

The tea party emerged as an organic grassroots reaction not to a black man in the White House but to the gradual realization that very few political leaders — Democrats or Republicans — seemed interested in enacting meaningful fiscal discipline and reform. The tea party’s goal is to pull both parties toward supporting policies that make government smaller. It’s that simple.

None of this is to say tea-party politicians haven’t made tactical mistakes. But that doesn’t mean the tea party should go. Whether Republican elites like it or not, the GOP’s future success is inextricably linked to that of the tea party movement. A Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 76 percent of tea party supporters identify or lean toward the GOP. And according to a July Pew Research poll, tea-party supporters make up 49 percent of Republican primary voters. The tea party is not an extremist fringe — it is the mainstream of the Republican Party.

Calls to jettison the tea party remind me of the Republican elites who perennially advocate abandoning conservative positions on social issues. But just as the GOP can’t win without socially conservative voters, it couldn’t win without the energy, ideas and votes of tea party conservatives.

The tea party movement is young, and it’s raw. Like any new movement, it will go through up and downs, make mistakes and mature. But it will continue to have an important role to play in our national politics — a vital one, in fact. And it will survive because it is a grassroots movement whose first allegiance is to voters, not Washington elites.