The Decline of the Tea Party

Are the paramount days of the Tea Party over? Is the Party losing its influence over Republicans?
by Charlie Leck

What has caused so many traditional Republicans to inch away from any identifiable association with the Tea Party? What has caused so many of these Republicans to be more amiable with Democrats and to indicate their willingness to enter into reasonable discussion, debate and compromise? The answer to the question is not really all that difficult to figure out.
by Charlie Leck

More than forty percent of Americans consider themselves independents when it comes to politics. The other approximately 60 percent is pretty much evenly divided between the two major parties. Notice! There is no real mention of the Tea Party here. There’s good reason. People – and not just politicians – are beginning to disassociate themselves from any connection to or with the Tea Party. Why?

There is an election coming up this year and not many politicians feel secure in being identified with the Tea Party because this unorganized political movement is identified with stagnation and obfuscation – or discombobulation. Many congresspeople who must run this November are convinced that a close identification with the Tea Party may spell doom for them.

Polls show that active political members of the Tea Party are identified most heavily with the lack of action in the U.S. Congress. The level of dissatisfaction with congressional representatives who identify themselves with the Tea Party is at an extraordinary high.

So, suddenly we are seeing lots of news stories about one congressperson after another indicating a willingness to enter into open discussion and debate about all manner of issues.

All of a sudden we are seeing Republican willingness to deal with growing poverty in America. Most every Republican – except the very hard-core Tea Party members – is willing to talk about how to extend unemployment benefits. Most want to connect these conversations with even more extensive talks about dealing with the problem in a long-term manner.

Lots of us – plain old citizens – are breathing more easily these days. We need to see a national political system and legislature that works. We have been screaming it for months and months and virtually begging for a return to reasonable cooperation in the Congress of the United States.

Let’s talk about more than unemployment (and I believe these discussions are going way beyond that single subject). We must also talk about the rising seas! We must talk about the future of the globe if we do not act in concert with all the nations of the earth. We must talk about new approaches to transportation. And, we must even have talks about developing fairer approaches to national income tax. Many of us (I included) are not paying a truly fair-share into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury because we are not being asked to.

It is foolish to think that this country can’t afford to tackle problems like education and transportation and energy use and not solve them because they are too expensive. OMG! It is much more expensive to not solve these problems and the day of reckoning is fast approaching.

Conservatives and progressives must find some ground upon which they can work together to reconstruct America and restore it to the greatness it once knew. I think the time is at hand.

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