All Things in Moderation

One of the genuine curiosities of the current race for the Republican nomination is
the absence of The Tea Party as a real player. Given that the energy and enthusiasm
in the Republican party appears to reside within The Tea Party it’s worth wondering why
that element of the party appears content, or resigned, to see Romney or Santorum take the
nomination. Neither candidate could fairly be seen to be suited to carry the banner
of limited government.

One possibility seems to be that the Tea Party simply does not have, for now at least,
the kind of organization needed to bring a candidate to the fore. A successful run for the Republican nomination requires organization and funding. That Romney has been able to acquire that organization and funding without significant Tea Party backing, and given that the Tea Party has not brought a viable competitor forward, it may simply be
the case that the Tea Party does not now possess the resources needed to do so.

Another possibility is that the Tea Party has the resources, or could have acquired them in a timely manner, but has elected not to do so. If that is the case, then it seems reasonable to
assume that the Tea Party isn’t well suited to uniting to support a certain candidate, at least in the nomination process. It may be that the Tea Party is more a loose collection of individuals that a group suited to hammering out differences in order to settle on a particular candidate.

Another possibility is that the Tea Party is not, generally speaking, as opposed to government
as its rhetoric would suggest. With the congress, particularly the House, effectively refusing everything, one would expect House Republicans in particular, to be more popular with the Tea Party base of the Republican Party. Polling does not appear to indicate that that is the case. That is to say that, given the rhetoric, one would expect to see intransigent
Republican House members and the House leadership, buoyed by the praises of the base of
the party. That does not seem to have happened. And given all the talk of
smaller government and reducing taxes, one would expect the Tea Party to find, and back
to the hilt, a Republican nominee fiercely determined to do so. That is not the case either.
Furthermore, the Tea Party, taken as a whole, seems reluctant about, if not openly hostile, toward, cuts in medicare and social security, and, perhaps, to a lesser degree defense. With that being the case, it is difficult not to suspect that the Tea Party is principally comprised of older Americans interested in cutting government programs for others and safeguarding the ones that benefit them.

There are other possibilities and more than one, or none, may be correct. Of the three mentioned above, however, the third possibility seems to be bolstered, in part, by the fact that it would place the Tea Party in line with general attitudes. Americans, particularly elderly Americans, have demonstrated little real zeal for reducing the size of government and perhaps the Tea Party, for all its rhetoric, has not broken free of that.

Filed under: Uncategorized |