The Tea Party: what the hell America?

It must be funny to watch the news and wonder what the hell America is doing. I’m sure many of you are aware of the rise in the Tea Party movement and most of you are baffled by it and are terrified that little Sarah Palins will be running America. I hope to clear up some confusion and provide an explanation as to what is going on back in the States.

On 2nd November there will be congressional elections, known as the midterms. Without going into details, this election will determine the make-up of Congress in the US. Regardless of which polls you look at, they all paint a clear picture: Republicans will gain a majority in the House Representatives (the Lower House) while picking up some seats in the Senate as well. The question is, why on earth would people want to go back to the same politics of before – the politics of Bush? There are a number of reasons why and it would go far beyond the parameters of this piece to explain each reason, but I hope to touch on some of the most important ones.

First and foremost, people are frustrated. The rocky economy and miserable employment rate have left people in a state of fear. People want the situation to improve and they want it to improve now. The problem is that there is a perception that Congress is incapable of providing change. This view stems largely from the struggles the Democrats have faced for the past two years in attempting to pass legislation. Essentially, Republicans have stopped Democrats every step of the way in an attempt to make Congress, specifically Democrats, incompetent. This has turned into a double-edged sword for Republicans. By making the Democrats look incompetent they will gain a minor victory come 2nd November. However, by making Congress look ineffective they’ve frustrated people and this, combined with the poor economy and employment rate, has given rise to the Tea Party.

Now the Tea Party is something you are probably baffled by, and to be fair, so is most of the US. I’m not sure what the media coverage of the Tea Party is like in the UK, but if it’s anything like in the US you’d see a movement being headed by Sarah Palin designed to encourage middle-aged white women to run for high profile positions. Meanwhile, a bunch of old people are protesting in Washington D.C. calling Obama a Socialist, Marxist, Communist, Atheist, Muslim, Nazi, and many more contradictory names.

The reality is that this is populism, pure and simple. People are frustrated and feel neglected, while sensationalist pundits such as Glenn Beck spur them on. It certainly isn’t something I can blame them for really; times are tough and people need to vent anger.

As absurd as they are, I can’t help but find some sense of admiration in the fact that they are going out there and at least trying to do something, despite the fact that they have misguided ideas. What’s interesting to note is that the Tea Party movement has grown drastically out of the control of the Republican Party and as a result they compete against each other rather than cooperate.

However, many Tea Party candidates are simply unqualified for the positions they run for and the voters know that. Furthermore, while a Republican-controlled legislature is not particularly good, it isn’t particularly bad either. If the Republicans hope to maintain control of Congress in 2012 they’ll have to start working in a bipartisan nature. The Republicans will have to produce proper bills and legislature and actually contribute. Blocking all bills and pretending to be the victim simply doesn’t work when you are in the majority.

The years following this coming election will be interesting to watch as Republicans and Democrats will be forced to work together. This is simply in the best interests of both parties, otherwise come 4th November 2012, Republicans will once again lose control of Congress.