Illinois Shows Limitations of Tea Party Movement
by Warner Todd HustonThe Tea Party folks keep getting mad at me for saying that in the end they might prove ineffective in races at levels higher than local because they aren’t organized enough. They puff up their chests proudly proclaiming that they intend to resist being organized and they claim that being organized is precisely what they are fighting against. I understand the feeling, even sympathize quite a lot, but there is a problem with this obstinacy. It means they won’t win on a statewide ballot very often. The Illinois primary just proved me correct, too.
Let’s take the race for Senate in Illinois as exhibit “A.” Of course the good old boys in the state party went with Mark Kirk, the center left candidate from a northern suburb of Chicago. He was the he-can-win candidate and the establishment choice. Not one Tea Party group, though, wants Kirk and for good reason — and I heartily concur with them, as it happens. So who was the “Tea Party candidate,” the one meant to beat out Kirk, the one backed by the newly found power of the Tea Party movement? There wasn’t one. There were three.
Sadly, the Tea Partiers in Illinois split their vote all up. Some Tea Party Groups went with Don Lowery and some went with Patrick Hughes. A few even went with John Arrington. Hughes, of course, was the only one that had even a remote chance as far as voter polls were concerned. Hughes at least registered in the polls, Lowery and Arrington barely showed up at all.
Now, I like Mr. Lowery to be sure. He is a great fellow and has some fantastic principles. I can see why Tea Party groups are attracted to him. I feel the same way about Mr. Arrington. On the other hand, the same can be said of Hughes (disclosure, I endorsed Hughes). The problem is not that one or the other Tea Party group chose the wrong candidate, it’s that they didn’t choose the same candidate. They petered away their votes by choosing three candidates allowing Mark Kirk to run away with it.
There was the same problem with the six candidates that were running for the GOP nomination for Governor. Tea Party groups spilt their votes between Dan Proft and Adam Andrzejewski. Andrzejewski got a last minute surge from Tea Partiers, but it was too late to help. But if you combined the polling numbers that Proft and Andrzejewski were seeing into one that number was a winning number. Unfortunately, the vote was spilt between the two candidates, not settled on just one of them.
The sad fact is that the Illinois Tea Party groups didn’t spend any time organizing, polling each other, coordinating with each other. There was no effort from one Tea Party group to reach out to another one and work together. They all stayed in their own little area, met in their own little meetings, had their own little candidates forum, and made their own little decisions.
This method is fine for village elections or State Reps and State Senators. It’s likely even good for County elections. But it does not work for federal elections or statewide elections where several candidates per office are vying for attention and support. Sure this method is particularly important and powerful for local elections, it just doesn’t work at higher levels than that.
Now, let’s look where the Tea Party movement has been effective on a larger than local level. Doug Hoffman in NY 23 caught the interest of Tea Party groups across the country, so did Scott Brown in Massachusetts. And why was this? It was because of groups like Dick Armey’s Freedomworks, and Americans For Prosperity among others. It was also because of the national exposure that talk radio and TV gave these races. These are groups and entities organized on a national basis, groups that have offices throughout the country, groups that are, well, organized.
In essence, whether you want to believe it or not, the outpouring of support for Doug Hoffman and Scott Brown was organized (even if by a confluence of events) on a national level, not on a local one. These two races happened in a hurry due to forces beyond a local Tea Party level. These were causes that the local Tea Party folks signed onto quickly, yes, but were efforts they didn’t initiate.
And this is precisely what I mean. The Hoffman and Brown races were handed to the Tea Party movement on a silver platter not ones they worked hard to create. We have yet to see a race created at a local level, built through the grass roots, and organized for victory at the hands of the Tea Party groups. Illinois failed to show such organization at any level higher than a local race.
Recently J.P. Freire triumphantly reported that a year after the first Tea Party protests began to appear they’ve proven not to represent a “mass conspiracy” but are instead a true movement.
The tea parties are the success of everyday citizens clamoring to protect something they feel is endangered by the growth of government. These are not political mavens — they’re better at running a business and a family than they are at developing talking points for prime time (a fact I learned while organizing the first D.C. tea party in front of the White House last February).
I agree and applaud this truth. But what does it mean politically if none of this voter interest and passion can be channeled to real political victories at the ballot box? I submit that it is meaningless and might even lead to more cynicism among voters when they come to realize that all of their political passion has resulted in no political change.
One thing is sure, if Tea Party groups want to become a political force for good, they have to coordinate farther out than their own towns and county. If they don’t they will risk making themselves irrelevant just as they did in the Senate race and Governor race in Illinois. That means organizing, whether they like it or not because organization wins elections. It’s just that simple.
The Tea Party folks certainly do not have to take on all the characteristics of the failed Party organizations they oppose. But they must get over this fear of organizing. If they don’t they will not be able to wield the power they might actually have behind them. Worse the parties that are a bit scared of them right now will surely find themselves able to ignore the Tea Parties if they ultimately find no threat from them.
And that would be a shame, indeed.
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187 Comments
These groups NEED to pull together for ONE candidate!! Splitting up like that is just what the liberals were hoping for !!
Land of Corruption….
Proft if he was a man would have thrown his support behind Adam . He didn't and it is just another time for Dan Proft to muddy the waters and split the IL conservative vote . That is the real problem in Illinois , the land of Lincoln always splits their vote and ends up under the whip and the boot of the corruptocrat machine of Chicago .
I have said many times on theis site that the tea party groups need to motivate their neighbors to join and take over both political parties, THROW out the current leadership at the local level, then by force of sheer numbers, take over the national parties, and THROW out those leaders. Picking candidates for office is no different than writing laws of making sausage, but it's the only systems we have and once we the people thorw out all of the crooks in office now, then we can abolish the laws that deny we the people our right to run for office without the party system. That should be the american way of running fo roffice.
The lesson here for the Tea Party movement is have one candidate on the ticket, that is the only lesson to be learned.
Also the St Louis Tea party with their Metro East brothers and sisters carried Metro East for Adam in stunning numbers . Do not discount the work they did , very easy to snipe from far off . The adult Tea Party's carried their zones , we just needed more time to effectively break into the main stream media blackout on Adam . So before you cast the net at how Tea parties can't deliver , St Louis carried Metro East with 40% of the vote for Adam .
While I do believe the Tea Party at least at the margins will be able to effectuate some political change in supplanting progressive Democrats and Republicans in office, the real long term goal has to be advancing liberty.
The Progressives had a 100-year head start on us, winning the war of ideas perhaps because as mentioned they are political by nature. We need to repeal decades of brainwashing, and overall ideological subversion while in the meantime placing candidates in office who at the very least will halt the expansion of the state.
We will need to reform the Republican party from within and build a coalition on common principles between Independents, moderate Republicans, Conservatives and Libertarians. While we will never agree on every issue, we must promulgate our basic beliefs, articulate them coherently and stand together.
Perhaps, for all the hype, the "Tea Party Movement" is not a movement at all, but merely a collection of disparate people who feel rightfully angry at everyone at the moment because we are in a terrible economic fix at the moment and the people mostly responsible left office a year ago. They are opposed to different things for different reasons, and exploited by various right wing causes and FoxNews media. When they get all together in the room they realize there is not much in common between them, and, no, they don't really want to elect the Republicans who caused tis mess either, and all go their separate ways.
I voted yesterday in the IL primaries and was also disappointed in the results. There seems to be a divide here in that there is Chicago, and the rest of the state. Yes, our efforts need to be coordinated and better organized. I only hope come November we will be able to speak with a more organized voice. There is still time.
I would like to see Adam run again in November, someway, somehow.
Divide and conquer. The 'machine' pulled off another 'gotcha'.
Here's a flash for you tea party folks. Opposition candidates not aligned with the Acorn, SEIU, Mayor Daley, Cook County, Chicago political machine need not waste their time. You will never beat the Democrat controlled Machine in Illinois. Sad, but a reality of life in Illinois. The land of Lincoln?
I don't believe in the 2 party system. It leads to coruption and center-of-the-road-ism, etc… The Tea Party does need to organize better in order get candidates elected. Running 3 candidates in one race doesn't make sense.
No matter what the tea part does tho… the MSM will not recognize them, nor invite Tea Party candidates to a debate (such as presidential debates). So no matter what the MSM will always be a challenge.
my goodness! i'm in no way ready to throw out the baby with the bath water. this movement is in its infancy only having opened its eyes a mere YEAR ago. pundits here and on the left are so quick to build up or tear down this movement as a means to gain credibility for themselves. i believe that when the dust settles, we'll see that the teaparty had a greater impact than first realized. we're talking about a primary.. ONE primary.
It took a while for the Sons of Liberty, the Daughters of Liberty, and the Committees of Correspondence to coalesce to the First and Second Continental Congresses. The rest, as they say, is history.
The modern-day versions of these groups are currently finding their way, and will need some time to become as effective as their historical counterparts. However, if the American spirit prevails, the outcome should be just as magnificent.
America is a two party system, like it or not. Third party candidates do not hold up in elections outside the local level. There is a simple solution: Take back the GOP and make them follow the platform. Democrats need to take back their party too. The progressives have hijacked both parties and moved them both to the left (lets do the time warp again). It is time to jump to the right, in both parties and make the progressives slide back into the primordial ooze they crawled out of.
American Patriots, Tea Party People, need to unite under "middle of our road" VALUES, and PRINCIPLES
FIX FRAUD FIRST http://bit.ly/5Y15h8
True. But I don't think this so much a case of proving a point. I think we need to see it as a warning and learn from this example. The Tea Party can't be a conventional power like the big two or it will fail. Our candidates need better organization behind them, though, and better media exposure so that we can displace the conventional powers.
Perhaps this is a dumb question but isn't this what PRIMARIES are for? We can be thankful there were three worthy candidates but only ONE should merit the backing of the entire group. Regardless how small a margin the group should, based on such primaries, chose a candidate to back and that should be the end of the discussion. That being said knowing the odds two of the conservative candidates should be willing to back out if any right leaning candidate is going to have a chance to win. The question is, which among them will be the first to bow out, if at all?
Whatever the Tea Party movement does, resisting becoming a third party is critical. Becoming a third party will do the most harm to the movement. Many Americans that agree with the Tea Partiers still won't vote for a third party.
The Tea Party folks at the basic level align better with the Republicans. It should be their objective to slowly take over the party from within at the lower (city/county) levels. This will leads to statewide offices that will move candidates for representation in DC. Progressives have a stronger hold in the Democratic party (although many higher key Republicans are within Progressive stronghold).
The only one I see puffing the chest out here is the writer of this article.The tea partiers are doing just fine,they don't need a national face because there are so many differences within the movement.A national figure overseeing them all would damage the movement and give the media and the leftists a target to beat on and wear down.The goal of the movement is about getting liberty back.Not every contest will be won.Instead of tearing these people down why don't you join them and help with the task at hand? IMO you have no right to complain until you get off your duff and start doing something other than whining in your blog post.
Sorry i disagree. The point of the tea parties in my mind was to organize locally and support candidates/issues that would change what happens locally. So the tea parties split their vote – so what? They wanted to support candidates they felt would do best for them. Yes the upper system held on to it's candidate, but that's an issue with the Republican party – not the tea parties.
Demanding that "all tea parties face the same way" in my mind wants the tea parties to support either the democrats or the republicans – when both these political parties are what's wrong!parties were about -
OK let's try this one more time.
So we do not cloud the issue, let us first do a little house cleaning.
A) The Tea Party movement is not the beginnings of a third party.
B) Hence, it is not essential for a 'national' type organization.
C) Endorsing candidates nor a slate of candidates has never been the objective.
I went to the Tea Party rally in New Lenox, IL. last Labor Day and the one thing that I came away with was our common desire to express our view of what governance should be.
And that the goal of these gatherings from sea to shining sea was and is to impress this view to our elected officials since they have totally lost touch with Americans.
Obama's master plan has sped up the growth of this movement started as a result of the last two years of the Bush administration.
As a Reagan Democrat, it is obvious to me that the Tea Party is neither pro or anti Rep / Dem.
It is a movement to uphold the American values. Let us not judge its' success by election returns.
I think that anything is possible after the win in MA. I think with a little more organization IL can be conquered, its just a matter of getting people in the tea party movement to trust certain key figures within the movement to be leaders and having enough faith in them to not be led astray.
There is a problem with getting the vote coordinated behind one candidate…he is right about that…
So..lesson learned…
Could not agree more. Add to that there is insufficient time for a completely ground-up movement. The perfect cannot be the enemy of the good.
This reminds me of the Libertarian Party back when they first got started. I tried to find out what the platform was, and got back "Whatever you want".
No party is going to win pulling that.
Now? The only Libertarians that I learn about are nut cases, like that guy that drank too much silver and turned his skin gray.
So…lesson learned…coalesce behind one person…
DON'T do "third party"; co-opt the Republicans…they need it, anyway…
Stay tightly focused on fiscal conservatism and limited government, leave the social stuff for the states later…
Keep on working…it will happen if everyone keeps pushing…2010, 2012, 2014…
If all the tea parties got behind one candidate, they still would have only received 43% of the vote, because Kirk got 57% of the vote.
So the problem COULD NOT be splitting the vote….united we added up to only 43%
The problem was that none of the 3 effectively reached enough of the 57% that voted for Kirk to wake them up to Kirk's true charachter and voting record…and/or none of the 3 effectively reached enough non-voters to get them motivated to vote.
Hughes was the weakest candidate, but got the most traction from spending the most money. The fact that most tea party groups preferred Lowery didn't stop Hughes from getting national exposure and publicity…teh media focused on who had the most money to challenge Kirk…buyt Hughes had nothing to offer to those of us who preferred Hughes, Arrington, or Thomas.
So lets review: A horrible choice got 57% of the vote, and a smooth talking empty suit with no record to back up his talk but a lot of money got 19% of the vote…that mean 3 out of 4 voters in Illinois were not reached effectively by the Tea Party movements.
That's the problem. Uniting behind the empty suit because he was the only one with a chance of winning not only wouldn't have mattered…43% of a united vote still doesn't win…but we would have compromised on Hughes.
I agree with the idea that the tea party movement needs to co-opt the GOP. As a third party its message gets watered down. Dont forget, Bubba Clinton won two terms primarily because of Ross Perot. Go to the grass roots and take over the GOP at the local levels. What Scott Brown has shown is that the anger at the left is there. Take advantage of it.
Walsh and Hultgren did OK. Are those local positions?
Illinois is an odd bird in the first place. State-wide it is a contest for the hearts of the entitlement crowd in Cook County.
The Tea Party will make mistakes. And they must gel into a single platform in order to be relevant.
The Latino groups are split on many issues so they rally around amnesty.
The Tea Party needs a single rallying point, and that isn't clear yet.
The goal at this point is not necessarily to win, but to show enough strength to force the GOP to take a right turn. And the 2010 midterm is a chance to pick off the dems…or just split the vote and lose. Time will tell.
You can get everything right all the time. The most important part of the Governors vote in Illinois is that combined, the votes would have put one of them over the top. In other words, yes, you DO have political clout. I doubt they'll make the same mistake the next time around because they now have PROOF.
I disagree. How or WHY would you seek to have no run-off for a primary? Why would you offer no choice in a primary? "One candidate on a ticket" may force voters to vote another party's candidate (not always a bad option, but a consideration to make).
The lesson is ORGANIZE. Organization does not lead to loss of control necessarily, especially if members stay informed and active. If TEA partiers do not learn from other effective grassroots movements how to mobilize and act, they will not realize their potential to change govt for the better and may well become a distraction.
This battle needs to be fought on multiple fronts. But the biggest bang for the buck will come at how we educate our youth. Abraham Lincoln said it best:
"The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow."
Tea partiers have been educating themselves, but we must get to the youth. If we neglect our children, the best the Tea Party will offer is to hold back the tide for a few more years. Educating for liberty will require sacrifice by all true patriots. Sadly, because our generation has been raised without a solid grasp of history, much of the misinformation is perpetuated even in private schools. That is why all patriots must take a serious look at HOMESCHOOLING their children beginning NOW.
Readers here need to understand that Huston is a stout apologist for the GOP. He has written elsewhere that the GOP is the ONLY hope for the Tea Party movement. He is trying to convince Tea Party participants to return to the GOP because only there can they find POWER once again.
But what Mr. Huston seems to miss is that those of us who have participated in the Tea Party movement bolted the GOP because the Republican Party bolted from its core principles. I may never vote Republican again! I am a constitutional conservative, and I will never again hold my nose and vote for the sake of power while compromising my principles! Never again! My vote is NOT for sale! And there are millions more like me. We will NOT compromise our principles ever again. Just look where that got us!
Mr Huston et al, why don't YOU join US, instead of always demanding that WE compromise and join YOU? Conservatives are the overwhelming majority in this country, and yet party hacks are always telling US to compromise and give THEM the power latent in our votes!
Power comes from principles — NOT vice versa!
I can't think of a better way to waste my vote than to give it to a Party that, once elected, will turn its back on those principles! They want only our votes, but not our voices or our principles. Wrong!
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." –Thomas Jefferson.
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” John Quincy Adams
There is some truth here. But let us not forget that there will be more candidates like Mark Rubio, and the effect of the still growing Tea Party movement will help Republican conservatives in many areas. It is yet early, and I believe that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg from Tea Party movement. The voice of the masses will grow louder!
ok you got a lib repub. now elect him.
I, along with a few other folks, desperately tried one year ago to point out to the Tea Party Patriots board of directors EXACTLY what this article has described. We tried to convince them that to be effective, they had to organize, locally and nationally, in a way that would allow them to endorse candidates.
We tried to describe what would happen, and now it has come to pass in the Illinois race.
The response then was a lot of ridiculous puffery, political naivete mixed with righteous indignation. We were told that to organize as a political party or PAC would be impossible, it was too late, it would become corrupt, etc. Their sanctimonious, pure mission was one of information and protest.
Well, folks, the chickens have come home to roost. You got the organization you wanted, and now you can't even endorse a candidate publicly. There is no true leadership or support for choosing or supporting ONE candidate, only "information" about every candidate.
As a PAC, the Tea Party could be the biggest force in politics. As it is, it is becoming irrelevant to the electoral primary process. Welcome to the political sidelines.
There is not much time. In my area, one candidate in a nearby district is ALREADY figuring out how many votes he needs and is mobilizing a volunteer force to make calls and knock on doors. He has a strategy. I have not heard much from candidates in my own district.
November will be here FAST. These races are important because REDISTRICTING WILL TAKE PLACE THIS YEAR!
No more laws, thanks. We are drowning in them!!!!
For those who don't believe that a 3rd Party can ever flourish and reach power, I would remind you that history proves otherwise. The Republican Party's first presidential candidate was none other than Abraham Lincoln. The Republican Party was a 3rd party at the time!
If Tea Party participants refuse to compromise their principles once again, eventually, the GOP will wake up and smell the bacon. The worst thing we could possibly do is to return to the same corrupt, partisan, best-of-two-evils formula. That formula only spells more of the same.
America doesn't need a change of SPEED. It needs a change of DIRECTION!
Maybe you're right. But still, if the Tea Party movement makes inroads everywhere in the country (read: Massachusetts) while losing in Illinois (due only to corruption), it will at least shine a spotlight on how very corrupt Illinois is on a national platform. Little victories.
You need to learn to read if that is what you think. I am not a "stout apologist for the GOP." Get a clue, pal.
I note that my Greek ancestors came up with both democracy and the phalanx.
If you want to keep the first, you'd better adopt the other to defend it.
As Franklin said, "We must hang together. Otherwise we shall surely hang separately."
Who said throw the baby out with the bath water??? Not I, that's for sure.
Whoever is serious about TEA party /9-12/conservative party organization, PLEASE visit http://www.csa-1776.org and look at what they are doing. From organizing protests to getting a county board 40% pay raise rescinded, to hosting meet-the-candidate nights and mobilizing volunteer "armies" to help candidates' electioneering efforts, this group has read Alinsky's book and used the lessons to fight AGAINST Progressivism and FOR conservative values.
You can do these things too! It is extremely important to become organized and effective. Enthusiasm is not going to win races. Please see what they are doing and they will be happy to help give advice for following their model.
Exactly, The Tea Party doesn't need to concentrate so much on organizing another political party. They simply need to retake the GOP. To use an analogy, it's a lot easier to grab the wheel of a misdirected ship that's already set sail than to completly build a new ship from scratch. Nevertheless, they have to do something because without some form of unity and organization the movement will be nothing more than a rabble like they're prtrayed in the MSM. Like the progressives have proven, you don't have to fight the system, you just have to claim leadership over it.
Trying to make a political movement out of the teapartiers is like trying to make a political movement out of the anarchists. The very nature abhors leadership, and therefore will meander in unpredictable ways and is bound to spiinter off in different directions. Good luck with all of that.
Dear guest,
Yeah! What you said! I thought the author was way off in his writing. And we are doing just fine, thank you very much.
I want to stress that these 2010 races are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT because district lines will be redrawn this year. The number of seats in the legislature (local and nat'l) you have will be determined, and some seats may be taken away.
In the short term a third party might seem like more of a hindrance and therefor not worth the effort but it's because the two major parties have become so strong that a third party is needed to create balance. When there are only two parties the one with the advantage will generally win. When there are three parties the one with the advantage is generally still outmatched when facing two opponents.
Establishing a third party certainly must look like a daunting task for so many people to be giving up before even trying. As I see it the only thing that will offer any semblance of balance to this battle is a third party that the other two will also have to watch. With a larger portion of their time spent watching more than one opponent the blows they land will be far less destructive. Without a doubt growing a third party where it can pose a threat to any one of the other two parties will take considerable effort but it seems to me as long as the other two are busy fighting there is time enough to find our footing and to prepare for when we can jump full force into the fray.
My point is that just because establishing a third party seems so challenging doesn't mean it wouldn't be worth it. Any one who says a two party system is good enough is deluding themselves. One might argue our nation is a union of opposites but if there is no balance then the union spins out of control until the whole thing is shattered.
Good article…and points. I wondered why the candidate list seemed so long. Good lesson though for future races.
Yes…but not while the American people have been as awake and concerned about the direction of the country. I think that will change things. Not overnight, of course. Illinois has a large momentum of corruption behind it and it will take time and effort to get that momentum moving in the opposite direction.
I understand that the Tea Party movement is very big in Ilinois, is that right? God bless if it is.
I agree. There is a lot of disorganization throughout the local, state and national groups. The desire for independency from established parties (understandable) and the resistance to being shepherded by any political pundit or insider creates a sort of paranoia (also understandable) that adds a hurdle to being united in any top-down sort of way.
The very essence of the Tea Party movement is cititzen involvement, make that reinvolvement, to effect response from unresponsive and irresponsible leadership. To many of us "leadership" carries with it a footnote – "fool me once".
This makes leadership of leadership wary people challenging.
Hopefully this hinderance to coordination will be improved upon.
I totally agree
Also:
Everyone thinks that Tea Partiers are those who have joined some Tea Party Group or gone to a Town Hall. I see the 'underestimaton' of the 'revolt' going on! It is probably tens of millions of people who will vote for the most conservative 'limited government' candidate they can, this fall. THEY WILL VOTE If we try to make the 'movementt' a burreaucracy it will probably 'loose' more people than it gains.
I went to a recent County Republican meeting to see if I could offer to run in GA 4. I was delighted to meet Liz Carter who beat me to it! She is not a RINO and I'll do everything I can for her campaign! Hopefully the 'Tea Party movement" groundswell will get her elected! No conservative has run for a while. Time to replace Hank Johnson
http://www.lizcarterforcongress.com/
JUST maybe the people that attended tea party rallies are; working middle class, tax paying, mostly white,suppressed by high taxation because of welfare RATS, over indulged politicians, and JUST maybe they are going to march for their RIGHTS. YOU know like the acorn blacks do and the funny people in san franny, and the ILLEGAL aliens in ca. holy shit if white people want a piece of the pie (that they earned) its some kind of wrong doing.JUSY maybe the tea party is made up of rebs .dems. and pissed off AMERICAS….
yep, great points, I would support a Tea party confederacy.
Teapartiers are basically WHITE TRASH zombies, uneducated fools who are easily coerced into believing anything by fox, limbaugh, beck, hanity, o'reilly and all of the rest of the biggotted blow hards who are out there. Very similar to what one saw if looking back at history in NAZI Germany.
Faced with the evidence of defeat, there are those who get indignant and those who take note, those who denounce and those who get organized. We should be among those who get organized.
Walsh and Hultgren were local elections, yes. They had local support and didn't need support from across the state to get elected. The Tea Party groups were quite effective for Walsh, especially.
Mr. Huston;
While you're correct in your assertion that Tea Party mentality is limited in the political scene it doesn't mean the movement can't effect favorable outcomes on the national stage. The Tea Party movement represents common sense, individualism and wholesome values and they're are most effective when people exercise their rights to liberty everyday in the face of the creeping fascism prevalent in our society today. One man standing up to an oppressor can alter the outcome. Millions of people doing it can change the country. All it takes is undertanding, strength and courage.
well put, Old Vet, well put.
Yes, the risk here can be summed up in two words: Ross Perot. Ross managed to siphon off 19% of the vote – mostly from George Bush – and got Bill Clinton elected president in 1992. I don't think it was because we were getting "two for the price of one."
Warner I think you're a partisan, c'mon out nad just be straight about it. I dislike you acting like Rachael Madcow. You've had one anti Tea Party holier than thou piece after another. On a personal note I don't care if those guys are organized or not. No party wins every race and winning every race was never their charge, stirring the pot was what I thought they were about. I gave money in the Hoffman case for example and was just as pleased to gut Scozzafava as to win a seat. MA was another example. Ultimately the Tea Party is doing exactly what I want and that is to generally force a purge of the GOP. There will be the occassional RINO that crawls under the fence but there's a few roaches in every rotting log…
bingo. nail on the head. as glamorous as the Founding Fathers sound, why reinvent the wheel.
the party already exists. why destroy it?
on the other hand, if the existing establishment of the GOP doesn't wake up, confess their sins publicly, they should be taken down to the river and thrown in with the "progressives."
between the deficit and the demographic – and most likely unstoppable – advance of islam in europe and the united states, the long term trends are frightening for the good old USA. either we get it together now and get ready or we will go quietly in the night.
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But that was the whole point of this article, Tea party members in other areas got out the vote for their guy as well. This story did not snipe at the St. Louis Tea party for not getting out the vote, but for NOT communicating with other groups, and for not having a plan. Tea party members have the right ideas…LIMIT government, but without organization we will only hand more races to the progressives.
thanks for the reply. the inference was toward the concept that a lack of organization cost the movement the most conservative candidate to be elected in this particular primary. in rereading what i wrote, i should have elaborated on my idea.
this movement will, i believe, continue to grow in numbers, scope and influence. a natural part of that process will be the replacement of the 'good ole boys' that lined up behind kirk, and by proxy will become that organization that may believe the movement needs. to be honest, i'm not really sure where i stand on the idea of organizing nationally. i do know that will be a very 'high quality' problem to have to contend with at some point. look at the quality problem of having THREE conservative candidates vying for a senate seat in IL.
to sum up: i don't believe that organization is necessary to elect a state level candidate – yet. i may be proven wrong, but it will definitely be interesting to watch and participate in this movement.
I hope Glen keeps bashing Republicans and Democrats. One party get in this time, the other next time, and on and on. Nothing much changes. We have got to get the cancer out of the conservative party or there will be no change. People are just too afraid to let nature takes its course.
Junk man, you are wrong. The point is better organization would have made a difference, and the Republican candidates still have a great chance to win in Nov. The sad result is we won't be getting a true conservative, but rather a mederate, which is still better than a Socialist.
Should Tea Parties unite behind one person? The answer is, sometimes. The Tea Parties will find a way to overcome the abundance of candidates and find one they can support. Remember the Tea Party movement is still in it's infancy and will become better with time. I look at the Fla Senate race and see the Tea Parties helping Marc Rubio gain the momentum he needs to win. So in some cases the Tea Party will be successful and sometimes it will not. The times that they are not successful will be greatly noted by the MSM as evidence of their weakness and out destruction. However, we know that we are not going away any time soon. And in their quiet moments they know it too.So I don't think that we have to get too worked up about this candidate coming out on top here. We need to focus on trying to make sure that the ones that represent our values are picked in the rest of the races. We may not be able to win them all but we have to try for the good of the Country.
What are you a racist against whites? Blanket statements are made by intelligent people. You personally know every Teapartier? Sounds as if you are the one who has been brainwashed, spewing the same old regurgitated rhetoric by the left. Please tell us what an intelligent person would look like. Perhaps one who would like the State to take care of them cradle to grave? Or, how about those who abhor the 2nd Amendment, and get slaughtered by the State, such as happened in Nazi Germany. Or, perhaps those who have embraced Global Warming as their religion. You really need to read up on Nazi Germany and that history. Hitler nationalized everything. There was no right to bear arms. No right to organize. Get a clue.
Woo hoo! Good post.
There is always a plan to hijack what the PEOPLE are trying to do to make this country and their lives better. The PTB don't think we have enough sense to figure out anything for ourselves. Resist the Republican elite who want to take over the Tea Party movement for their own ends.
IL elected a conservative US Senator, Peter Fitzgerald, prior to Obama. It was a squeaker and the Dem incumbent was mired in corruption allegations, but it can be done.
Because Fitzgerald had principles and wasn't a lackey of the IL GOP, they back-stabbed and refused to support him. He chose not to run for reelection because of this.
Enter Barack Obama.
I said that a bit tongue in cheek. I don't want the Tea Party movement hijacked by anyone. I do respect and trust Ron and Rand Paul, though.
Hopefully people start waking up in all 50.
This country is you and me, not this senatorial committee or that congressional caucus.
Good luck to you and may you're wanting to be involved become contagious in your part of the country.
The GOP is done, folks. I don't know why tea partiers even bother trying to find someone within that bunch of hacks that's worth a vote. Want to send a message? Imagine all those votes that were divided up between the three "non-establishment" candidates going to one person in a completely different party, like the Constitution Party or the Libertarian Party.
The GOP will NEVER change at all unless it gets sent a serious message that its preferred candidates suck. Splitting your vote between a whole bunch of Republicans makes the party think it's got a lot of great candidates who any conservative would love to support.
What's most sad is that, despite all the bitching about how the party is so messed up, tea partiers will bite the bullet and go into the voting booth in November and cast yet another wasted vote for a phony Republican. Then they'll go home, blathering a bunch of garbage about "the lesser of two evils," and wondering why things never change.
Sorry Warner – you're wrong on this one.
We've tried it all the other ways and it's a downhill slope.
If we organize they demonize. WE ARE THE PEOPLE. If we leave it unorganized then we have much better chance of winnning. Libs have to demonize the American people that way and we are already seeing how that can be a disaster for them.
If there is no head – you can't kill it.
DTOM!
http://RightWingStuff.com
Will every IL resident go to the League of Women Voters' website and learn about signing a petition for a ballot initiative regarding changing the way redistricting is done.
Right now, it is in the hands of the politicians, not the people. The process is totally rigged against the people and has everything to do with both parties drawing lines to maintain power.
After the census, they will redraw their lines. We're running out of time to get this on the ballot. Take action!.
If there are multiple candidates on the primary ticket, they split the vote and prevent any of them to be on the ticket. i don't know what the process should be to see who is the best candidate but splitting the vote is detrimental.
No, what they need is muddled convoluting pseudo-intellectual mutts like yourself bearing the torch of freedoms sweet harmonious light. We all salute you Grand Pooh-bah!
I think we have to do more then talk…Those that are able
to, should start putting their money where their mouth is..
Those that can't and are housebound, can volunteer to
make calls, address brochures etc….Just talking won't
do anything….People need to get more involved, even if
it's to send a few dollars….The money has more voice then
we do….It's proven by the election of Obumble!!
I want to add, in places like Chicago, we can't expect to
have the purest of the pure candidate….It would be nice
to eventually get there, but it won't happen over night…
They are united under the slogan Taxed Enough Already. TEA. Get it?
I agree, Learning is good, if the folks feel need to organize better they will do it. But forcing them into structure will be artificial. Let the free people decide free how they will act in the future. I understand that the politicians can't wait to show up at Tea Party fundraisers, but in my opinion it is best for the country to let the tea party people figure it out by themselves. It is a "free market" for ideas against molding the movement into some "proven" type of organization.
You, sir, are an idiot. (And I use "sir" advisedly)
Oh, and I was talking to "Oh Reilly" not Penny Lane.
SPQR, you have no idea what you are talking about. But thanks for showing your ignorance. Fact is, I wrote a post telling one and all how I LEFT the Ill. GOP way back in 2006! Next time learn a little bit of who you are talking about before going off half informed.
Ellie; I believe a Tea Party Conservative is different than a Republican on the issue of a right to choose. Scott Brown is a Tea Party Republican – blending the two. We need to have a huge Tea Party umbrella, uniting with the understanding that right-to-life is a freedom of religion where we agree to disagree. There is no misunderstanding or misinterpretation when it comes to low taxes and small government as narrowly defined by the Founding Fathers. This is what is wrong with the argument within the Republican Party and fiscally conservative Democrats – the fiscally conservative Democrats are a natural move to the Tea Party umbrella. That is the beauty of this Constitutional Tea Party movement, and how we can take back this Republic in the Second American Revolution. It will be great to sit down with our grandchildren to tell them “I was on the Right when Right wasn’t cool”. “I was in D.C. with Glenn Beck on 9-28-2010 at the National Mall with 2 million fellow Americans to come together in the refounding of the Republic – it was glorious, the MSM could not ignore us anymore”.
Isn't Beck the one?
Ron Paul 2012
You got the point exactly wrong. Yes we are pissed at what happened in the last administration but we are SCARED of this one. Fear is a great motivator. But we don't want to become what we fear.
Really now? So you're telling me that to be a tea-party activist one must favor the continued existence of abortion? You need to be loud and clear about that one, because this is the first I've heard of it.
The writer of this article is someone who just doesn't "get" tea parties, which is fine, but please don't presume to pee on me and tell me that it's raining. The same kind of psychotic mothering is what the tea party movement is against. They're doing things differently than before. They're not here to carry on the status quo. If you can't figure that out, what the heck business do you have writing articles that presume to know about that? Really, sir, you are an incredible fool, and one who runs around trying to stop people from doing things if they're not doing them in the same ruts that got us to where we are.
How about a meet-the-candidates series of meetings? A pretty good consensus could come of those.
Never limit choice, though. That is the lazy way to "consensus" and is detrimental.
Never let PERFECTION get in the way of IMPROVEMENT.
So you’re a staunch Right To Lifer, no Freedom Of Choice as proscribed by the Constitution, and the ground that Scott Brown stands on. Stay out of my bedroom, stay off my property, keep your hands off my right to freedom of choice, and keep your religion out of my uterus — another Progressive wanting to steel our freedom.
Go back to the dark ages!
Absolutely! Getting personally involved is of paramount importance. If you can do nothing else, send a contribution, but more is needed. Do whatever you can to help your candidate, or help your party, or yor country. DO something.
Oh wimpy you are scare of your own shadow. The wrecking crew republicans you want to return to to finish wrecking the economy of the country.
can smell a skunk a far away and you are one.
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