Your Lefts and Rights: T.E.A. PARTY

Many of you may have heard of the Taxed-Enough-Already (TEA) Party movements going on across the country since last year around this time, but many wonder, including myself, what the significance of this movement is. As with everything involving politics, you get very different impressions depending on what news station you watch. If you watched Fox News, you could realistically make the conclusion that the White House could be overrun at any moment by the TEA Party and if you call MSNBC your news home, you may not even be aware of the TEA Party's existence. As always, the truth is in the middle. 

Because of these varying reports and the media's apparent inability to present something without bias, it has been tough for even political experts to gauge the effectiveness and future impact the TEA Party may have. What we do know about them is that they are conservative, mostly Caucasian males, want limited government, low taxes and have no official leader. They have also been picking up speed and now claim to have grown to nearly 15 million people from all over the country and what they really cherish is the claim that it was and continues to be a grassroots movement.

The left, especially the liberals up for reelection this term, are sitting very uneasily in their seats because of the unknown impact the TEA Party will have on their jobs. Of course they are hoping that the movement is relatively small and consist of people that wouldn't have voted for them anyway. They disagree with the conservatives values the TEA Party asserts and will not be drastically changing their stance on issues in the hopes of receiving their votes. Because politicians are more interested in getting reelected, you can bet that liberals will modify their view points if the TEA Party has a bigger impact than anticipated.

Truly conservative candidates are drooling at the thought of capitalizing on this movement and hope its reach and numbers have yet to be realized. Ever since the movement started, and particularly since its gained national attention, conservatives have been trying to convince the TEA Party that their values match up and they should cast their votes for them.

My thoughts on the TEA Party are mixed. While I think it's great that people are exercising their first-amendment rights and standing up for what they believe in, I'm not sure that it is helping the country as it pertains to my vision or theirs.

Their vision consists of a new philosophy taking grip of Washington – a sort of conservative awakening. They would like new politicians and with it the death of progressivism. The former is ideal, the latter I'm not so sure of.

The major concern I have for the TEA Party in my vision is the way they seem to be going about things. If they are so confident in their values and stances and feel that Washington is not serving their needs, then why wouldn't they start anew and create their own party?

There are some TEA Party candidates, but none that will get elected. It could be argued rather effectively that is an indication of the Party's limited influence. But if we take the previous statement as an erroneous one, it makes no sense and seems to go against the movement's principles to allow the Republican Party to so easily absorb them. They even go as far as taking some credit for the recent election of Scott Brown. Brown is a politician and he is a part of a political machine, not a new movement like the TEA Party. He just happened to capitalize it. It would be naïve of the TEA Party to think "their" candidate was elected.

I strongly dislike how non-inclusive the TEA Party is because it adds to an already divisive landscape. Its beliefs are entrenched and staunchly conservative. These are the kinds of people that need to find their way to middle and realize that it's not always your way or the highway. Strictly conservative attitudes are never going to take control of the country and nor should they. We live in a land that lets everyone voice their opinions, but it's too bad that some people would take more time to emphasize their narrow-minded beliefs instead of taking that same time in an effort to find common ground.   

Only time will tell for sure how large of an impact the TEA Party has on our society. My guess is it will come and pass, especially if the Republicans gain back the House and the Senate. For now, they should be taken lightly and certainly not ignored. Any group that has voting rights and claims 15 million members should be taken seriously.
     
Tyler Goodwin is a sophomore Business Administration and Justice Studies major at UNH. With this column he hopes to show that it is possible to solve major issues without being divisive or following the doctrine of specific political groups.