THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT

The Tea Party movement and its Impact

The Tea Party movement and its Impact

Introduction

The Tea Party movement is a broad American political movement launched in 2009 through a series of protests against government spending and taxation. It has enjoyed great success and considerable media attention in its relatively short existence. Several self-identified Tea Party political candidates defeated longtime Republican candidates in Congressional primaries across the country in 2010. The movement utilizes elements and images from the American Revolutionary period, such as an early flag design bearing the motto "Don't Tread on Me," as an expression of its efforts to reform the federal government according to the ideals of the nation's founders. Tea Party supporters generally favor lower taxes, limited government, and reduced federal spending.

Discussion

The Tea Party movement, a loosely organized coalition of grassroots citizens' political groups, is named after the 1773 Boston Tea Party. The original Boston Tea Party was a political protest by early American colonists against Britain over that country's imposition of taxes on American settlers without giving them representation in the British Parliament. Today's Tea Party movement, however, is a protest against the US government, based mostly on fears that the federal government has grown too powerful and is fiscally irresponsible.[1]

The Boston Tea Party and Fiscal Conservatism

The Tea Party movement takes its name from the Boston Tea Party, an event many recognize as an important precursor to the American Revolution. In 1773, the region that would become the United States consisted of thirteen colonies under British rule. Even though the colonies were subject to control by the British parliament, the colonies were not represented in parliament by their own lawmakers. Instead, colonial assemblies were created to enforce the decisions of the British parliament. [2]

By law, all tea entering the American colonies had to be imported from England. In 1767, the British government began levying a tax on all tea imported into the colonies, meaning colonial distributors were forced to pay money directly to the British government if they wanted to sell tea. This led to protests from colonists, who argued that they could not be taxed by the British government if they were not represented in the British parliament. The popular protest cry was "no taxation without representation." The tax on tea also resulted in poor sales, and surplus tea piled up in American harbors.

Some protests were successful in turning away British cargo ships filled with tea. In November and December 1773, three ships filled with tea entered Boston Harbor in the colony of Massachusetts. Protestors prevented the ships from unloading their tea, but the governor of Massachusetts—siding with the British government—would not force the ships to return to England. On 16 December 1773, a group of protestors boarded the ships and dumped their tea cargo into the Boston Harbor. This event was later dubbed the Boston Tea Party. [3]

In the centuries since the Boston Tea Party, many American politicians and activists have used the event as a point of reference for their ...