**Reasons why the "Tea Party" is not a Movement**

Bullet1987

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Fri Mar-26-10 08:45 AM
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American history is filled with social movements. I'd even go so far as to say you can't have a true Democracy without them. Unless everyone is always treated equal and there aren't double standards...but what's the chances of that every happening? America was started by a social movement known as the American Revolution. Then you had the Abolitionist movement, which changed its identity several times, as well as changed in leadership. Then you had the Women's suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th century that resulted in the 19th amendment which was passed in 1920. That was followed by the first social movement of the modern era, the first to be televised, and probably the most coordinated and largest...the Civil Rights Movement. You've had smaller movements and less recognized movements as well such as the Black Power movement (Black Panthers), and you could even call the Teamsters led by Jimmy Hoffa as part of a movement by unions.

There is something all of these movements have in common, that the current Tea Party "movement" doesn't share. Firstly, they were all led by public organizations. The abolitionists early on had the American Colonization Society, and later when that idea lost popularity, Black churches began organizing locally as organizations. Even women were involved in some of these groups. The American Anti-Slavery Society (led by William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass came a little later). The Civil Rights Movement had the SCLC led by Martin Luther King, and the SNCC which was mainly for college students. What public organization is leading the Tea Party, and who are their leaders...their public figures? As of right now, all I see with the Tea Party are a bunch of loud mouths that know how to make incendiary signs and shout in people's faces...that shows a complete LACK of organization. That's what you call a mob, and a mob can't be a movement. A movement, historically-speaking, is smart and led by well-educated people. Even the Black Panthers were civil to a certain extent. They weren't threatening politicians with death threats (probably smart for them, even though they were still taken down by the FBI). Mobs are reactionary and often angry, they're usually rallied by a trouble-maker of some sort (see Glenn Beck and other Right-Wingers).

Secondly, what are the goals of the Tea Party? They don't seem to have any. Is there a national Tea Party website listing them? If so, I'd like to see it. What exactly do they want? Outside of shouting "guberment takeover!" "SOCIALISM!" "Small guberment!" Those aren't goals. Every REAL social movement has had a detailed list of the things they want to see changed.

Thirdly, it HAS to be purely SOCIAL! This is the most important factor, and the most damning of the Tea Party. Every social movement in American history were led by the people. Often putting their lives on the line to get what they wanted. If abolitionists went to the wrong place in America, they would have been killed. Some Civil Rights activists were killed, the most important being MLK himself. Malcolm X was assasinated. During the Suffrage movement, women faced all kinds of threats and attacks from the majority that wanted to keep them oppressed. Real movements have REAL danger. This last part of also a major reason why I don't consider the anti-war movement to be all that serious either. They also don't seem to be that active. If they were doing everything right, trust me, anti-war activists would be in a ton of danger. There is an aspect of the Tea Party that clearly seems corporate-backed...damning its legitimacy IMHO. Articles have been written on this, but I can't find them. I also think Rachel Maddow has spoken on the corporate-sponsored Tea Partiers. FOX News has been a major player in its development...and the rest of the corporate media has followed. For the simple fact that the Tea Party gets so much publicity should be a red flag. Anti-war rallies don't get coverage. Immigration rallies get covered for maybe one day and that's it, and it's not even covered on every channel. The Tea Party is smaller and more fringe than either of the previously mentioned, but everyday we see CNN and MSNBC talking heads yapping about the Tea Party "movement."

It's not a movement folks, so stop calling it such. It's a collection of angry mobs that are told to meet someplace by someone. They lack a basic public image and organization, they lack a set of layed out goals or plans, and they lack the thoughtful passion and dedication seen in every other social movement no matter how big or small in American history. Stated plainly, they're faker than pleather.