What exactly is the Tea Party?

More specifically, what is the difference between them and the republican party?

 

The tea party is more paleo-conservative. The Republican mainstream is becoming more neo-con. This means they are morphing more and more rightist social views with leftist economic views.

Now it is being highjacked by palin lover, like the guy below me just said

 

Nothing. It started off as a very small movement with Libertarian backing, then Republicans heard what was happening, gave the heads of local tea party chapters huge sums of money and used it as a vessel to advocate what was key to their interests at the time (Bircher-inspired conspiracy theories to add hostility to the political climate, utilizing twisted logic to associate the intentions of the founding fathers with religious fundamentalism and Grover Norquist BS), and libertarian voices like Ron Paul and the more right-leaning Lew Rockwell have stopped associating with it, with the former publicly condemning the movement as being 'hijacked by neo-conservatives.'

 

It's a 24/7 non-stop party that never ends.

Actually, it's a movement to restore the country to a Constitutional status. The Republicans, like the Democrats, want to maintain the Federal status quo.

 

In a nut shell, the difference is that we don't compromise, just like the left, we are hard
headed. We believe in the Constitution, we will not allow the left to dictate the terms.

Republicans gave in to many times, to often, and lost their conservative roots.
Republicans played the nice guy to many times, while the left got their way, without
the left ever compromising.

The fun that the left had for decades is over, this is why they hate us, they know that
we mean business, and that their time is short. And we mean to take over the republican
party and force conservative values back into the government.


...

 

if you ever been to any meetings or rallies you would see that it is really made of independents ,democrats who are not happy with their party and republicans that are unhappy too..the media distorts the truth on the real tea party..

 

You mean, like most Americans want to maintain the Federal Status Quo?

Lets face facts. The politicians are only responding to our poll numbers every week. If the American people REALLY wanted to do something about medicare, social security and the rest, it would be done. If Americans really wanted to raise their taxes(all of us will need to have our taxes raised, not just the rich) it would be done.

We don't. So it won't.

 

In context with the current debt ceiling talks, there's one problem...the Democrats haven't even proposed an official tax increase in the talks, they've merely proposed cutting back some loopholes in order to essentially repatriate a few hundred billion dollars worth of lost revenue.

 

...by trying to criminalize miscarriages, abolish gay rights, and other stalwarts of small government. Sheesh Joe.

 

Which, of course, is Communism, and can't be done.

 

Actually... this is a really good topic for a thread... thanks for posting it. Just like any political movement that is starting, it is not hard defined at the moment, but that is just the way it seems to me right now. However, there are certain beliefs that do seem to be central to it.

The first would seem to be holding the idea of smallest govt possible is the ideal. I do not think any of the tea party people would go so far to call themselves an anarchist (no govt at all), but just the central idea that the least govt you can get away with it probably best. They are certainly against the idea of very large governments, and the multitude of social programs that are funded with tax payer dollars.

The other tenant I have noticed is the idea of equal taxes. I think most tea party people would be in favor of a flat tax. A system in which EVERYONE rich and poor pays an equal percentage of taxes. Currently almost half of all americans pay NO income taxes at all. At the same time, I think most tea party people would also be in favor of closing ALL tax shelters, loopholes, etc, for the rich. As in EVERYONE pays say... 22% of income.... and that is it....

 

Most Americans are too apathetic to vote.

Check Congressional approval ratings if you want to see how people feel about the status quo.

Your false argument ignores the fact that most people don't know or care what the government does weekly.

An apathetic attitude toward Statism is surrender-ism. Not for me, thanks.

 

Not everyone in the tea-party movement wants that.

Libertarians don't want what you describe and for once they have a political voice.

 

This is so wrong.
so,so wrong
(criminalize miscarriages?wtf?)

Tea Party Patriots is a coalition of ordinary American citizens from all political affiliations that believe in free-market values who are concerned about the direction of this country’s fiscal policy.

WHY? – The American people are tired of working hard for their families only to see politicians with the same failed answers of more spending, more government, and more debt for future generations. The Tea Party Patriots will not tolerate it any longer. The politicians must be told that they can work with us, or find new jobs.

WHAT? – Tea Party Patriots is a movement made up of millions of individual Patriots aimed at restoring limited government and basic free-market principles our country was built on.

“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams

 

The Contract from America is probably the best definition of the Tea Party's agenda:

http://www.thecontract.org/the-contract-from-america/

And here's the official Republican Party platform:

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=78545#axzz1R7qjHLhQ

Here are the main differences as far as I can tell:
1. The Tea Party is concerned almost exclusively with economic issues; the Republican Party juggles economics with social issues and questions of foreign policy.
2. The Tea Party is originalist, whereas the Republican Party is more concerned with its goals than with how those goals are constitutionally achieved.
3. The Tea Party is farther right than the Republican Party and is overwhelmingly unwilling to compromise.

 

The Tea Party are not libertarian, as much as they might like to describes themselves as libertarians.

 

I'm not making it up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/antiabortion-georgia-lawm_n_827340.html

There are other examples. To claim that the Tea Party is just about economics is just not true. In general, they are profoundly socially conservative.

 

The Tea-Party is a massively big tent of people from several different political ideologies.

I was simply saying that libertarians had a voice in the party. Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll twice in a row.

 

Hate to break it to you, but the tea party movement stopped being libertarian a long time ago (even Ron Paul agrees with me on this point, if you look at recent statements.)

 

he said HAD. It doesn't anymore.

 

I can only speak from observation. They seem to be Conservatives who are frustrated with the GOP because they don't think it's Conservative enough for their tastes.
As far as I can tell, they also believe that the U.S. Constitution is not being adhered to, in ways that they interpret it should be. I hear a great deal about "X" being "UnConstitutional"! from the Tea Party.
They often discount Amendments or Federal Laws or Spending, saying they were "wrong" but then tout other Amendments or Federal Laws or Spending, when those coincide with their beliefs. I get the impression that they believe their particular interpretations of the Constitution, Amendments, Federal Laws, and Where & How our money should be spent, are superior to all others, and therefore, they should be able to pick and choose what "counts" and what doesn't.
Emotionally, they seem to be very frustrated with our government. I don't think anyone can blame them for that.

 

Hopefully, there will be very little difference in the future. Consider it disgruntled Republicans' way of telling the GOP we're not happy with them, either. You know what they say, "A word to the wise is sufficient."

We'll see if they listen.

 

Never said it was. I said libertarians, like a lot of groups, have a voice in it. Besides it's not singular, it's several different groups called "tea-parties."

 

from my observations at the rallies that i have attended here in california is it is just as many dissatisfied democrats as republicans ..

 

The tea-party is the republican party.

It is one in the same.

On the surface the tea-party has a superficial appeal to it, it claims to be about taxes (hence "Taxed Enough Already" and it's naming after a historical tax revolt).

But fundamentally, it's not about taxes. Most interior polling done of tea-baggers indicate that a little less than 10% actually know what's going on with the present state of taxes in the country. A whopping 90% incorrectly think taxes have gone up or stayed the same under Obama. Nothing more ironic about people joining a group that named itself after a historical tax revolt and they turn out to be horrifically ignorant about taxes.

The tea-party is vehemently opposed to gay marriage, abortion, and firmly stands with the GOP on virtually every social issue. The tea-party, like the GOP, votes and supports republican candidates. It IS the republican party attempting to rebrand itself with a more "hip", and is heavily bankrolled by corporate interests and the Koch brothers.