In last year's midterm elections, the Tea Party flexed its political muscles and changed the face of the U.S. House of Representatives and almost pulled off a stunning upset in the Senate to boot. Now that the 112th Congress has been seated, people are beginning to believe the work of the Tea Partiers is over and they will now go quietly away. Both President Obama and Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) have made statements suggesting the Tea Party is passé. For example, Reid was recently quoted as saying, "The tea party was born because of the economy... The tea party will disappear as soon as the economy gets better. And the economy's getting better all the time."Reid's statement is either incredibly naive or an attempt to mislead the public. I suspect the latter. True, economics had a role to play in the last election, but make no mistake, the Tea Party was created because people feared the basic tenets of this country, such as the U.S. Constitution, were being subjugated by socialist doctrine. The rhetoric may have quieted down a bit since the November elections, but the Tea Party remains steadfast to return the country to its core values. In fact, it sees it as its patriotic duty to do so, and this scares the Hell out of liberals who would rather see them disappear as opposed to running against them in 2012.
Over the next two years, as we head into the next presidential election, look for the liberals to apply a full court press against the Tea Party in order to discredit them. Undoubtedly, the Tea Party will be blamed for anything and everything that may go wrong in the country. Case in point, less than 24 hours after the tragic shootings in Tucson, Arizona, and before the police had a chance to ascertain the cause of the shootings, aspersions were being cast at the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Fox News for causing the accident, thereby trying to vilify them to the public. Fortunately, this didn't fool anyone. It would probably have been laughable if it wasn't so desperately pathetic. This is certainly not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last.
Although the Tea Party is more of a grass roots type of movement, look for a more formal institution to emerge which will represent the face of the party and used to debunk the false accusations of liberals and the media. Ironically, the more the left attacks the Tea Party, the greater the party's influence will grow.
So, is the Tea Party losing momentum? It may be quietly savoring the last election, but the Tea Party realizes their work is far from over. As in the last election, the media and the left will continue to probe their weaknesses thereby forcing them to become more disciplined, organized, and self-policing. Contrary to what Senator Reid says, even if the economy improves, the Tea Party still has a lot of work ahead of it. In all likelihood, the Tea Party will be with us for quite a long time; well beyond 2012. One thing is for certain, our political theater over the next two years will be even more vibrant than last November.
Those who believe the Tea Party is fading away are the same people who didn't understand the movement in the first place.
Keep the Faith!
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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.comLike the article? TELL A FRIEND.
Tune into Tim's THE BRYCE IS RIGHT! podcast Mondays-Fridays, 11:30am (Eastern).Copyright © 2011 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
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