[su_heading size=”15″]With faith in the Republican party shaken, the Tea party risks alienating the GOP further from voters [/su_heading]
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Once upon a time, I was having a fiery political debate with a close friend. He is a staunch military Republican. I am the rare Wyoming Democrat. As the discussion became more heated, he hurled one final retort at me: “You liberal progressives are all alike!”
This incident occurred several months ago, and yet I still reflect on it frequently. Why is the term “liberal” an insult? For that matter, why is “progressive”? Progressive thinkers gave women the right to vote. We marched during Civil Rights movement and stood up for equality. Reaching further back, progressives rallied against the British monarchy, giving birth to the idea of a republic, a country governed by the people and for the people. Progressive-thinking citizens have ushered in the best and most effective change for centuries, so why would I not want to be on the progressive side of history?
As issues of government continue to polarize our country, it has become practically a sin to attempt to see another point of view than your own. Politicians who dare reach across partisan lines to work together are considered traitors to their party, and compromise is seen as weakness. Instead of working together, we are pulling farther apart. No movement has demonstrated this so effectively and destructively than the Tea Party.
Now, I don’t pretend to be a history buff, nor do I have much political science savvy. There are smarter people than I who understand government in a way I never could, and I won’t argue otherwise. Having said that, I cannot help but notice that the Tea Party’s far-right agenda is pushing more conservative Republicans toward the middle, and if they are not careful, possibly into deep blue territory.
After the infamous government shutdown last year, Republicans are struggling with how to balance this new radical appendage that grew from the 2008 Presidential elections. According to an article written by Jeremy W. Peters and Jonathan Martin in the New York Times, “Leaders of the Republican establishment, alarmed by the emergence of far-right and often unpredictable Tea Party candidates, are pushing their party to rethink how it chooses nominees and advocating changes they say would result in the selection of less extreme contenders.”
Right-wing pundits claim the Tea Party is not interested in social issues, such as immigration or marriage equality. However, it cannot be a coincidence that Tea Party Nation founder and organizer of the 2010 National Tea Party Convention Judson Phillips had this to say in a piece for the Washington Times: “Advocates have made a full court press to impose gay marriage on America. Proponents of gay marriage have been masterful in their presentation. To the artsy, left wing types, they have marketed gay marriage as the right to marry anyone you love. To the libertarians, they have marketed it as getting the government out of the marriage business. To the uninformed, ignorant or those who watch Sister Wives, it has been pitched as tolerance. The truth is that it is none of those things. It is an all out assault on liberty.”
With the support of marriage equality gaining momentum across the country, Republicans must know they are once again on the wrong side of history. The GOP is losing support in all demographics – younger voters, Latinos, the LGBT community and the women’s vote – mostly because voters feel the party is antiquated and archaic. With the Tea Party’s ultra-conservatism weighing it down, that feeling will only grow.
As a Wyoming native, my liberalism has several times left me feeling out in the cold. I don’t apologize for my politics, and I try my best not to judge others too harshly for theirs. I believe it’s important to have differing parties. It’s important to have opposing views and competition. All of this is healthy for a continuing debate about the future of our country. The world of politics is not – and never will be – black and white. It is, instead, several shades of grey, meaning there is rarely one clear answer.
However, I also believe the Tea Party is muddling the search for solutions – and stifling any progress made as a country – by refusing to play ball with the other kids. They call themselves patriots, but I call them bullies (which, unlike “progressive,” is an actual insult).
Barack Obama wasn’t elected into two terms because the majority of the United States disagreed with his politics – quite the opposite in fact. Republicans need to figure out a way to empathize with a new generation of voters, and the best way to do that will be to shake off these Teabaggers and get back to the basics of understanding their constituents.
