Tea, anyone?

A guest post by Dave Dumeyer, Independent Consultant on Education and Government 

They scare the Democrats. They scare the Republicans.

“THEY” are the T.E.A. (a.k.a. Taxed Enough Already) Party. The name “party” is actually a misnomer. This movement of regular citizens, mostly white, young and old, predominantly conservative, partisan and nonpartisan, claims no national chairman, has no headquarters and operates no “farm system” to groom future TEA candidates. And yet, if we are to believe the pundits, they are the next great demographic profile group to impact elections. Like soccer moms and NASCAR dads. Their similarity to a party comes in their desire to get TEA Party-friendly candidates elected to office.

TEA Partiers scare the Democrats and Republicans politically, and for good reason. They bring a passion without fury, and they claim affiliation with that forty percent of the current American electorate who self-identify as conservatives. That is a substantial bloc in any contest.

It’s disconcerting to Democrats to see this conservative trend develop at a time their party is drifting to the left. Conversely, because TEA Partiers embrace limited government and lower taxes, they manage to upstage the Republicans, who espouse similar positions when campaigning but only occasionally appear to practice them when governing. TEA Party activists can be critical of both Republicans and Democrats for their addiction to spending other people's money.

What has brought these fiscal conservatives together has been the potentially higher taxes spawned by the national health care bill and government bailouts. At the Tea Party’s core, however, is a collection of Constitutional conservatives who seek to limit the authority of federal government to only those powers delegated by the U.S. Constitution. This Constitutional conservatism has been around since the turn of the century—the 19th century. It has gathered these new adherents as the global economy has exposed the cracks in our national economic system.

While many expect (or, perhaps, hope) that the TEA Party movement will vent its spleen in November and then disappear, this phenomenon appears to be more permanent. First, unlike third parties of the past, their issue of fiscal responsibility is unlikely to be mitigated by this one election or co-opted by another party. This is not Prohibition or immigration reform. They see this as government out of control and while it spends trillions of taxpayers' dollars.

Second, although its principles more closely align with those of Republicans, the credibility of this movement is its independence. Its advocates appear willing to take a wait-and-see approach to the actual results of those candidates the movement elects—a process that will take time. If the Scott Brown election is any indication, they will stay active and involved. To them, political victory might not translate into legislative victories.

Finally, for most Constitutional conservatives this is more than simply a political battle; it is an ideological struggle. Their proclaimed passion is for greater personal freedom. Elections won this November would be simply the first gradual step in reversing the trend of cradle-to-grave government. To accomplish real reform will take time.

Conservatives seem willing to engage in a fight for the long term. And, for once, they might just have a large enough army to accomplish the task. Do not expect this movement to go away quietly or quickly.