The Tea Party Movement
The Tea Party Movement is the American political and social right movement that was targeted on the reduction of the national debt, enormous high tax rate and the government spending. The populist movements in the USA were raised in the periods of economic, political or social hardship. The examples of such movements can be proto-populist movement Greenback in the 1860s, Huey Longs Share Our Wealth program during the Great Depression in the late 1930s, the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war movements in 1960s. The financial crisis that embraced the globe in 2008 became the reason for the appearance of one more campaign named Tea Party Movement. The beginning of the Tea Party Movement dates back to February 19, 2009. The starting point was the Obamas speech about the necessity of providing help to those people who are not able to cope with their mortgages. CNBC's Rick Santelli unleashed a rant against the Obama Administrations proposal. His appealed to the audience with a speech that included such question How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" Many people all over the country were unsatisfied with such decision of their president because it seemed unfair to pay debts for somebody else. The Tea Party Movement was supported in every state and all those people who were disagreeing with such proposal participated. The movement received its name as a reference to the historic event, when American colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor to show their protest against the high taxes imposed by King George. According to this fact, there was made a comparison of the situation that was almost the same. The name of the movement is an acronym that means Taxed Enough Already. In this way, people wanted to show that they could not accept this innovation that is absolutely unfair. Undoubtedly, The Tea Party Movement had some particular impact on a number of political events. Talking about the elections that took place in 2010, one should mention that all of the 138 applicants for Congress in 2010 midterm ballot votes were represented as Republicans. 129 of them belonged to the House of Representatives, while other 9 belonged to the Senate. Those elections are memorized with the words by Rand Paul, who is now known as Kentucky Senator of the United States, that the main aim of the Tea Party Movement was rescuing the country from enormous depts. The Tea Party Movement was targeted on the solution of social problems and revising the Obamas policy line which contradicted to such American values and principles as liberty and capitalism.
Tea Party Movement was started to remind citizens of the United States about such original American principles as liberty and equality. The Declaration of Independence states that all people have a right to be treated equally and pursue life, liberty and happiness. If people are discriminated somehow, or they believe that someone treats them unfairly, they have a right to demonstrate their protest and demand the better attitude to their rights. Tea party Movement was free for participation; every person had a right to take part in order to achieve his or her goals. Those people participating demanded the satisfying of the following tasks:
1. Eliminate Excessive Taxes.
Tomas Jefferson once said, A wise and frugal government shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned... The primary goal was to reduce the rate of taxes which was too high for people. The excessive taxes are a burden for hard-working people because it contradicts to their personal liberty and prosper which are afforded by the Constitution. The government should protect the rights of its citizens, and one of such rights is to enjoy the fruits of their own work. If the government establishes too high taxes, the citizens cannot enjoy this right and thus the excessive taxes contradict the U.S. Constitution.
2. Eliminate National Debt.
The participants of The Tea Party Movement believed that existence of the national debt is one of the major reasons of economic and political rough times in the country. The elimination of the national debt will lead to a global well-being of the country on all its levels. The national debt is a hard burden that lay down on the shoulders of the next generation. Its reduction will create the conditions for the short-term and long-term economic health of the nation.
3. Eliminate Deficit Spending.
The participants demanded to eliminate all deficit spending. They insisted that all governmental representatives maintain a fiscally responsible budget and follow the principles that will create the equilibrium in the American business. The instability of home business reflects on the economy of the country; thus, the regulation of this issue has to be on a very top in order to stabilize the situation in the USA.
4. Protect Free Markets.
The enterprise system of the USA requires competing in the open marketplace and striving for better conditions, services and goods. Free markets give a chance to develop without government interference. The freedom of actions is what the native business requires today. If the entrepreneurs receive an opportunity to act without government strict control and regulation, they could bring the economy of the country on a new level.
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5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States.
One of the reasons why the Tea Party Movement took place was the fact that the government did not abide by the Constitution of the United States. The innovations and passaging of new bills should respond to the U.S. Constitution, which is the supreme law in the country and must be abided by every government representative. The president of the United States is the guarantor of the laws observation; and the president should not adopt any kind of laws that contradict to the U.S. Constitution. The Obamas new legislation contradicts to the principles of the U.S. Constitution, and the Tea Party Movement was the essential reaction of citizens who wanted to demonstrate their opinion concerning this act.
6. Promote Civic Responsibility.
Every citizen of the United States without distinction of his position in the society has a right of voice and can introduce his or her protest about events in the country. People of the United States of America are those representatives of social and political life who are able to make a difference on the local and national levels, and they are the most effective force which controls the abidance of liberty, happiness and life protection.
7. Reduce the Overall Size of Government.
The huge bureaucracy leads to the wasteful spending that reflects on the workability of the U.S. government. The reduction of the overall size of government on national and local levels will help to low down the inefficiencies that result in country's debts.
8. Believe in the People.
The American people who receive their guaranteed freedoms, which are based on democracy and capitalist principles, can achieve great results, provide innovations and support the stability of economy of the USA.
According to these goals, one may outline that the Tea Party Movement was more than a disagreement with the new legislation provided by the President. The movement embraced the global issues that had to change the situation in the country and preserve from the repetition of the events of 2009. The participants of this movement used the U.S. Constitution as the main source of their rightness. They provided evidences that the current political direction needed to be reformed as it started losing its original principles. The American society was built on the principles of freedom, liberty and capitalism. Many generations of this country were grown up on these principles. These words are more than a composition of certain letters in the phrase; it is the style of life, the essential part of the American origin. Obama's speech caused a rush of indignation because such president's position was unacceptable; it was abusive to hear such things from the president of the United States. Some people even compared Obama with communists because it was not the American manner to open the problems in such a way. Socialism is not acceptable in the Western World, especially after the opposition between the USSR and the United States for many years. Thus, the reaction of the American citizens was logical; they do not want to accept changes that contradict to the principles of their society and their manner of life.
However, The Tea Party Movement does not contain only the protest again a new legislation of the President. The movement was targeted on the ground changes in economic and political life of the country. The participants believed that the changes on all levels are necessary and they will help to avoid the difficulties that the economy of the country faces today. The participants introduced the issues that had to be solved in order to stabilize the situation in the country. First of all, they demanded to low down the tax rate. The high tax rate is not the solution to the problem because it helps to solve the issue only today, but it does not solve it in its rout. The establishment of high taxes was necessary to cope with financial difficulties that economy faced. However, it could solve them only at the present time, and it could not help to solve them in future. In other words, the Obamas plan was oriented on the current situation settlement. Moreover, this plan predetermines that the particular social class was obliged to pay for the rough times. No doubts, people view this statement with the appeal of protest. They did not agree with this decision because they believed that there were other ways out. The American nation could not accept the fact that they had to pay somebody's debts; it was not only offending but also discriminate their rights.
In order to prove that there are other ways of problem regulations, the protestors introduced the plan which included the spheres that had to be changed and improved in order to guarantee the stability on both economic and political levels. According to their point of view, the background of the problems lies in the national debt. Thus, the government should take steps to reduce the national debt of the country because it is a burden, which moves from generation to generation. The settlement of this problem cannot be reached in the nearest future because the size of the national debt is really big; though, it does not mean that the government should give a blind eye on this issue. Even the smallest moves in the right direction could bring positive changes in the future. The todays society should think not only about their well-being today, but also about the well-being of the next generations.
Another important step was to reduce the government size. People believed that too many policy makers are not good for the country. The more politicians in the country, the more disadvantages arrive, and the biggest one is the bureaucracy. According to this fact, people believed that the government should consist only of the necessary amount of politicians; if there are too many, it will bring more disadvantages than advantages. The Tea Party Movement also indicated that there is a great demand in the national market. The economy of the country was facing difficulties because market is chained with numerous forbids and laws. If the entrepreneurs receive an opportunity to realize their potential in the maximal size, then it will positively reflect on the economy of the state.
Besides governmental and economic issues, the Tea Party Movement also outlined the great importance of a human factor. American society is based on the principles of democracy and capitalism. Thus, the development of the country should have a direction that will correspond to these main principles of the western culture. The society cannot accept principles that are foreign for it, such as socialism even if such measure would be the most appropriate in the current situation. Obama made this mistake and he probably did not realize that the society will price it as the betrayal of the Americans identity. All the reforms and legislations that are adopted by the government, should respond to the main principles of the American values and traditions. The American people can demonstrate their best qualities and move the economy of the country from the ruins only if they feel themselves as the Americans. In other words, the American people want to behave like Americans in any situations and they are ready to cope with any difficulties, but only if their principles will be obeyed. Thus, it should be said that the Tea Party Movement was oriented on the existent problems solution, but not only on the consequences of the irrational usage of the political and economic resources. The Tea Party Movement differs from the previous ones because it was targeted at the regulation of the issues that were the fundamental ones and were the true reasons of the political changes in the American life. Obama's new legislation became the starting point in the introduction of changes that were necessary for the society. Thus, it can be said that this legislation brought some advantages because it gave a possibility to analyze the conditions of political and economic life of the country.
The Tea Party Movement demonstrated that the American nation is ready to assert its rights and put efforts to improve the political situation in the country. Considering all the above-mentioned information, one can see how significant the role of the Tea Party Movement in the USA was. The target that was set by the founders of the movement was to resist unwarranted taxations and prevent the intervention committed by the government in the private area. A lot of people were extremely disappointed with the rules and rights dictated by the movement. However, analyzing it, one can see that there were also the advantages of such a policy. Tea Party Movement made people think about such issues as parity and liberty. The movement gave people the opportunity to defeat their rights in any unfair situation. Of course, as any other policy, the analyzed one had both advantages and disadvantages. The movement was often claimed to have intolerant and bigotry policy. As a result, while opponents of the Tea Party Movement talked about intolerance and racism within the policy of the movement, its participants tried to popularize the idea of equality and liberty.
