Party’s ability to organize effective election efforts, it would have been unwise for her to insult the movement. Further, she had no reason to distance herself from the Tea Party because, despite her lack of identification with the movement, she is not ideologically opposed to the Tea Party. Therefore, we should not understand the Tea Party as an ideologically defined subsection of the Republican Party and must look for another way. An Understanding of the Movement within Conservatism Organizationally, the Tea Party is a distinct movement that most often operates within the structure of the Republican Party. There are no ties between the party and the movement, official or unofficial; however, the Republican Party is the most effective vehicle for conservatism in American electoral politics, so the Tea Party has no better partner if its goal is electoral success. In an electoral system with winner-takes-all elections, third party success is limited in the and impossible in the long-term (Downs, 1957). The least distinct aspect of the Tea Part organization is the sympathetic voters, some of whom are Tea Party identifiers, some are strong conservatives that support the movement’s policy preferences, and most are Republicans. A visual representation of the Tea Party as it relates to the Republican Party within the electoral system would look like thus: Picture 5: Organizational view of the relationship between the Tea Party and the GOP within the electoral system. If we consider the organizational relationship of the two groups outside of the electoral system, there would be very little overlap. The overlap that does exist would be in the form of Tea Party leaders who also function as leaders within the Republican Party, such as Michele Bachmann. When we consider the relationship between the Republican Party and the Tea Party in terms of identity, the picture is different. Individuals will often identify themselves in multiple
Party’s ability to organize effective election efforts, it would have been unwise for her to insult the movement. Further, she had no reason to distance herself from the Tea Party because, despite her lack of identification with the movement, she is not ideologically opposed to the Tea Party. Therefore, we should not understand the Tea Party as an ideologically defined subsection of the Republican Party and must look for another way. An Understanding of the Movement within Conservatism Organizationally, the Tea Party is a distinct movement that most often operates within the structure of the Republican Party. There are no ties between the party and the movement, official or unofficial; however, the Republican Party is the most effective vehicle for conservatism in American electoral politics, so the Tea Party has no better partner if its goal is electoral success. In an electoral system with winner-takes-all elections, third party success is limited in the and impossible in the long-term (Downs, 1957). The least distinct aspect of the Tea Part organization is the sympathetic voters, some of whom are Tea Party identifiers, some are strong conservatives that support the movement’s policy preferences, and most are Republicans. A visual representation of the Tea Party as it relates to the Republican Party within the electoral system would look like thus: Picture 5: Organizational view of the relationship between the Tea Party and the GOP within the electoral system. If we consider the organizational relationship of the two groups outside of the electoral system, there would be very little overlap. The overlap that does exist would be in the form of Tea Party leaders who also function as leaders within the Republican Party, such as Michele Bachmann. When we consider the relationship between the Republican Party and the Tea Party in terms of identity, the picture is different. Individuals will often identify themselves in multiple
ONeil_Thesis.docx