For TEA Party: Now What?

Member Group : Jerry Shenk

For tea party and grassroots, the question is: Now what?

Grassroots enthusiasts are learning that attracting attention and gaining power are not the same things.

Grassroots groups, best embodied in the tea party phenomenon, are the most energized segment of the American electorate. These groups have gathered momentum, gained cohesion in certain states and regions, even nationally, and they have influenced the outcomes of notable campaigns.

Thanks largely to tea party efforts, Massachusetts has a Republican senator for the first time in decades and a Republican governor in New Jersey who is transforming what was once considered one of the most ungovernable states in America. Is the Republican Party grateful for grassroots help? Yes — and no.

Tea party patriots also have turned their backs on conventional, establishment Republicans and won primary victories for grassroots candidates in Delaware and Alaska, among other jurisdictions, only to have the party hierarchy refuse to support the nominees in the general election or to support them only reluctantly. Indeed, some defeated establishment Republican candidates mounted write-in campaigns.

The grassroots and the Republican Party have regarded one another warily since tea party rallies began, but their goals aren’t identical. Grassroots groups want responsible governance, and the Republican Party hoped to regain the majority in Congress and retake the White House in 2012. The party sees an opportunity to use the energy of the grassroots while, in a two-party system, the latter has no refuge other than the Republican Party.

The grassroots’ skepticism of both parties is practical. There is the recent memory of the profligacy of the Bush years and fear that the Republicans’ newfound respect for fiscal discipline might be only a proxy for opposing Democrats that will disappear when Republicans regain the majority as it eventually did in the years following the last Republican takeover.

If Republican regulars do not accommodate the grassroots to establish a new normal on the American political right, they might lose the Republican Party’s future. Party leadership must decide whether they will embrace the grassroots movements or risk either grassroots takeover of the Republican Party or formation of a new party. Old party bulls risk irrelevance or replacement by a new group of authentic conservatives.

Grassroots enthusiasts have learned that, if they wish to have an impact, they must turn from rallying to doing practical applications. They have targeted the Republican Party. As an attainable initial goal, many have run for and been elected to Republican county and state committees. The grassroots now represent significant percentages of some committees. To be fair, some longtime members of local Republican committees have been involved in tea party activities from the beginning, so new members are joining sympathetic colleagues.

But, the newcomers’ presence is resented by others in the party, partly because new members feel no obligation to support flawed party nominees. Grassroots members seek purity in party-supported candidates.

These differences create potentially irreconcilable conflict, so new party people must understand important scenarios:

• Despite initial successes, it will take several cycles and probably more to take over committees even if the reform mood persists. They might never do it.
• There is real work involved. They must take on the hard work necessary to support the candidates they favor and to impact elections. Though they must work locally, they must think beyond their own precincts. Parties have been doing both for years. If all the new people do is oppose what they have been criticizing as the "party machine" without embracing what it can do, they might disrupt what the party can bring to the campaigns of candidates they like.
Newly elected grassroots committee people are thrilled with the publicity they received as they moved into the party, but, now that they are in the belly of the beast, things will change. There will be scrutiny of what they do — and don’t do — now that they are inside.

Getting elected is validating, but it doesn’t establish credibility. If grassroots members wish to become and remain credible, they must have an idea of what they want to accomplish and work effectively to achieve distinct goals. It’s not clear that they’ve determined how to do that without being co-opted by the establishment.

The critical question is: "Now what?" It’s a complicated question for tea party people motivated by political urgency seeking immediate results.