Tea Party Impact – Glenn Reynolds
February 1, 2010 by cvarley
Filed under What's Brewing
Glenn Reynolds: More impact is what’s next for the Tea Party movement
January 31, 2010
A year ago, the Tea Party movement didn’t exist. Today, it is arguably the most popular political entity in America. The movement is already more popular than the Republican or Democratic parties, according to a recent NBC / WSJ poll .
This is heady stuff — and, for people in the political establishment, both Republicans and Democrats, it’s worrying stuff. If political movements can bubble up from below, and self-organize via the Internet, what will happen to the political class?
And, of course, Scott Brown’s come-from-behind blowout in Massachusetts occurred in no small part because of money and volunteers from the Tea Party movement around the nation.
So far the Tea Party’s record is looking pretty good. But what happens next? Many people — er, well, many pundits, anyway — complain that the Tea Party movement is entirely oppositional: For a brief moment, the key buzzword was “nihilistic,” though the connection between Turgenev and Tea Parties seems rather tenuous.
In fact, Tea Partiers seem quite clear on what they’re for: A limited government, one that keeps its nose out of their business and focuses on things like protecting the country in preference to redistributing income.
But whether the political class likes it or not, this sort of thing is probably here to stay. While 2009 was the year of denigrating and ignoring the tea parties, I suspect that in 2010, they’ll be listened to quite closely. Those who fail to do so, are likely to find themselves out of a job.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
So the question remains – what is next? Stay tuned for news of the Massachusetts movement. We have a lot of work to do if we’re going to continue this crusade to take back out country – one town, one state at a time. Join us on Facebook. Attend one of our Meet Up social gatherings and get to know us. And join us later this month as we come together to map out our plans and strategy for 2010. We need your talent, your enthusiasm and your time.