The tea party movement is pure, sublime Americana. It is a Norman Rockwell moment in history, while its many detractors seem hopelessly trapped in Edvard Munch's "The Scream." The tea party movement is America at its absolute finest.
It's hard for most Americans to find a reason to condemn or dislike the movement. It has gained wide acceptance because almost everyone in the country has a close family member, a friendly neighbor or a respected coworker who is a tea partier. Tea partiers are not frightening, disturbing monsters. They are the warm heart of Main Street, USA.
For these reasons, the repeated attempts to label the movement as racist or violent haven't worked. In fact, the tea party has grown immune to the tactics of mockery, ridicule, dismissal and accusation.
The true demographics of the tea party movement defy its popular depictions. Despite the fact that demographic polling reports are readily available to anyone with Internet access, these misrepresentations persist.
Recently, the Economist magazine stated, "With the help of the tea-party movement, Republican politicians are once again embracing the most radical wing of the party." This is incorrect. These politicians are not embracing the most radical wing of the party. They are listening to and opening their arms wide to the vast center of our land.
The "right wing" moniker is a myth. It only appears that way to those of the political, academic and media classes who stand so far to the left that, had they been present there, they would have judged every member of the Continental Congress of 1776 to be a right-wing fanatic.
The movement is by no means the exclusive domain of the Republican Party. It also includes many independents and Democrats. A Gallup Poll taken in March found that 43 percent of tea partiers are independents, and 8 percent are registered Democrats, a combined 51 percent. Republicans are in the minority at 49 percent.
According to a recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, African-Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanics combine to make up nearly one-fourth of the movement's members, roughly reflecting the ethnic makeup of the general population. Not surprisingly, the NAACP's recent announcement of a resolution condemning racism within the tea party movement has sparked an avalanche of statements of support for the movement from African-American members across the country.
To assert that the tea party movement is "astroturf," a concoction of the Republican National Committee, is to incite hardy belly laughs. Neither the Republican Party nor any right-leaning Washington organization could have created the pure, grass-roots energy and action that characterize the tea party movement. From last summer's town hall meetings to this winter and spring's health care reform protests to the heavy participation in "get out the vote" efforts on behalf of conservative candidates, none of these was either inspired or orchestrated by the Republican Party. Quite the contrary; Republican leadership was impotent and idea-less until the American people stepped in to lead the way.
The key to understanding the movement is this: The tea party is the manifestation of the rising up of not just the right, but of the great center of our nation to address what is viewed as the ruinous results of years of an advancing progressive agenda in Washington: too much spending, too many entitlements and a government that has grown entirely too large. In March, a Rasmussen survey found that 52 percent of U.S. voters believe the average member of the tea party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. On a recent " Fox News Sunday," Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina correctly observed, "The tea party is the tip of the iceberg of an American awakening of people who want to take back their government. It's not a matter of 'right' or 'left.' It's really a matter of success or failure as a country."
The power and attraction of the tea party movement resides in the simplicity of its threefold focus: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. The movement is not concerned with social issues such as abortion, gun control, gay rights, deployment of our military overseas, and so on. These types of issues, which are often starkly divisive, fall outside the purview of the movement, freeing it to open wide to an enormous coalition of concerned citizens who are no longer comfortable with Washington's progressive agenda. Because of this, the movement's size and attraction to sane, reasoning adults is nearly limitless.
Progressives within the worlds of politics, academia and the media will no doubt continue to try their hardest to tar and feather the tea party. That's OK. Their tactics fail to scare, intimidate or taint, and the tea party continues to grow. In fact, their attempts may have backfired. A skeptical public sees through the progressives' "mean girls"-style subterfuge.
Without the decades-long advancing agenda of the progressives, tea partiers wouldn't be tea partiers. They would simply be ordinary folks going about their daily lives. They are Main Street Americans. The majority have had absolutely no desire to actively participate in politics during their lifetimes — until now.
Doug Mainwaring of Potomac is a member of the National Capital Tea Party Patriots. His e-mail is dougmainwaring@yahoo.com.