1-0 to America's Rabid Right-Wingers

The American tea party movement has shown its claws. By blocking a decision to raise the debt limit, the Republican extreme conservatives gained a disproportionate amount of influence over the budget deal that was passed in the nick of time on August 2.

The alternative was state bankruptcy. The tea party movement exploited the situation using political blackmailing that is without precedent in the history of the United States.

What has the movement achieved by its actions?

It has damaged the economy since the budget deal doesn’t solve America’s economic problems in the long run. Figures from World Economic Forum show that for the past 10 years, American company executives have been losing more and more of their faith in the ability of the elected leaders to run the country effectively. The confidence of the trade and industry has been further undermined by the debt crisis. The fact that the credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s lowered the United States’ credit rating in August is proof of that.

But they have also hurt President Obama. When it became apparent that the Democrats no longer had the majority in the House of Representatives following the election of 2010, Obama showed early on that he was willing to compromise to put together a budget deal.

Today, that looks naive, or even like a sign of weakness. Even fellow Democrats criticise his compliance — after the fact. It was hardly predictable that the tea party movement would succeed in wresting the initiative from a failing Republican leadership, but now that it happened it’s being used against Obama.

The tea party movement has managed to push its mother party toward the right. It will be hard for any Republican presidential candidate to break with the conservatives’ belief that tax cuts and decreased government spending will be able to solve the country’s financial crisis. The budget deal may have set the key note for the entire Republican election campaign.

Ironically, the tea party movement, whose foremost obsession is a rabid defense of the Constitution, have by their actions raised questions about the American form of government. The Constitution contains an amendment that some legal experts interpret as forbidding Congress from holding the national debt hostage to achieve political goals. The division of power stipulated in the Constitution demands a responsible demeanor from the institutions of power, since the system otherwise risks being paralyzed. It is possible to argue that the tea party followers have acted in contravention of the same Constitution they beat other people over the head with.

Earlier, it had seemed that the Republicans might be doing Obama a favor. People like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann could scare off voters by their political extremism.

However, there may be another discernible possibility. It seems many Americans still expect America to rise once more, as by a miracle, without any real economic sacrifices from large population groups. But the economy shows only weak signs of recovery. When more and more Americans realize how serious the situation really is, the rabid right with its simplified, populist arguments may achieve a level of attraction that a weakened Obama can no longer claim.