Will the Tea Party Movement Vanish?

Will the tea party movement vanish? This is without a doubt the post-primary paradox of the last week. As the tea party movement continues to progress on the electoral map, it is also being threatened with dismemberment. This is partially because the tea party is a heterogeneous movement of citizens dissatisfied with the direction the nation is taking, as opposed to a party with leaders or structure.

Last Tuesday, as the polls were about to close, the tea party constituents started squabbling over whether Sharron Angle was the best candidate to oppose the re-election of Harry Reid — Senate Majority leader — this coming November.

In Virginia, adherents of the movement who have been disrupting the political scene for several months rushed to the bloggers and journalists, and even published an editorial in The Washington Post — a newspaper of the establishment — complaining about their inability to unify in choosing a candidate, which resulted in the victory of an establishment candidate.

“No one owns the tea party brand, and that’s kind of the problem,” said Brendan Steinhauser, grass-roots director for Freedom Works, in The Washington Post. “In Virginia … you’ve got six self-appointed tea party candidates and one establishment guy. You’re not going to beat the establishment guy in that situation.” However, this discord is not only expressed in the two Virginia districts where the tea party lost. It is likewise seen in Nevada, where the anti-establishment candidate won the primary.

This wavering in the ranks of the tea party takes place at the very moment when a Washington Post/ABC News poll revealed that 50 percent of Americans hold a negative opinion about the tea party. That figure had been 39 percent in March. Nevertheless, this would not be the first time a movement had wilted after beginning full of promise and energy. Billionaire Ross Perot, for instance, disappeared despite his charismatic personality.

Despite all this, the last thing tea party enthusiasts want is a leader. As one of the Nevada representatives said, “We like it being a collective group of voices. This is the first time in a generation when we feel like our voices are being heard.”

Additionally, some of the difficulties the tea party faces — right when it seemed to be picking up speed — include attracting the attention of the media to its dissensions and the occasional extreme positions of its members, positions such as Sharron Angle’s ideas of eliminating the Department of Education and asking the Church of Scientology to lead a program for prisoners.

Also, it is important to note that more than the internal strife, it is the often the extreme and outlandish positions of the tea party that could shatter the dynamic of the movement and lead, once more, to the triumph of the establishment. How ironic!