The Tea Party: An "Old Whine in a New Bottle"

Despite the media's enthusiasm for covering it, the Tea Party is nothing new. Rather, it is a simple re-branding of the hard right. The "Tea Party" concept provides a unifying force for a variety of groups with hard-right ideology and a mixture of pet causes, like anti-immigrant vigilantes, "birthers" (who deny that Barack Obama is an American citizen), The Oath Keepers (law enforcement officers who take an oath not to obey orders that they believe defy the U.S. Constitution), people who watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Candidates referred to as "Tea Party" candidates in the 2010 election did not seek the label, but drew the label due to their extreme right-wing views. The term "Tea Party" is shorthand for a general sentiment promoting low taxes and smaller government that is shared by a loose coalition of somewhat like-minded people. The "Tea Party" itself has no headquarters, no established leaders and no policies. The Washington Post attempted to contact every Tea Party group in the U.S., and found that many did not exist. The "Tea Party" thus represents general views held by a segment of the population that are promoted by Fox News Channel and huge amounts of money from private corporations and wealthy individuals who fund Tea Party Express, Freedomworks, Americans for Prosperity and other front groups run by people who have proven track records of Republican right-wing activism.