The GOP Establishment Should Think Twice Before Trying to Undermine the Tea Party

Even though it changed the terms of the political debate, thus giving them a majority in the 2010 elections, many in the Republican establishment deeply resent the Tea Party. They don’t like being monitored by taxpayer-friendly groups that will expose them when they side with special interests (as they have in recent months on Export-Import Bank subsides and housing handouts).

And they really hate the idea of being held accountable at the polls when they side with the corrupt big-spenders in Washington. Just ask Senator Bennett and Congressman Inglis.

But this seems like a very childish and self-destructive approach. According to some scholarly research, the Tea Party has made a big difference, both in terms of generating more votes for the GOP and in terms of pressuring Republicans to side more with taxpayers rather than the inside-the-beltway interest groups.

We use data from a large number of sources to measure the influence of the Tax Day protests on the Tea Party. …We show that these political protests and the movements they built affected policymaking and voting behavior as well. Incumbent representatives vote more conservatively following large protests in their district… Larger protests increase turnout in the 2010 elections, primarily favoring Republican candidates. We find evidence of sizable effects. In particular, our baseline estimate shows that every Tea Party protester corresponds to a 14 vote increase in the number of Republican votes. Our most conservative estimate lowers that number to 7. The Tea Party protests therefore seem to cause a shift to the right in terms of policymaking, both directly and through the selection of politicians in elections.

Seems like a GOP political consultant should be very pleased with this research (assuming, of course, that they’re motivated by Republican and conservative victories rather than their own influence and contracts).

Want some more evidence that the Tea Party has made a difference? Well, check out these excerpts from a story in The Atlantic complaining about the lack of action in the Senate and ask yourself whether the addition of Senators like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, and Pat Toomey might be one of the reasons why Obama’s agenda has been stalemated.

Here’s an impressive fact about life in today’s Washington: The last time a major new piece of policy legislation passed the U.S. Senate was July 15, 2010. That’s when the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill came through the Senate. And it was 951 days ago. If you’re wondering whether President Obama’s ambitious second-term agenda has a chance to make it through Congress, this little fact might be worth keeping in mind. …the Senate…hasn’t done anything the president could add to his list of policy accomplishments. For that — the kind of thing a president might talk about in his campaign speeches — it’s been more than two and a half years.

Keep in mind, by the way, that there are now more Tea Party-oriented Senators such as Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, and Jeff Flake.

To conclude, I’m not under any illusion that the Tea Party automatically means better politicians and/or better election results. But every advocate of tax reform and smaller government should be very happy that there are people in the country who are pressuring politicians to adhere to libertarian-ish principles rather than playing the corrupt Washington game.

Am thankfull for the Mitchell/ Townhall posting but even Mitchell doesn’t seem to realize that the democrat party is not the democrat coalition assembled by FDR. It was destroyed with their convention of 2012. And those still in control of the Republican aparatus known as RINOS and GOPES are incapable of dealing with it.
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..Does anybody remember what the Democrats did at their 2012 convention ??? First they eliminated any mention of the word GOD...and when they thought twice about doing that they reintroduced the resolution what happened ? They booed God..thrice..That resolution was rammed through just like the Affordable Health Care Act ...That’s a wedge issue within the democrat party which was not exploited by Roves RINOS and GOPES during 2012 and the Republicans generally to this day. To properly describe that episode .Its the marriage of the radical and democrat into the hyphenated Demo-Com union.

Was that fact used in any of the material Rove’s RINOS spewed forth during the 2012 Romney or US senate races his group of GOPES (Government Ofthe People Elite Snobs) used on their hit list ? I like using that acronym because it rhymes with dopes.

Noooo ! They could have used that episode to point out how far to the left the democrat party has hyphenated into; Demo-Coms ...Instead well we don’t like Aikin ...He said what ? OMG OMG he’s unqualified ...If there was a chance he would have been burned at the stake by Rove’s RINOS and the so called “conservative “ talkies spouting Rove’s tripe.

The Aikin or O’Donnells response to a set up phoney issue had nothing to do with any thing that would ever occur in any legislation that would pass their respective desks had they been elected.

THE RESPONSE YOU DIDN’T HEAR WAS THIS “”While at their convention the Democrats were busy denying God . Aikin believes in something like the ten commandments. Including Thou shalt not steal and doesn’t believe that getting elected to office gives you a license to do steal ... Which his opponent seems to have done rather well since being in office. The same thing with Mourdock,O’Donnnell, etc,etc, etc.

That presentation could have been expanded to Reid, Pelosi, and the slew of Demo-Com pigs at the trough. Expanding their personal wealth at the expense of the US taxpayers.

Now his bunch seems to be saying if you hold a religious view don’t run for office... We’re gonna save the Republican party ....to be finished off by Obama and the hypenated democrats..
Roves RINOS wrong for America and wrong for the Republican party...

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