“I am afraid for America,” says Yolanda DeRose, 55, of Liverpool.
Afraid of her taxes going up. Afraid of President Obama’s healthcare overhaul. Afraid that Obama might not have been born in the U.S. — and, as a foreigner, can’t be president.
And all that fear makes her angry. “I’m sick of politics as usual,” she said. “Someone needs to stand up to these people and let them know that what they are doing in Washington is simply un-American.”
DeRose is among the thousands of Americans drawn to the emerging rightwing movement known as the Tea Party Patriots. Many of the movement’s members are frustrated with the Obama administration, the Democratic Party and the current Republican Party. They call for what their Web site describes as a “fundamental, limited and Constitutional American government that does not interfere with the free-market system.”
Tea Party members insist they’re not a political party. Instead, Tea Partiers describe themselves as a “grassroots movement,” as its Web site puts it. It also proudly lacks any central leadership. It encourages citizens to form their own Tea Party group to express their own specific grievances. And those grievances range from those who disagree with the federal stimulus package to those who believe Barack Obama is a secret Muslim wishing to eradicate Christianity in America.
Its members are predominantly white, male, and without a college education, according to a poll in February by CNN. And its growth has been fueled by connections to the conservative talk-show world and right-leaning blogosphere. The lack of central authority has also attracted a variety of fringe groups. Among them are “birthers,” who claim that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, is not an American citizen and therefore not eligible to be U.S. president.
The Tea Party movement presents a significant backlash against the Obama administration. Its Web site is dotted with slogans like “It’s the Marxists, stupid,” and breathless headlines with emphatic using capital letters like “BREAKING NEWS: Government Health Care to be FORCED on AMERICAN PEOPLE.”
The movement has inspired widespread attention on talk shows, in the blogosphere and in mainstream news organizations. But the driving spirit behind the Tea Party movement is “nothing new” in American politics, says Syracuse University political science professor Danny Hayes.
“Any time there involves a potentially large government involvement in citizens’ lives, there’s a big backlash,” said Hayes. Even public policies that are now popular — like Social Security, the New Deal social programs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration and the anti-trust policies of the late 19th century — once provoked similar hostility.
Now, said Hayes, “What we’re seeing here isn’t new. It’s just people nervous about change.”
The Tea Party, say members and its Web site, grew out of outrage over the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The legislation created a $787-billion stimulus package to help pull the nation’s economy out of recession. It’s been applauded for some successes and criticized in reports of waste and for a ballooning national debt.
In what many see as the birth of the Tea Party movement, more than 800,000 Tea Parties rallied against legislation in more than 850 cities on April 15, 2009. That date — April 15 — is a red-letter day on the Tea Party calendar. It’s the deadline for filing the despised federal taxes.
The Tea Party movement casts itself in the mold of the iconic American revolutionaries who threw British tea into Boston Harbor to protest “taxation without representation.” Some members even wear the colonial-era tri-cornered hats, play Revolution-era drums and carry 18th century American flags and banners during Tea Party rallies or conventions.
Since 2009, the Tea party movement has grown to affiliates in all 50 states. For New York alone, the Tea Party’s Web site lists 30 groups. Among them are Tea Party chapters in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Elmira, New York, Riverhead, Rochester, Sag Harbor, Syracuse and White Plains.
In Rome, Don Jeror, 53, of Rome, N.Y., a registered Democrat, formed his own local Tea Party for reasons close to his heart. “My 12 grandchildren,” said Jeror. “They deserve a better life than this administration is trying to give them.”
He organized the Fort Stanwix Tea Party Patriots in March 2009. Fort Stanwix, near Rome, was one of the only American forts not to be overtaken by the British in the American Revolutionary War. Now, he said, he works “almost night and day” gathering protest permits, lining up guest speakers and coordinating Tea Party conventions in Central New York.
The New York State Tea Party Patriots’ co-coordinator, Joanne Wilder, is a 60 year-old former banker who helps others start their own chapters. “I consider myself a political watchdog now. I love helping spread that kind of attitude across the country,” said Wilder.
That spread has been boosted by the Tea Party’s presence on social media outlets and the Internet.. The main Tea Party Web site, along with tens of thousands of Tea Party-affiliated Web sites, generate more than 100,000 independent visits a week, according to Tea Party officials.
“Without the Internet, this movement wouldn’t be a fraction of what it currently is,” said New York coordinator Wilder.
In Liverpool, Yolanda DeRose was one of the thousands to learn about the Tea Party movement over the Internet. DeRose simply tapped into a search engine three key phrases: “U.S. taxes are too high” and “I don’t trust politicians” and “How can I make a political difference.” The Tea Party Patriots popped up.
“We don’t care about red or blue—we care about red, white and blue,” said DeRose. “We want what is best for our country, and right now neither party is delivering the kind of change we want.”
DeRose is a political newcomer. Now, she says, she’s found the right kindred spirits to keep her in politics. “I wanted to find a group of people who hadn’t lost sight of what America stood for,” said DeRose. “I found it with the Tea Party Patriots.”
(Joe Frandino is a senior with dual majors in political science and newspaper journalism)
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