Defining characteristics of the Tea Party movement

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Defining characteristics of the Tea Party movement

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – The Tea Party tends to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in the Tea Party are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” They tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – They are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even with widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding priority, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism – The organizers of the Tea Party tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under the Tea Party, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and they are represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the Tea Party, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by advertisers, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship of conflicting views, especially regarding war, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the Tea Party over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – The Tea Party tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from Tea Party leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the Tea Party’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy behind the Tea Party often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a Tea Party government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – The Tea Party tends to promote and tolerate open hostility to public education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even fired. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under the Tea Party, the police will be given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forgo civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There may be a national police force with virtually unlimited power in a Tea Party government.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – The Tea Party will be governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It would not be uncommon with the Tea Party for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections – Elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even character assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Tea Party influence also typically uses the judiciary to manipulate or control elections.

 

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. He missed the Tea Party. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each: