The Impending Death of the Tea Party

According to a recent CNN/Opinion Research survey, more than half of Americans now have an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party.  I must admit, I am not surprised.  Truthfully, I am shocked that it took this long.

The Tea Party started with the best of intentions, and the greatest of goals.  LOWER TAXES.  REDUCE SPENDING.  That got our country's attention. Our citizens are sick of the spending, and they are sick of the taxing.  The Tea Party got really popular, really fast.  Like most boom towns, you could expect some of that initial surge to wane.  This is more than just a standard settling, though...opinions of the Tea party have actually reversed.

Why would this happen?  Did our public suddenly change their mind on wanting spending reduced?  Did people spontaneously realize they wanted more taxes?  Of course not.  The change wasn't our attitude towards these things, the change was within the Tea Party itself.

You see, the Tea Party lost its focus.  It was originally an independent organization with its own set of ideals.  It became nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party.  People didn't lose their interest in lower taxes and reduced spending, they only maintained their existing disappointment with the GOP.

Once Tea Party supporters began to make the realization that their support was, more or less, Republican support, they lost their desire to stand with the group.  The Tea Party supporters are aware that the Republicans don't stand for real spending cuts, only for small and insignificant cuts that they use as political ploys to claim victory.

Those who no longer support the Tea Party changed their mind on the group because they feel we deserve more.  If all they wanted was to support the Republicans pathetic attempts at lowering the budget, then they would have supported the Republican plan from the word "Go."  That wasn't what they wanted, though...Tea Partiers wanted greater cuts than the Republicans would be willing to offer.

Now the Tea Party's infiltration from Republicans is nearly complete.  The Tea Party itself now is just another group out there saying "Please vote GOP!"  Our citizens have caught on.  The original Tea Party is gone.  What remains is a masquerade.  That's not what yesterday's Tea Party supporters signed up for.