Greedy PACs drained the movement with endless pleas for money to support “conservative” causes and candidates. I worked for one of them. But Tea Party ideas live on.
As we watch the Republican Party tear itself to shreds over Donald Trump, perhaps it’s time to take note of another conservative political phenomenon that the GOP nominee has utterly eclipsed: the Tea Party. The Tea Party movement is pretty much dead now, but it didn’t die a natural death. It was murdered—and it was an inside job. In a half decade, the spontaneous uprising that shook official Washington degenerated into a form of pyramid scheme that transferred tens of millions of dollars from rural, poorer Southerners and Midwesterners to bicoastal political operatives.
What began as an organic, policy-driven grass-roots movement was drained of its vitality and resources by national political action committees that dunned the movement’s true believers endlessly for money to support its candidates and causes. The PACs used that money first to enrich themselves and their vendors and then deployed most of the rest to search for more “prospects.” In Tea Party world, that meant mostly older, technologically unsavvy people willing to divulge personal information through “petitions”—which only made them prey to further attempts to lighten their wallets for what they believed was a good cause. While the solicitations continue, the audience has greatly diminished because of a lack of policy results and changing political winds.
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Good Explanation of Scam PACs and how they killed the tea party: https://t.co/tayLh7DyOU
— Charlie Spies (@cspiesdc) August 14, 2016
Too bad the truth had to come out from a leftie political media site. Too bad that the screams from the majority of us as to why we could no longer give to activist organizations were not heeded. I quit giving to Tea Party Patriots because they began to support some candidates who were moochers, not real conservatives, and I let them know more than once that I would continue to give to specific candidates only.
Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem
I think the article is overstating the role of the PACs. Sure they tried to exploit the Tea Party movement for money but I for one and I think most Tea Partiers was not fooled. I only give to individual candidates. I note recommendations by self-appointed Tea Party organizations but then I investigate the candidate and make the decision based on that.
I have been discouraged by the resistance of many Republican politicians to Tea Party ideas. A large part of the blame for Trump is due to their actions–the 2015 Omnibus budget deal was the final straw for me. Plenty of blame to go around though. A large fraction of the Republican base embracing Trump instead of Cruz was sobering to me.
The Tea Party ideals that I support are the timeless conservative values of limited government, living within our means, personal responsibility for our actions. I will continue to fight for those regardless of the organizations that try to exploit these ideals for their personal gain.
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