Political Movements: The Contemporary Tea Party Movement

Historically, there have been many so called political movements. Many of them have op-posed issues such as slavery, racial discrimination, patriarchy and others alike. Political movements are characterized by an organized group that attempts to change something, for example by voting for new measures and changing people’s minds, regarding a spe-cific issue. The difference between political movements and political parties is that parties focus on the political system in a given country. Movements usually involve a social issue that a lot of people have a similar interest in. The contemporary Tea Party movement has much in common with historical movements such as the original Boston Tea Party.
First of all, what is the Tea Party movement? One of the newer right-wing political
The movement we know today was founded after an alleged overspending by the government. In their eyes, the government was taking on too much debt in order to cover expenses. This meant that taxes grew to counteract the defi-cit. Initially, the movement grew as a grassroots movement, but it found substantial finan-cial backing thereafter. The Koch brothers of Koch Industries were important in the fund-ing and strengthening of the movement. A key figure in the Tea Party movement is Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska. The movement on its own is not a political party, which is why they are often coupled with the Republican party. The name of the movement is a reference to the historical Boston Tea Party. It is im-portant to note that the historical Boston Tea Party was not against taxation, but rather the forced taxation without any representation in government. The Thirteen Colonies be-lieved that, as they were not directly represented in the British Parliament, any laws that were passed affecting the colonists were illegal. However, the modern day Tea Party con-sists of mostly Americans and the government that they are opposed to is their