Why the Tea Party Has Become Irrelevant

I like so many others, got truly excited about the Tea Party.  Finally, conservatives and libertarians were getting charged up and politically active.  These were people who believed the same things as I do, Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets.  These were people who actually got out and protested for these things and more importantly worked for candidates who believed these things as well.

Candidates like Marco Rubio, and more importantly Sarah Palin.  McCain's vice-presidential nominee had a meteoric rise in Alaskan politics believing in these same ideals.  Yet after the media savaged her during the campaign, she backed away.  She had the means at her disposal to create a national organization, nothing like Team Sarah had been seen since the heady days of Goldwater, and none will, I predict, for some time.  Yet Palin found it more pleasurable to be cheering on DTWS than in the trenches trying to defeat Harry Reid.

A big part of the Tea Party philosophy is that it is a spontaneous organization, created by the issues of the day, not a permanent fixture of any party, and disappears just as quickly when its issue is resolved or candidate is elected.  This is also its biggest downfall.  After the Goldwater for President campaign ended in disaster its legion of supporters did not fade away, instead they integrated themselves into the Republican Party.  They were elected to Central Committees, appointed to party positions and for several dominated the Party.  Until they began to fade away and the party 'apparatchiks' remained in key positions, people like consultant Karl Rove and Congressman John Boehner.  Their only concern is maintaining their power.  Paving the way for the next wave of political activists to take up leadership positions and help reenergize the Republican Party, except the Tea Partiers have been reluctant to do so.

Until the Tea Party decides that it needs to be a more permanent fixture on the political landscape and personalities like Sarah Palin decide to be truly leaders of the body politic, the Republican Party will be under the thumb of the 'apparatchiks' and to politicians without any real belief system.  The party will continue to flop around and have internal battles.  The Libertarian Party remains rooted totheir philosophy preferring ideological purity to achieving any results politically.  A shame, as the Libertarian Party would be a natural home for many of the Tea-Partiers, as it had been for many of the Goldwater army.