Unit 5 Project:  Tea Party Movement

By Sarah Bristow

Kaplan University

The Tea Party Patriot Movement is a reformative social movement determined to reform government spending and taxation.  I chose this organization because I had heard of the group in the news and wondered what all they supported and did for their mission.  Their mission statement is as follows:  “The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets” (Tea Party Organization, 2010).  The core values of this movement are fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.  The core principles of the Tea Party movement are to support and defend the U.S. Constitution, keep taxes low, ensure responsible spending at all levels of government, demand transparency and accountability, maintain individual responsibility, and to protect and expand freedom (Tea Party Organization, 2010).  This grassroots organization is mostly made up of local tea party groups that meet up with each other for conventions and to hold the government accountable for spending and other important issues.

In Fort Walton Beach there is a local Tea Party branch.  The Chairman, Chris Saccomanno, is the founder of this branch.  Mr. Saccomanno stated that the goal of the organization is “to empower individuals to have a stronger voice in politics to support the Constitution, prevent irresponsible spending by the government, stop tax hikes, get some transparency and accountability in government, and expand freedom.” Mr. Saccomanno created the group of the organization in Fort Walton Beach in March of 2009.  When questioned how the group began, the chairman said, “I went down to the City and took out a $42 permit for a protest event and bought a $380 single day liability insurance policy.  We hosted a major rally on 4/15/09 with 800 people in attendance and we’ve met twice a month since then.” The Fort Walton Beach Tea Party group has almost 1500 on their mailing lists that are as close to the criteria of membership status that the group has.  Mr. Saccomanno declared that the group is “Highly successful for a young organization.  We have had several people take on various issues, and we are now one of the most important citizens groups in the state of Florida.  Recently, we were in contact with state legislators from across the state and the governor to discuss state legislation.  We have built a voice for people and are now trying to help them learn to use that voice for positive reform.” He believes that “elected leaders are making a much stronger effort to reach out to citizen’s groups now.  We have also allowed people to get involved in the political process more than they ever had before” because of the organizations activities.  The organization has many activities that promote their cause “protests, rallies, extensive contact with the local media (newspaper and radio, in particular).  Online activities, phone calls, petitions, and participate in local governmental meetings, such as County Commissioner meetings, City Council meetings, School Board, etc” The organization meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month where they address and organize current issues for the group. The future of the organization is “building an organization that empowers individuals and continually builds relationships with other concerned citizen groups and influence legislation.  We are also being called to provide information to elected leaders, so we are working on helping to use our community connections to help them make more informed decisions.”

Critics of the Tea Party movement, like Michael Kinsely of the Atlantic Times, feel that the organization “is not the solution to what ails America” (Kinsely, 2010).  They believe that because Tea Party participants use the word Patriot to describe themselves that the call everyone who does not support their cause unpatriotic.  Mr. Kinsley believes that they need to use the term patriot for a group’s position that is more than just demanding tax cuts.  Mr. Kinsley article appeared to be more slanderous than informative.

I learned a lot about the workings of the Tea Party Organization.  When I first started my research I thought the Tea Party Organization was all about tax cuts like Mr. Kinsely but I soon learned that they are involved in many aspects to hold our government accountable.  Mr. Kinsely appears to not have done much research on the organization and does not support his opinion.  I think the Tea Party Organization has been instrumental in the people becoming more involved in the government.  I think that in the future I would like to become active in this organization because of the important cause of holding the government responsible for their actions.  The country would be a greater nation if more people got involved in the government issues like the Patriots of the Tea Party Movement.

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