Talk:Mick Mulvaney

The Tea Party, such that it exists at all, is a slogan for a bunch of nebulous concepts. It has no national organization, no state organizations AFAIK. It has some local non-profit entities, but they are diverse from one locality to the next. It's national founders and organizers are long gone. It holds no elective offices or nominating conventions, appears on the ballot no where.

It's become little more than a label younger conservatives and Republicans can use simply because of decades of demonization by the media of the term, "Republican", that's all. Not unlike how the American Left for decades uses interchangably "liberal", "progressive", or "socialist" determined by the popular mood in whatever era they live. But underneath, it's all the same journalists and organizers promoting the label.

To characterize the Tea Party, I'd say they are traditional Republicans under 35. Some Libertarians have come home to the GOP. The only vague principal that's held up among some, dating back to the Gingrich Revolution and the Contract With America, is Term Limits, which the Gingrich Republicans themselves voted down. In a sense, Term Limits can be considered anti-establishment. But even this view isn't widespread or a high priority among Tea Partiers. The Tea Party has been little more than a "youth rebellion" among conservatives, if such an oxymoron is possible. Not much else. RobS^{CIA v Trump updated score:CIA 3, Trump 2} 06:05, 4 April 2017 (EDT)

The Tea Party never was a political party. That's why no elected official officially belongs to the "Tea Party." It's political movement united by similar ideals of limited government rather than a political organization.

I disagree with your characterization of the movement. I don't think the Tea Party just exists among younger people, and nor is it a "youth rebellion". It is a libertarian-conservative-populist revolt by people of all age groups against the GOP and Dem establishment, which advances left-wing big-government policies. Many older people, as they tend to be more conservative anyway, strongly support the Tea Party. Also, libertarianism is a major (and essential, I would even say) strand of the Tea Party. Ron and Rand Paul, Justin Amash, etc.

I'm not so sure about your statement that people who use the term "Tea Party" do so because "Republican" has been demonized. The term "Tea Party" or "Tea Party movement" has probably been even more demonized by the media. --1990'sguy (talk) 09:05, 4 April 2017 (EDT)