Remember the Tea Party Patriots?
Many will tell you that the Tea Party movement died. To some extent that is very true but the "patriots" are still out there. Battered, bruised, and at times feeling very defeated but they are out there. The national organizational movement failed them.
To many Patriots, the national organizations simply used them for their own gain. Much of that can be supported in truth if you simply follow the money. Very few local Patriots and local affiliate groups were assisted financially or even supported by the national movement. Patriots understand today that while they were the ones engaged in the field, the national organizations simply bled them for donations and contributions with very little of those contributions ever returning to local groups.
The right to keep and bear arms was one of the central themes of the Tea Party Movement. Today we are seeing an independent movement throughout many localities in Virginia to address the upcoming attack on the Second Amendment by Virginia Progressives. The 2A battle is underway but as of yet there is no concerted coordination. Jennifer M. Brown of Harrisonburg, Virginia and the 6th District Chair for the Republican Party has been at the forefront of keeping Virginians informed of the movement at the local level to push back against the Progressives determined effort to infringe on the Second Amendment y enacting unconstitutional legislation in 2020.
In fact, Virginia Progressives make no secret of the intention. Recently, State Senator Dick Saslaw (D) of Northern Virginia even stated that those citizens that thought they could defy the laws passed by the Assembly and invoke some form of "gun sanctuary" in their home counties are "delusional".
(See Facebook Group: #2AStrong in Virginia: Sanctuary County Movement for more info)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/578238489390036/
Delusional.
There comes a time in almost every political era where a politician typically unwitting "pokes the sleeping bear". Dick Saslaw may have actually just done that and awaken the next big movement to come to Virginia politics since the Tea Party in 2010.
But what happened to the Tea Party movement exactly? What lessons can be observed?
The Tea Party Caucus in the Congress founded in 2010 by Michele Bachman (MN) is all but dead. No one really can point to a single voice or leader born out of the movement in Washington any longer a mere decade removed. Most of the original caucus members are either no longer in Congress or have joined the Liberty or Freedom Caucuses.
We do still see some of faces on television routinely but they no longer speak of the Tea Party Patriots. Recently, during the impeachment inquiry before Congress took break for the holiday you could see Matt Gaetz (FL) or even Steve Scalise (LA) commenting regarding the hearings but the majority of the former caucus members of all but disappeared from appearing on cable news shows advancing the Tea Party movement.
In Virginia, most of the former Facebook groups and organized groups have disappeared as well. Prominent ones like Chester Patriots and Northern Virginia Tea Party are mostly silent. The Tea Party Patriot Citizen Fund list over a dozen of Virginia Patriot groups from groups like the Continental Tea Party to the Constitutional Tea Party. From Fredericksburg Virginia Patriots to the Portsmouth Tea Party.
Many were affiliated with either the Tea Party Express, Tea Party Nation or Tea Party Patriots.
In Virginia, the biggest win for the Tea Party came with the removal by primary of Eric Cantor (R) in the 7th Congressional District. It was the activism and coordination of the Tea Party that defeated Cantor in the Republican primary that would see David Brat secure the nomination and defeat the Democrat challenger for the seat in the House of Representatives. The defeat of Cantor maybe the biggest feather in the cap of Tea Party Patriots anywhere in the country.
Senator Dick Saslaw (D) should heed that warning. It was Virginia Patriots that defeated Cantor; A virtual Republican staple in Virginia politics from the Virginia General Assembly to the House of Representatives. Saslaw ought not be the only one to heed the lesson though. Currently, elected Virginia "Republicans" should as well. Do not underestimate the will of the people to primary those that are not supporting core conservative principles in the Assembly.
If the State GOP is going to hit rock bottom, many would like to see it be transformational for the future.
Even as early as February 2011, Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones reported that "it didn’t take long for the grassroots tea party organization to embrace the DC establishment—and some of its more questionable practices.Lately, Tea Party Patriots (TPP) has started to resemble the Beltway lobbying operations its members have denounced. The group’s leaders have cozied up to political insiders implicated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and have paid themselves significant salaries"
Mencimer went on to report how coordinators and local volunteers were feeling about the organization describing that “Tea Party Patriots don’t really do anything for the local groups,” she says.”There are a lot of frustrated people. There are a lot of other people in the country who’ve done events and have gotten screwed over. We are all volunteers. We do not get paid like [Jenny Beth Martin] does. They don’t say, ‘Thank you.’ They use you and abuse you.” Martin was said to have been paid 6,000 per month as national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots.
Matea Gold of the Washington Post in April 2014 reported on how the movement quickly went national and in doing so morphed into a national organization that actually become the mirror of what most Patriots thought the movement was against. Gold stated that the"Three well-known groups — the Tea Party Patriots, the Tea Party Express and the Madison Project — have spent 5 percent or less of their money directly on election-related activity during this election cycle." In essence, the groups were raising millions of dollars from patriots all over the country but not using it for candidates or to support local activities. The majority of the funds went to pay consulting fees to its own founders and coordinators, Washington lobbying firms and other organizations and of course salaries.
The Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund was one such arm that Gold reported that "of the $7.4 million that the Georgia-based group’s super PAC has spent since the beginning of 2013, just $184,505 has gone to boost candidates... Three-quarters of the spending by the Citizens Fund — $5.5 million — has been devoted to fundraising and direct mail"
Here is a chart regarding the original organizations making up the Tea Party movement and founders along with FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity that had tremendous influence in Washington over the movement.
There is argument that the movement created some very wealthy Americans but that was never the goal of the patriots that were the backbone of the grassroots effort. The national organizers created disillusion in the ranks and even further apathy by 2017. In 2018, David Brat (R) would lose to Abigail Spanbeger (D) in the VA07 in large part the apathy that had grown. Broken promises and no follow through in local elections throughout Virginia all but silenced the voice of the movement. Some say that was the very intent of the Republican establishment and leadership that feared the "bear" that in truth is still today the Virginia Patriots.
Virginia Republican Leadership today have run away from many of the values that Virginia Patriots have attempted to assert into the political debate; fiscal responsibility, free markets, lower taxes, reduction of national debt and addressing federal deficits and entitlement programs.
The Virginia GOP Leadership in the election just this month that saw it lose majority in the both chambers of the General Assembly all but ran away from those local candidates that voiced support for President Trump. For example, in the 11th Senate District State Senator Amanda Freeman Chase (R) was facing an opponent overwhelmingly supported by out of state Progressive advocacy groups. Not only did the Senate Caucus not support her in her re election bid but either did the Leadership Committee or even Majority Leader Tommy Norment himself.
Think on that. Chase has her own style. There is no arguing she is a vocal maverick in the Party and even challenged her own County's Republican committee during the campaign resulting in her removal from the committee (not the Party as reported by liberal media outlets prior to election day) for supporting a none Republican "approved" nominee. Chase in truth better reflects the very core Tea Party principles than possibly any other member of the Virginia Senate. And she won while many Republicans lost on November 5th.
In contrast to not supporting candidates who were outspoken with support for Trump, the GOP leadership instead supported financially those Republicans who appeared to run campaigns void of any reference to Trump successes. The success of the economy for example. The State GOP rewarded candidates like State Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R) in the 12th Senate District with close to one million in contributions for her campaign almost two million for State Senator Glen Sturtevant (R) in the 10th Senate District,
Niether Tommy Norment (R) or Ryan McDougle (R) in Senate supported Chase. Norment provided Dunnavent with 231,000 and Sturtevant with 709,750. McDougle provided Dunnavant with 97,500 and Sturtevant with 335,625. Chase was not alone earlier this month. Many of the pro-Trump and pro-Patriot candidates went under funded by the establishment.
Some will argue (and have) that the 11th Senate District was never "in play" but that is very disingenuous. Everyone knows that on November 5, 2019 every Republican candidate and especially ones supportive of Trump were targeted in the hopes of defeating them. The takeaway is that the leadership appears to have little support for the Trump supporters---hence Trump never came to Virginia to campaign to help keep control of the Assembly--or Virginia Patriots.
Now that the opposition in Virginia is underway regarding 2A rights, will the Virginia Patriots rise awaken. Will they determine now is the time to reform and advance a Conservative movement learning on the lessons of the failure of the Tea Party?
The time is here. The time very well may be now!
#TeaParty #Chase #Norment #Dunnavant #Sturtevant #VAGOP #VASenate #2A #guncontrol #gunsanctuary #JenniferBrown #JennyBethMartin #TeaPartyPatriots #TeaPartyNation #TeaPartyExpress #TeaPartyPatriotCitizenFund #Gaetz #Scalise #TeaPartyCaucus #LibertyCaucus #FreedomCaucus
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