Tea Party Movement: Caucus Created

The Tea Party Movement has created a caucus to act as a liaison between the White House and the grassroots movement that has taken America by storm.  The caucus is not going to be setting the agenda of the movement, but its very creation indicates that politics in America could forever change.

The Tea Party started with a group in Tennessee.  TEA stands for "Taxed Enough Already", and the group was formed to lash back at everything going on in the White House.   Fiscal irresponsibility, corruption, and more are the things that the movement seeks to end. 

For the most part, the Tea Party aligns itself more with conservative Republicans rather than liberal Democrats.  The movement wants to get America back how it was during its most glorious of times. 

The Caucus includes 28 members, some of whom are controversial.  The congressman who declared "You Lie!" to the President (Joe Wilson) is a member.  So is Joe Barton, who was forced to give an apology to BP. 

As Americans grow more and more frustrated with the government and politics as usual, this type of movement will become more and more influential.  Whether or not we will see a true three party system has yet to be seen. 

The creation of the caucus just indicates that things are starting to change.  Hopefully, its for the better.

Reference: Huffington Post

Tea Party Movement: NAACP and Tea Party Racist Accusations

The Tea Party Movement is alive and well, but the NAACP and the Tea Party Movement leaders have accused each other of racism. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party are at odds - even though they are two of the most widely regarded movements/organizations in politics.

According to a non-scientific poll at USA News, 43% of Americans feel that the Tea Party movement is racist, whereas 56% of people disagree with that statement. The poll results will change as more and more people take the poll on the Web site.

According to USA Today, Sarah Palin calls the NAACP's claims "appalling." The NAACP has accused the Tea Partyers of waving signs that are degrading to African Americans and also the nation's first African American President, Barack Hussein Obama.

Blogger Peter Roff has accused the NAACP of using tactics similar to those used in the 1960's by Bull Connor. He states that "It was not all that long ago that the likes for Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, Sheriff and one-time Democratic National Committeeman for the State of Alabama Theophilus “Bull” Connor and others garnered national attention through their attacks on the civil rights movement. One frequently used tactic by the movement’s critics was to seize on isolated incidents and the outrageous behavior and statements of some of its activists to brand everyone associated with it as subversive, dangerous, and un-American."

On the other hand, there are still many who agree that the Tea Party is acting with a racist agenda. According to Fox News, reference was made by the group to racial slurs hurled at black legislators during the 2010 Health Care reform bill vote. Ben Jealous, an NAACP leader said that "We [the NAACP] take no issue with the Tea Party movement. We believe in freedom of assembly and people raising their voices in a democracy. What we take issue with is the Tea Party's continued tolerance for bigotry and bigoted statements. The time has come for them to accept the responsibility that comes with influence and make clear there is no place for racism and anti-Semitism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry in their movement."

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, considering that the Tea Party movement has very few African American followers.

Do you think that the Tea Party movement is racist or not?