TEA Party Movement

Social Movements as Collective Behavior Shortly after Barack Obama became president in 2009, a social movement began called the “TEA Party” or “Taxed Enough Already.” This movement began on social media and in the conservative, Republican, Christian groups in America. They utilized methods of communication such as Facebook at Twitter to raise awareness of their position, gain support, and arrange protests (Miller 2014).
Purpose
The purpose of the TEA Party movement was to bring awareness to the desire for America to limit the power and control of government over their citizens, instead returning to the rights originally outlined in the Constitution. The TEA Party also desired free market trading, reduced taxes, individual/state fiscal responsibility, and a return of the importance of the church and state connection (Miller 2014). The TEA Party protestors dressed in 1776 style clothing, reminding society
Taxed Enough Already was a grassroots movement, beginning with small groups and taking on numbers through social media word-of-mouth. Subgroups that considered themselves to have common goals, such as: Republicans, Libertarians, Evangelical Christians, and other conservatives banded together to raise money and awareness of their desire to increase individual rights and decrease the interference of the government on what they considered to be personal liberties. The TEA Party took on many supporters with high social and financial positions, such as former US congressmen Dick Armey and the Knoch Brothers. These people brought with them the resources of professional writers, political strategists, event organizers, and fundraising staff. Despite these resources, the TEA Party only found moderate success. They attempted to combat many legislative measures, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Affordable Health Care Act to no avail (Miller