Where are we Going in 2010?

Andrew Ian Dodge asks questions about where the tea party movement is headed in 2010 over at Pajamas Media.

How far has the tea party movement come since the beginning of last year? A massive event occurred in Washington, D.C., on 9/12, and even greater numbers of people demonstrated all over the country to express their frustration. But ultimately, have they achieved any results? The bills have still gone through, and Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama have shucked aside criticisms.

Ignoring the (majority) public outcry, some legislators have gone so far as to ban tea party members from their offices under penalty of arrest. Most of the MSM, excluding Fox, has carried the Democrats’ water, portraying tea parties as a fringe movement at best and domestic terror breeding at worst. …

What should the tea party movement be doing to make itself more effective and to not exist merely as an exploitable outlet for the frustrated? …

What may have affected the development of the activists is the fact that many seemed to have been suffering under the delusion that they were “reinventing” politics at the grassroots. Politics is politics, and even the tea party movement has been affected by egos, personality clashes, regionalism, and fakery.

The tea party movement may be best served by operating locally. Mass rallies in D.C. and phone-calling initiatives do not seem to be effective in modern politics. Local activism could have an actual effect, and is a good part of what the left has done to gain power.

The movement needs to be thinking about 2012 and beyond. They need to train themselves to effectively work in the political sphere that exists, not the fantasy one that has been created by the enthusiasm of the movement. Obama fooled millions with a promised “new dawn in politics.”

It’s interesting because it goes along with something else I read on TechPresident over the holidays from the left perspective on why the “transformed” campaign-style of Obama was really not the mythical bottom-up campaign the press has claimed.  It was a modern twist on an old style of campaigning, it’s just that Obama was the first presidential candidate to use the new technological tools to pull it off.  As best described, they shared tasks, not power.  It was still very top-down.

The tea party movement is similar.  It’s not really that new for people to protest their government, it’s just that it hasn’t been done in a while (at least on our side) and we’re taking advantage of new tools to do it.  Granted, I’m not as pessimistic about the outcomes as Dodge seems to be because I think the movement has put up serious roadblocks that no party with a super majority could have imagined.  Yet, we have.  Remember when health care was going to be written only by progressives and passed with a signature by August?  The moderates in the Democratic Party at least had a voice in the current versions, and Pelsoi and Reid are so scared that they are conducting the closed door meetings to get the thing passed themselves instead of going the usual conference route.  That doesn’t make the end result any prettier, but this is not something that could have been predicted when Obama took office with the numbers he had in Congress.

But what next?  Dodge makes the very spot on point that the tea party movement faces an uphill battle trying to go the route of forming a third party in most states.  But what they can do is influence the primary process in both parties and the general election result for area races.

In our district, there are at least four declared challengers to Patrick Murphy (D-BigSpenderVille), and the local tea party organizers who put on a phenomenally successful event last year is hosting a candidate forum.  This is not only useful as a way to be taken more seriously by the political class, but it’s also a huge potential boost for candidates themselves.  With the primary bout between these candidates just over four months away, any supporters they pick up at the forum will be worth their weight in gold even if they give just a couple of hours of time stuffing envelopes or making phone calls in advance of the election.  Talk about making future lawmakers sit up and listen now – this is the way to do it.

That said, here’s the nationwide primary calender.  While this is officially only for Congressional races, most states have only one primary date, so it should also apply to just about all state offices as well.  The votes of your immediate family may well be enough to swing a low level primary race, so don’t bitch that your votes don’t matter.  Even making a victory more decisive can make a huge difference in fundraising and attention a candidate can receive from the party folks.

Illinois, you’re up first in February.  Next it’s Texas in March.  Early May has Indiana, North Carolina, and Ohio.  For those of you in Ohio, your state elections are of vital importance.  Your state is losing two entire Congressional districts.  Whatever party leads in the 2010 elections will decide which districts are cut.  That’s not an issue that you can change in the next election, that’s a result you live with for at least 10 years.