The “Tea Party” Movement and Its Misuse of History

We’ve seen a lot of the “Tea Party” protesters in recent weeks. Their main announced purpose, as they parade and wave their tea-bags, is to stop health-insurance reform, which they have branded a “socialist” (or, alternatively, fascist) invasion of private rights. They complain bitterly about taxation, and about government spending in general. Many go a good deal further, spouting incendiary (and often blatantly false) claims about government leaders and intentions. They insist that the “real” America – whatever recent elections say – hates and fears that government. They seem, indeed, determined to whip the like-minded into a frenzy bordering on violence. Many prominent conservatives have happily embraced this movement. House Minority Leader John Boehner proudly calls it the start of a “rebellion,” a rising of the angry masses against the government – a government he speaks of as if it had been imposed on the country against the people’s will.

The protesters steep themselves in the aura of the American Revolution, claiming to embody its spirit. Yet they seem to believe their anger should trump the will of a democratic majority – an idea that comes much closer to nullification and secession, the roots of the Civil War, than it does to our nation’s founding ideals. In comparing themselves to Boston’s 1773 destruction of tea, the “Tea Partiers” grossly misunderstand the history they claim to champion.

“Tea Party” is, first of all, a patronizing name never used by the participants (it was coined by 19th century writers uncomfortable with popular crowds). But, far more importantly, the 1773 event had nothing to do with taxes being too high – and it certainly wasn’t meant to condemn the idea of taxation in general. The issue was taxes imposed from Britain, without the consent of the people or their representatives. Far from denouncing taxation in general, the Revolutionaries often declared it their patriotic duty to pay, making much of their readiness to contribute to or even beyond the limits of their means – so long as they, through a majority vote of their representatives, made a free grant of their money to the government. The Revolutionary movement had little to do with the modern conservative notion that taxation is “organized theft.”

The “Tea Party” movement, when it invokes the Revolution, is completely confused on these points. Ironically, their take on the “Tea Party” is closer to that of the British and the Loyalists, who contemptuously caricatured the colonists as mere tax rebels.

The Revolution established elected government in America; after that, the militant methods of 1773 no longer applied. There were, to be sure, tax revolts after the Revolution – but most Revolutionary leaders condemned them. Taxes were now passed by majority consent through elected legislative assemblies, and were binding on majority and minority alike: extra-legal risings such as the tea action were no longer considered legitimate.

Many, of course, from the founding era on up, complained that taxes were too high, or that government was getting too big and too intrusive. But the Revolution had changed everything: government policy was determined by majorities of the people’s representatives. Those out of power have always had every right to challenge policies they dislike. Yet the route to redress was now through elections and the courts. Dissenters could not deny the legitimacy of elections they disapproved, or reject the rule of law because they disagreed with the majority’s decisions.

It would surely be well if senior politicians such as Boehner considered these facts, before tossing around words like “rebellion.” The “Tea Partiers” openly and proudly denounce our elected leaders as socialists, fascists, foreigners, and a good deal more besides. Defining themselves and their sympathizers as the only “real” Americans, they want a veto over the will of the actual voting majority. The leaders and thinkers of the American Revolution would have no tolerance for such tactics. The minority’s forcible refusal, within a republic, to abide by the majority’s constitutional acts betrays everything the Revolution achieved. That was why the Union eventually fought the Civil War – and one would have hoped, since then, that minority “rebellion” had lost its appeal as a political strategy.