"50shadesofkraut" is a German student with questions about the teabaggers. Willkommen, 50!

[elehhhhna]

50shadesofkraut (1 post)

12. Asking for your help

Dear members of Democratic Underground,

hello, my name is Till (or Terry in english).
I am a german College student from the University of Bonn.
Currently I am writing a research paper regarding the Tea party.
Therefor I would be really glad if you allowed me to ask you some questions concerning this matter.
Very sorry to post this in your thread.
As a new member, I have no permission to start one on my own.



Okay 50, ask your questions.

[CatWoman]

1. watch this vid, Till

[elehhhhna]

2. oooooh catwoman BRINGS IT!@!1!

[CatWoman]

4. .....

[50shadesofkraut]

17. Will Do !

Thanks a lot
this evening I am going to watch this video.
German publications regarding this matter seem to be out of context too often (like from an ivory tower).
Therefor sources recommended by Americans are very valuable to me.

[msanthrope]

3. What are your questions? nt

[PoliticAverse]

5. Nicht eine Google in Deutschland?... n/t

[Aristus]

6. Willkommen, Till!

[VanillaRhapsody]

7. I am from South Carolina....I think I have a pretty good handle on them...

even my parents are Teabaggers...

Ask away!

[50shadesofkraut]

14. That sounds great :)

To get a closer look at the south, may I ask you some questions, possibly via Skype or something alike ?

[VanillaRhapsody]

21. google chat perhaps?

[50shadesofkraut]

22. Would love too

Sorry you had to wait, I was @ work.
Just downloaded it which time would it suit you ?

[VanillaRhapsody]

23. Now when you get this....

I will message you...

[50shadesofkraut]

8. Referring my Questions

Thank you for the warm welcome,

For my research I am trying to find out whether the positions of Tea party congressmen on "moral Issues" differ by regions (especially regarding the former UNION and CSA states)
my hypothesis is, that the tea party was Designed as a link between the bible belt and fiscal conservatives in the north.
Therefor the party offically has no statments regarding "social issues".
(in this way they appear more reputable in the north while they score high in the south).

First i need to find out who were/are the parties libertarian and christian conservative spokesmen (especially the darlings, like ron paul and palin) and
how many members from which region were in the caucus 2010,
2012 and how many are there now.
Also if possible I would like to interview some of you members on this topic. (I am not allowed to quote you in my work, but i hope it could give me a lot deeper insight the topic, to hear from an American perspective).

[50shadesofkraut]

9. Sorry for the delay in writing

As you see, alas writing takes me a while.
Mostly because i don´t want to sound like an idiot,when writing in a different language.


Yes, PoliticAverse we have google too here, ( ;

The problem: because of all the polarization It is hard to find a reliable source. As well as it is to find out how americans who aren´t members feel about the party.
Briefly to get another perspective on aspects which aren´t repeated 1 mio. times on Fox or CBS.

[Aristus]

16. Your English is excellent, 50shades...

[haele]

10. "Tea Party" is a public relations construct.

Based primarily on two specific ideas or conceptualizations that are used to bring two types of ideology to work together.

The first part is a play on historical iconography to attract the Nativists or otherwise Pseudo-patriotic conservative - they can pretend they are walking alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams and the Boston Tea Party. It allows them to assume that the "Founding Fathers" would agree with the ideology that the corporate interests behind the Tea Party (Dick Army's Freedom Works, The Federalist Society and Heritage Fund, et all) is pushing on the political stage.

The second conceptualization is a play on the word "TEA" - "Taxed Enough Already". This attracts the Libertarians and many independents who feel that their taxes are being mis-used or that there is too much "regulation" that is inhibiting their personal business or leisure pursuits. Most of these types are living in a rather small world of operations where they don't have enough interaction with organizations outside their immediate interests to understand how interconnected the entire world is.

The attractiveness of these two concepts has been engineered to draw in citizens who feel newly marginalized or alienated by technological progress or with diversity, primarily those who had previously self-identified with groups that had been in the majority or the group had more advantage within the general political sphere.

The "Tea Party" gives them a place where they feel they have power and relevancy. It doesn't matter to them who is paying the bills to give them their echo chamber, or who is using them, or even whether or not the road they are going down will lead to an oligarchy, what matters that it gives them an identity of power - a voice and sense of belonging to a movement.

Haele

[50shadesofkraut]

12. How to prove it ?

Thank you haele,

this widely reflects my opinion,
my hypothesis is: By officially excluding social issues from their `agenda´the sponsors of this group try to unite the fiscal conservative (libertarian?) middle class from the north with the christian right movement and eternal confederates, who normally would reap apart each other over these social issues.
By doing so they want to appear above party lines.

The problem is to prove this by academic law.
I have to find out: Who is christian right and were does he/she comes from? and who is libertarian and where (region)
Also who were/are the faces of the party over time ?
(To the voters, not the actual members).


When the hell did it all begin ? (Definitely not with Santelli´s genius outburst)
Is Ron Paul the the actual funder (yeah I know it´s all astroturf, but what do the people believe) ?

The problem is to prove all this by academic law
(most statistics are simply faked in a big way)

[haele]

19. Ron Paul's Presidential Campaign may have shaped the direction of the Tea Party

But the concept of the Tea Party was not launched until the spring of 2009 (March/April?) after Barack Obama was elected President. Which, of course, was the final straw for Nativists (now re-naming themselves "Sovereign Citizens) and Christian Reconstructionist.

Ron Paul's Presidential campaign slogan icon was the Ron Paul REVOLution (with EVOL designed to look like "Love", indicating "Love of Country&quot , not the Boston Tea Party, even though he referenced the Boston Tea Party as part of the Libertarian ideal of "lower taxation/smaller government".

However, the funding behind the "Astro-turf" (as we call it here in the U.S.) that funded the two major Tea Party organizations is pretty much GOP and the two neo-party extremes; the neo-liberal (small government/free market) political and neo-conservative (Dominionist and like radical religious social organizations) that have associated themselves with the GOP since the Reagan administration embraced the Moral Majority and actively worked to kill the New Deal.

Even though many Tea Partiers claim they are "independent", they are basically GOP neo-liberals or neo-conservative fellow-travelers that cling to an authoritarian hierarchy.
If you can check some of the archives here, there were several threads from that period that have links to source articles that might help you with more authoritative artifacts you could use instead of the opining that we would provide you with now. The distance of time and events have colored a lot of the information you would be getting from us now.

Haele

[PoliticAverse]

11. There are members of Congress that have joined the 'Tea Party Caucus'...

There's a Wikipedia page that lists who they are and where they are from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Caucus

[50shadesofkraut]

13. Not allowed to use it :(

Thank You Political Averse, I know this site, the problem is,
I am not allowed to use wikipedia.
Also the source for the list is not available anymore (It was a link to the caucuses web page).
It seems as if the movement tried actively to suppress usable information about who really is in the party and who is affiliated.There is a list for that too on wikipedia, but the problem remains the same.

[PoliticAverse]

15. Yes the caucus isn't really an active one now, when Michele Bachmann had

a tough election it seems she lost interest in her caucus and as she isn't running for
reelection in 2014 it appears she has abandoned it.

[PoliticAverse]

18. What sources are you allowed to use?

Here's a July 29. 2011 list of members of the Tes Party Caucus from CNN:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/29/who-is-the-tea-party-caucus-in-the-house/

[50shadesofkraut]

20. Jackpot

Thanks a lot !
Yep I am allowed to use this
To make this a little more lively
Would it be possible to talk to some of you via skype or so ?
Like an actual conversation ?
(Also I know that Germans have a reputation to be rather uncivil therefor i am never quiet sure if i am using the right tone
involving gestures and facial expressions would help me a lot