It has been one year since protesters gathered on Tax Day, and in the time since political observers have attempted to understand and explain the Tea Party movement. The mainstream media has covered the Tea Party as a political sideshow, the conservative media has embraced the Tea Party as their audience, the Republican Party has attempted to exploit the Tea Party for political gain, the Democratic Party has used controversial Tea Party rhetoric as political fodder, conservatives have both embraced and dismissed the Tea Party, and liberals have raised their concerns about the movement. The Tea Party has been a fascinating political movement to observe, and it is a complicated thing to explain. After a year of observing the movement, attending the rallies, town hall meetings, and debating individuals within the Tea Party movement I have an understanding of how the movement is viewed by those that are within the movement, the ideological divides within the movement, and the political realities of the movement. However, I have also observed the background motivations in the movement, and that privilege plays an important role in the Tea Party movement.
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