Welcome to the 6-part series on how the Tea Party has impacted America for the worse in the past 5 years. We're now on the 3rd part of the series: the issues that defined the Tea Party Movement over the past 5+ years.
This report will be a 6-part series on the Tea Party Movement 5 Years Later:
02.19.2014: The beginnings of the largely astroturfed Tea Party Movement
02.20.2014: Tea Party: Who's Who and the roles they played
02.21.2014: The issues that the Tea Party Movement has advocated for or against
02.22.2014: The Tea Party's impact on the 2010 and 2012 elections
02.23.2014: The impact of how the Tea Party's influence and governing has paralyzed governing in the nation and the states
02.24.2014: The future of the Tea Party Movement in 2014, 2016, and beyond
Next: The Tea Party's impact on the 2010 and 2012 elections
Hashtag to use: #TeaParty5YL
Abortion:
This movement is responsible for severely weakening abortion rights in states that they controlled as part of the war on women.
The policies include unnecessary TRAP Laws, forced transvaginal ultrasound laws, expansion and/or introduction of waiting periods for abortions, defunding Planned Parenthood, funding medically inaccurate crisis pregnancy clinics (aka "anti-choice propaganda centers"), weaken buffer zones outside clinics and encourage intimidation of persons in or near the clinic area, and even personhood laws that would criminalize/prohibit abortion completely plus some forms of birth control and contraception.
Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comment, attacks levied against filibuster hero Wendy Davis by calling her "Abortion Barbie", and Richard Mourdock's "that God intended to happen” rape remarks are a few examples of such anti-choice lunacy in the movement.
Climate Change:
This group is very strongly against climate change, as evidenced with cap and trade.
Economy:
This issue is the the supposed raison d'être of the movement was "Taxed Enough Already," but we knew what the Tea Party stood for in addition to this issue.
The movement advocates extreme economic policies that benefit the ultra-rich at the expense of the poor and middle class.
The movement's economic viewpoints caused the government shutdown back in October 2013.
Environment:
This movement is very strongly opposed to environmentalism, especially by attacking the EPA.
Food Insecurity:
This movement is very heavily opposed to food stamps and is supportive of the highly unconstitutional (this is in stark contrast to the TP Movement's claim to being Constitution lovers) poor-people shaming drug testing for welfare recipients policies.
Foreign Policy:
This is probably the most divided issue within the Tea Party movement.
Certain portions of the wing want to continue the US-Israel alliance and be the world's police office, while some others (most notably the Paulist wing) want a more isolationist foreign policy.
Guns/2nd Amendment:
This movement is very strongly pro-gun rights to the point that even a teeny tiny step towards sensible gun laws (i.e. Assault Weapons Ban, Background Checks) are seen as an "infringement of the 2nd Amendment" and "one step closer to confiscation of our guns."
Texas Congressman Steve Stockman had an extremely distasteful bumper sticker entitled "If babies had guns, they wouldn't be aborted."
Hate Crimes Law of 2009:
Christian Conservative elements of the movement heavily opposed the 2009 Hate Crimes Act, by falsely claiming it would "muzzle and/or jail pastors/priests/bishops/rabbis/imams who preach that homosexuality is a 'sin'" (a baloney claim that the Religious Right keeps peddling).
Health Care Reform:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [PPACA] (aka "Obamacare")is the law that the Tea Party Movement hates the most, by their repeated efforts to repeal the bill in the GOP-dominated House.
They were pissed when SCOTUS upheld the law in June 2012.
Sen. Ted Cruz's insistence on defunding the bill led us to a shutdown of the government for 2+ weeks in October.
Somewhat related to Obamacare, most of the Tea Party has opposed Medicaid expansion in the states.
Immigration Reform:
In contrast to some of the establishment-oriented wing of the GOP (and most of Sane America), the TP Movement is very anti-immigration.
Marco Rubio has supported immigration reform, only to come under fire for it and got him branded an "amnesty-loving RINO."
Income Inequality:
Majority of its members are dismissive of income inequality.
Judicial Nominations:
This group is heavily responsible for the slowdown on judicial nominations in the Senate.
LGBTQ Rights/Marriage Equality:
A large percentage of the movement has opposed LGBTQ rights, such as marriage equality, non-discrimination laws like ENDA, and transgender rights.
Tea Party Nation has been the main group leading anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the movement.
Most of its members defended Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson's homophobic and racist comments, by falsely claiming it as "free speech" and attacking the people who criticized Robertson.
Minimum Wage:
The Tea Party Movement, in contrast to the rest of Americans, heavily oppose increasing the minimum wage and some have even advocated abolishing the minimum wage.
Net Neutrality:
A large portion of the movement has opposed net neutrality, saying it is a "form of socialism."
Race Relations:
Most of the movement has a penchant of espousing bigoted views on race, most notably by defending George Zimmerman's murdering of Trayvon Martin as "justified", defending Paula Deen's usage of the "N-word", supported Phil Robertson's racist views on Civil Rights Movement-era Louisiana, and espousing racist views against President Obama and his family, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, NAACP, and other liberal-leaning African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos (especially Mexicans), and Arabs.
And there's more: a bunch of signs at tea party rallies that had racially tinged attacks against President Obama.
Religion:
A majority of the tea party participants tend to be primarily Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christians and conservative Catholics; thus, it is seen as an extension of the Religious Right.
During the Park51 (aka "Ground Zero Mosque") debate in 2010, a lot of the most prominent voices of the movement have expressed anti-Islamic sentiment in opposing its construction at that site.
Role of Government:
Almost all of the Tea Party movement claim to want "small government," but what most of them don't realize is that they made the size of government even bigger.
Terrorism:
Most of the movement has expressed preference of defending the War On Terror; however, the genuine libertarians in the movement have opposed its measures, such as waterboarding (a form a torture).
Unions:
The movement is largely against unions, as evidenced in the states that they dominated the political process (Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee).
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was the key ringleader in the GOP/Tea Party union-busting frenzy, which led to protests against him and his extremist anti-union policies. He sadly survived a recall in June 2012 due to the Teabaggers' influence.
Michigan and Indiana got added to the "Right-To-Work For Less" list in 2012, under Governors Rick Snyder (contradicting an earlier promise NOT to sign a bill that makes his state RTWFL) and Mitch Daniels, respectively.
Missouri could consider RTWFL soon, and should the GOP get the trifecta in those states, Kentucky and West Virginia.
On the other hand, states that should have a good shot at repealing RTWFL in the near future: Nevada and Iowa.
They played a huge role (especially Senator Bob Corker) in the recent UAW loss in the VW Chattanooga vote.
Violence Against Women Act:
A majority of the tea party movement either opposed VAWA's reinstation outright or supported the House GOP version of the bill.
Eventually, the LGBTQ-friendly (aka Senate) version of the bill passed.
Voting Rights:
A large majority of the movement supports restrictive voter suppression laws, such as "voter ID" to supposedly combat "voter fraud" (which is largely nonexistent) and cutting down the days somebody can go to early vote.