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Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad.

Programme examining the ideas and forces which shape public policy in Britain and abroad, presented by distinguished writers, journalists and academics.

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Analysis: Tea Party Politics

Tea Party Politics

01/03/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, Tea Party Politics

Gary Younge assesses the strength and influence of the Tea Party movement in the US.

Gary Younge assesses the strength and influence of the Tea Party movement, a US grass-roots protest group which objects to deficit spending and big government.

Tea party politics is sweeping across America. Not genteel chat over cucumber sandwiches but a right wing protest movement against big government and high taxes, now widely regarded as the most vibrant political force in the United States. Author and journalist Gary Younge investigates the tea party movement. He finds out what sparked this grass roots insurgency, who the supporters are and assesses the potential impact of the tea party movement.  

Gary is invited to a tea party rally in Little Rock Arkansas where he meets supporters who are angry with the political establishment particularly the Republican party. "If the Republican Party does not pay attention to the tea party folks, they're not going to win the next election", one delegate told Gary. "We have to change the Republican Party and get more conservative, instead of the direction they've been trying to go over the last few years, which is leaning towards the middle".  The impetus for the launch of the tea party movement a year ago was the recent financial crisis and frustration at the bank bail-outs while ordinary people were losing their jobs, homes and savings. David Frum, a former speech writer for George W Bush tells Gary that the frustration with the Republican Party began much earlier.  

Over the last year the tea party movement has made its presence known with huge protests across the country. If 2009 was the year tea part activists got angry, 2010 is the year they get political. Now supporters have their eye on the mid-term elections later this year. Gary meets Rand Paul, an eye surgeon who is standing in the Senate elections. A few months ago he was a rank outsider. Today, after some intense campaigning and the endorsement of Sarah Palin he is the front runner. In several other campaigns the tea party movement is making an impact. Ring wing pollster Frank Luntz warns supporters not to jeopardise their chances of success by getting too angry and stubborn. Publisher and commentator Andrew Neil, who has long had a foot on either side of the Atlantic, tells Gary that there's a popular strand to American history and American politics which doesn't exist in the UK and which allows a phenomena like the tea party movement to merge: "I think it's the size of America and the diversity of America", Neil says, "that allows for grass root movements to grow up and become independent of New York or Washington".

Contributors:

Andrew Neil, Publisher and Commentator
Frank Luntz, Right wing pollster
David Frum, Author, journalist and former speech writer for George W Bush
Rand Paul, candidate for Senate in Kentucky, USA.

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