[quote=briansd1]I’m waiting to find out that the long term strategy of the Tea Party is.[/quote]
Well personally, I doubt the Tea Party has a viable long term strategy. They will almost undoubtedly be absorbed back into the Republican party before a couple of years and will periodically resurface but will be about as important as “The Contract with America”.
But I think sd_matt has a very valid point that third party movements that gain momentum have an impact on the two primary parties. (And depending on details that’s a either a good thing or a bad thing)
The irony of this to me is that I love strategy, (to me politics is more entertaining than a football game!) and the Tea Party has presented an incredible opportunity to the Republicans. (Although they won’t be smart enough to recognize it and take advantage of it)
Despite all the rhetoric and debate you see on sites like this one, Americans are largely a middle of the road group, and they are often willing to accept compromises. Consequently if the two parties split into three parties, the party that could grab the middle ground would dominate for years. Now the trick is to split your party and yet still maintain enough votes in the segment that moves to the middle. In the past this was probably impossible, but nowadays there are so many independents that I think this could be doable. If the Repubs took this opportunity to dismiss all the right wing kooks off to the Tea Party, and then run to the middle, they could become the dominant party.
Of course it would be tricky and take some pretty strong leaders who could push the real conservative core under the bus while rallying the independents. And there’s always the danger that you would get squeezed in the middle and lose out. But I think it’s doable.
‘Course it’s all just speculation because the Repubs haven’t got a charismatic leader (a Ronald Reagan or JFK) these days and without a strong leader I don’t think you’d succeed.
