How do you think future historians will look back on the Tea Party movement?
Doug Mainwaring, a member of the National Capital Tea Party Patriots, speaks his mind on what the Tea Party movement represents:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/19/the-conscience-of-the-me-generation/print/
A view of it now is one thing, but how do you think historians will look back on it when the history books are written?
It will depend on how many of it’s candidates make it to Congress or even the Presidency in 2 years. It could be the start of a new party, and it could turn out to be a footnote in political history. Do many people (old enough or from history) remember George Wallace’s “American Independent Party”. (1968, 1972) Is Ross Perot still thought of a lot? (1992)
If the Tea Party is a 3rd party it might not be a big thing in US history, but if it just merges with the more mainstream Republicans, it will just become a part of the party, just as the “Silent Majority” or ‘Religious Right” have over the decades. Maybe the Republicans are getting more factions, just as the Democrats always have had.
How will future historians see the Tea Party movement? Probably with great guffaws, just as today people laugh at the Know Nothing Party.