- Tea Party Nation
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Tea Party Nation Corporation is a Conservative American political organization considered part of the tea party movement.[1] Their official website describes them as "group of like-minded people who desire our God given Individual Freedoms which were written out by the Founding Fathers. We believe in Limited Government, Free Speech, the 2nd Amendment, our Military, Secure Borders and our Country!"[2]
The group was created by former Shelby County, Tennessee assistant district attorney Judson Phillips in 2009.[3] It runs a social networking site for conservative activists[4] and is best known for organizing the 2010 National Tea Party Convention.
Phillips has said the founders’ principle of restricting voting rights to property owners “makes a lot of sense.”[5]
Contents
National Tea Party Convention
Tea Party Nation organized the National Tea Party Convention held February 4–6, 2010.[6] Around 600 activists attended the event,[7] and Sarah Palin was featured as the keynote speaker. The event was criticized for its $549 ticket price,[8][9][10][11] as well as the fact that Palin was apparently paid $100,000 USD for her appearance.[12] Palin has said she will donate the fee to unspecified conservative causes.[13]
Several prominent conservative organizations refused to participate in the event due to its for-profit nature. The Tea Party Patriots advised members not to participate in December 2009.[14] Erick Erickson of the conservative blog RedState.com described the convention as "scammy" on January 11.[15] The American Liberty Alliance (ALA), initially a co-sponsor, withdrew its support on January 13.[16] Later in January, Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn cancelled their plans to speak.[17]
At the convention, it was announced that a 501(c)(4) corporation and political action committee (PAC) called "Ensuring Liberty" would be formed to support candidates for office in the 2010 elections.[14][18][19]
A subsequent convention was booked for the following July, postponed until October, and ultimately cancelled. On July 18, 2011 the Venetian Casino Resort filed suit for unpaid bills allegedly totaling $642,144. [20]
Criticism
Tea Party Nation, and specifically its founder, have generated criticism and controversy. For example, founder Judson Phillips' stance that voting rights should be restricted to property owners has been criticized as discriminatory and outdated:
Phillips is advocating a policy of voter disenfranchisement that has its roots in the 18th century. When the United States was first founded, ownership of property was one of the requirements to vote in most elections. Many of these restrictions were phased out by the 1820s and replaced with requirements that the voter pays taxes. By 1850, these requirements, too, were phased out. Nashville Scene blogger Betsy Phillips calls the Tea Party Nation president’s idea a "frivolous proposal designed to stoke intergenerational antagonism — as if the people who are older and can afford a home are somehow better citizens than the 18-year-olds who are going off to war to die for our country."[21]
In an Oct. 2010 statement endorsing Lynne Torgerson (the Independence Party of Minnesota candidate for Minnesota's 5th congressional district), Phillips was accused of making an Islamophobic attack against Rep. Keith Ellison. Phillips controversial attack asserted that Ellison is unfit for congress in part because Ellison is Muslim.[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] The candidate Phillips endorsed was also controversial for her assertion that Islam "is not ‘religion’ recognizable under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution." [28] [29]
Phillips is also known for the controversial comments he made after the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), and the murders of a federal district judge and others, during a shooting spree on January 8, 2011.[30] He described the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, as "a leftist lunatic,"[31] apparently because one person who knew Loughner in high school said he was a liberal several years ago.[32] Phillips instructed members of Tea Party Nation to blame liberals for the attempted assassination to defend the tea party movement's recent electoral gains: "The hard left is going to try and silence the Tea Party movement by blaming us for this," likening the expected blowback to the criticism heaped on "conservative talk radio, especially Rush Limbaugh" for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.[33]
One commentator, Garance Franke-Ruta, wrote that Phillips in the e-mail, "[s]how[ed] no sign of tamping down on divisive political rhetoric in the wake of the shooting."[34] Writing on Forbes.com, Rick Ungar called the e-mail a "deeply disturbing memo."[35] "It was immediately clear," Ungar continued, "that Mr. Phillips is far more concerned about his own political interests and power than he is with the health of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords or in experiencing even the tiniest measure of compassion for the families who lost loved ones in this awful attack."[36]
See also
- Patriot movement
References
- ^ Entity Detail
- ^ Tea Party Nation
- ^ Judson Phillips Threw a Tea Party, and Trouble Showed Up - AOL News
- ^ Tea parties emerge as revenue stream - Yahoo! News
- ^ Jilani, Zaid. "Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners ." Think progress, 30 Nov 2010
- ^ "Tea Party Nation to Host National Tea Party Convention". http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/prnewswire/press_releases/Tennessee/2009/12/10/CL24601.
- ^ http://washingtonindependent.com/75905/media-at-the-tea-party-convention
- ^ Why the Tea Party Convention is tea-tering on the edge / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
- ^ Zernike, Kate (January 26, 2010). "Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/us/politics/26teaparty.html. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ Tea Partying for profit? - First Read - msnbc.com
- ^ Palin prête pour une révolution
- ^ Zernike, Kate (February 6, 2010). "Palin Assails Obama at Tea Party Meeting". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/us/politics/08palin.html?hp.
- ^ a b Zernike, Kate (February 6, 2010). "Convention Is Trying to Harness Tea Party Spirit". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/us/politics/06teaparty.html. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ Zernike, Kate (January 26, 2010). "Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/us/politics/26teaparty.html?partner=rss&emc=rss. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ Our decision to sit out of the Tea Party Convention « American Liberty Alliance
- ^ "Tea Party convention loses two Republican lawmakers over ethics concerns". The Washington Post. January 29, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012803565.html. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ Time. February 5, 2010. http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/02/05/the-tea-party-goes-mainstream/. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ New Tea Party PAC: Can it raise $10 million for midterm revolt? / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
- ^ "Las Vegas resort sues tea party group over hotel bill". Las Vegas Review Journal. July 19, 2011. http://www.lvrj.com/news/las-vegas-resort-sues-tea-party-group-over-hotel-bill-125851363.html. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
- ^ Jilani, Zaid (Nov. 30, 2010). "Tea Party Nation President Says It 'Makes A Lot Of Sense' To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners". ThinkProgess.org. http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/30/tea-party-voting-property/. Retrieved Dec. 2010.
- ^ Birkey, Andy. "Tea Party Nation backs Torgerson because Ellison is Muslim". The Minnesota Independent. http://minnesotaindependent.com/73055/tea-party-nation-backs-torgerson-because-ellison-is-muslim.
- ^ Elliot, Justin. "Tea Party leader: Defeat Ellison because he's Muslim". Salon. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/26/tea_party_nation_phillips_ellison_muslim.
- ^ Lach, Eric. "Tea Party Nation: Retire Rep. Ellison For Being A Muslim". Talking Points Memo. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/tea-party-nation-retire-rep-ellison-for-being-a-muslim.php. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ Alfano, Sean. "Tea Party official points to Rep. Keith Ellison's worship of Islam as reason to vote against him". NY Daily News. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-10-26/news/27079245_1_ellison-muslims-american-islamic-relations. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ "Rep. Keith Ellison on Tea Party Anti-Muslim Bigotry". http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/1/muslim_congressman_keith_ellison_on_tea. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ Birkey, Andy. "Tea Party Nation’s Judson Phillips defends endorsement of Torgerson over Ellison". The Minnesota Independent. http://minnesotaindependent.com/73121/judson-phillips-lynne-torgerson-keith-ellison. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ Steller, Chris. "Torgerson takes on Ellison — and Islam — in 5th District". The Minnesota Independent. http://minnesotaindependent.com/51029/torgerson-ellison-5th-district. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ Van Denberg, Hart (Dec 15, 2009). "Lynne Torgerson denies attacking Keith Ellison's Muslim faith". City Pages. http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/12/lynne_torgerson.php. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ "Judson Phillips – Don’t Blame Us, Blame The Leftist Lunatics". HomebrewedTheology.com. Jan. 9, 2011. http://homebrewedtheology.com/judson-phillips-dont-blame-us-blame-the-leftist-lunatics.php. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2011.
- ^ "Judson Phillips – Don’t Blame Us, Blame The Leftist Lunatics". HomebrewedTheology.com. http://homebrewedtheology.com/judson-phillips-dont-blame-us-blame-the-leftist-lunatics.php.
- ^ MacNicol, Glynnis (Jan. 8, 2011). "Alleged Shooter Jared Loughner May Have Met Rep. Giffords Previously". BusinessInsider.com. http://www.businessinsider.com/woman-who-says-she-went-to-school-with-alleged-shooter-says-he-met-giffords-in-2007-2011-1. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2011.
- ^ "Judson Phillips – Don’t Blame Us, Blame The Leftist Lunatics". HomebrewedTheology.com. http://homebrewedtheology.com/judson-phillips-dont-blame-us-blame-the-leftist-lunatics.php.
- ^ Franke-Ruta, Garance (Jan. 9, 2011). "Tea Party Group Blames 'Leftist' for Giffords Shooting". TheAtlantic.com. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/tea-party-group-blames-leftist-for-giffords-shooting/69153/. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2011.
- ^ Ungar, Rick (Jan. 9, 2011). "Tea Party Shamed By Founder Judson Phillips". Forbes.com. http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/09/tea-party-shamed-by-founder-judson-phillips/?boxes=financechannelforbes. Retrieved Jan. 9, 2011.
- ^ Ungar. "Tea Party Shamed By Founder Judson Phillips". Forbes. http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/09/tea-party-shamed-by-founder-judson-phillips/?boxes=financechannelforbes.
Tea Party movement Issues Constitutional conservatism · Constitutional economics · Contract from America · Opposition to taxation · Originalism · American exceptionalismHistory Right America: Feeling Wronged - Some Voices from the Campaign Trail · Tea Party protests · List of Tea Party protests, 2009 · Taxpayer March on Washington · List of Tea Party protests, 2010 · Restoring Honor rallyPeople Dick Armey · Michele Bachmann · Glenn Beck · Herman Cain · Keli Carender · Jim DeMint · Karl Denninger · Matt Kibbe · Rush Limbaugh · Mark Levin · Sarah Palin · Ron Paul · List of Tea Party politiciansOrganizations Tea Party Patriots · Americans For Prosperity · FreedomWorks · Tea Party Express · Tea Party Nation · National Tea Party FederationRelated topics Tea Party CaucusCategories:- Political organizations in the United States
- Tea Party movement
- Anti-Protestantism
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