Taxed Enough Already

Bringing Politics to Its State at the Beginning of the Republic

River Sween Senior Division Individual Websites

Process Paper
The Tea Party must be chosen as a history day topic because it reflects the ideals of the beginning of the Republic and brings up the question, are such ideals irrelevant in a developed America? From exposure to various bipartisan news sources, I have heard about the Tea Party on many different sources with different positions. I was thus introduced to the Tea Party quickly. Alas, I could find neither nonpartisan nor analytical sources about the Tea Party neither could I escape (personally) the Tea Party (even in a primarily liberal environment) for its ideals now influence my uncles and grandparents. I then assumed the Tea Party topic as important to the future and to comprehension of the history of populist movements and third parties. Already possessing a mainstream (media-induced) knowledge of the Tea Party, I could begin with more analytical (and descriptive) research on the Tea Party. I began research by finding two books on the Tea Party (The Tea Party: A Brief History and The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism); I then continued research with periodicals, news, and Tea Party websites (Tea Party Express and Tea Party Patriots). For the liberal opinion, however, I obtained an interview with a senior Democratic official (____________________). Upon finishing research for the Tea Party, I used previous knowledge from AP U.S. History and the textbook (The American Pageant) for research on connections to the Populist Party and the early populist movements and third parties of the Republic. Information on the Tea Party primarily exists in video clips, photographs, and interactive data. Therefore, a website is the most effective way to present all data on the Tea Party without limiting myself to photographs, and analytical diorama. Using a website, I can present 112th

Congress bills, Supreme Court decisions and data of the 2010 election in a consolidated format, allowing me to maximize visual evidence and my analyses. I thus created the website by using ideas from previously successful websites (national and state) and expanded it with my own ideas. I used both satire (uniform use of Puck satires for headers) and facts (e.g., H.R. 3) to juxtapose, thus emphasizing the seriousness of the Tea Partys influences. Alas, symmetry is used for simple structure. Rises of conservation reactions to the 2009 revolts changed the direction of conservatism, and strengthened Conservative and Liberal parties. Therefore, the Tea Party altered American politicsbeginning with Ronald Reagan. The Tea Party inspired a solemn state of outlook on the United States; it shifts the Republican Party farther right and the Democratic Party farther left. Tea Party congressmen pass legislation that resembles such bills passed during the beginning of the Republic. A wave of revolt along with reversion has dominated America since 2009. Thus, the Tea Party is not a new change in American politics, but a reversal to the grass roots ideology at the beginning of the Republic, which is what the Tea Party proclaims to restore (true conservatism against politics-as-usual). (496 words)