1. Entitlements
Many Tea Party candidates have called for reform of entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, both of which have begun to pay out more money than they take in. Recent Senate winners Rand Paul and Mike Lee have called for “systematic overhauls” of the politically popular programs. Other candidates, such as Pennsylvania Senator-elect Pat Toomey, advocate the partial privatization of Social Security. All of these candidates, however, say that it would be unfair to deny benefits to current retirees or those who are close to retirement.
2. Taxes
According to Arkansas Congressman-elect Tim Griffin, “the best way to get the economy going and create jobs is to put more money in the pockets of taxpayers. Tax relief encourages sustainable economic growth, innovation and job creation.” Supporters say believe that lowering taxes is the best way to jump-start the floundering U.S. economy. They back cutting capital gains taxes, reducing corporate tax rates, maintaining the Bush tax cuts and repealing the estate tax. Some politicians, including Tea Party leader Sen. Jim DeMint, have called for a single-rate tax system.
3. Health Care Reform
One recent issue which seemed to draw an especially large amount of Tea Party fervor was health care reform. It is no surprise that most Tea Party candidates called for a repeal of the legislation. Furthermore, they argued that government should empower people to make decisions about health care without costly mandates. This approach is consistent with the movement’s small government focus. Some proposed steps that Tea Partiers support include making all medical expenses tax deductible, enacting tort reform and allowing citizens to buy health insurance across state lines.
Read more: China Pushes US Back Onto Its Heels
4. Bailouts
According to pollster Scott Rasmussen, writer of Mad As Hell: How the Tea Party Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System, the primary event which triggered the Tea Party movement was the federal bailouts of private companies. Activists consider them to be unconstitutional, ineffective, and immoral since they involve the redistribution of wealth from citizens to private entities. Tea Parties are opposed to similar bailouts in the future. According to Rand Paul, “Federal bailouts reward inefficient and corrupt management, rob taxpayers, hurt smaller and more responsible private firms, exacerbate our budget problems, explode national debt, and destroy our US Dollar. Even more importantly, any bailout of private industry is in direct violation of the constitution.”
5. Government Spending
Although the Tea Party movement is often considered to be an offshoot of the Republican Party, one of its major concerns is the government spending increases which went virtually unchecked by Republicans. Tea Party activists argue that those who claim to be “fiscally conservative” have really as just as reckless at spending as other politicians. These activists argue that spending needs to be brought under control for a number of reasons. It burdens citizens with taxes, it permits further government growth if unchecked, and it increases the country’s reliance on foreign nations to buy America’s debt. As a result, almost all Tea Party-backed candidates have called for major cuts in government spending. Florida Senator-elect Marco Rubio, for example, wants to slash the budgets of the White House and Congress by 10%.
