Tea party members getting political education courtesy of conservative activists
BEALETON, VA. — “Tea party” activists across the nation tried to put the “independence” back in Independence Day this weekend with festivals and other gatherings focused on the Constitution — and how to use it for political gain.
Coupled with an upsurge in organized classes and book clubs, the trend reflects a growing effort among conservatives to teach supporters how to do political battle using an inviolable weapon: the nation’s founding documents. It’s a change in emphasis for a movement that rose to prominence with spirited and sometimes unruly protests across the nation.
But it’s one that organizers hope will yield real political results by arming supporters with the detailed knowledge to back only those candidates who are loyal to their ideals.
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The view that the Constitution does not permit such federal actions as the passage of health reform, the regulation of the environment or the imposition of educational mandates on the states is, of course, a controversial one. Where the tea party sees an encroachment of states’ rights, the left sees a valid interpretation of the mandate, described in Article 1, Section 8, to provide for the “general welfare.”
Nonetheless, there is ample evidence that this renewed emphasis is making its way into the broader political conversation; in the recent Senate hearings to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, a flurry of questions about her interpretation of the Commerce Clause seemed pulled directly from the talking points of the tea party movement.
Scott and others look primarily to the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which grants to the states all powers not specifically given to the federal government. Like those on the left, they also point to Article 1, Section 8, which enumerates Congress’s specific powers, including the right to tax and to regulate commerce. In these two passages, conservatives find the evidence that Congress and the executive branch have dramatically overstepped their authority by enacting health reform and regulating the environment, among other things.
Some conservative activists also point to the 17th Amendment, but in this case they oppose it. That amendment established direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than appointment by their state legislatures. The thinking in that case is that the amendment removed the powerful Senate from control by the states.
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Groups such as those affiliated with the 9-12 Project, begun in 2009 by talk show host Glenn Beck, and the Campaign for Liberty, started by former presidential contender Ron Paul, have focused on the teachings of the Constitution for well over a year now. But the effort is spreading to tea party groups and others who simply call themselves conservatives.
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