RECOMMENDED READING
Before there was a MAGA republicanism, there was the Tea Party. Founded in 2009, the movement organized around fiscal conservatism and opposition to the Affordable Care Act and government bailouts of the banking industry. But the Tea Party’s influence has waned. Only half of congressional Republicans voted for a limited government position on tax and fiscal issues in 2023, according to a study by the Institute for Legislative Analysis. And the movement has lost financial support following the recent closure of the conservative political group Freedom Works. We look at the history of the Tea Party movement and how it shaped today’s GOP.
Guests:
Vanessa Williamson, senior fellow, Brookings Institute – co-author of “The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism”
Fred McGrath, president, Institute for Legislative Analysis – an organization that collects data for advocates of Limited Government
Duncan Braid, coalition director, American Compass – a conservative economic policy advocacy organization
Recommended Reading
Big Business and Conservatives Are Headed for Divorce
In a discussion of the changing conservative approach to big business, Adrian Wooldridge highlights American Compass’s work on globalization and labor.
The Once and Future Republican Orthodoxy
The American Enterprise Institute has just released a new white paper that defends the CARES Act against arguments from the right. Contra deficit hawks and libertarians in Congress, Jay Cost argues that recent deficit-financed economic stimulus falls squarely within the “parameters of Republican orthodoxy on economic conservatism.”
Republicans Are Misremembering Their Record of ‘Fiscal Discipline’
If conservatism is to regain its footing, the New Right will need better solutions than what Trump has offered. But a return to what came before him is no solution at all.
