“Where Liberty Reigns and God is Supreme”: The Christian Right and the Tea Party Movement

Abstract

In this article we argue that the tea party movement is the most conspicuous contemporary vehicle for reconciliation between Christian and economic conservatives. The analysis draws upon participant observation of two recent Christian right events at which the tea party was a central preoccupation. Offering evidence of the dynamics of a shifting framing process, it is argued that the Christian right elites are willing to accommodate strategically the precedence of economic issues but only if these are accompanied by a commitment to familiar Christian right positions on social issues.

Notes

¹ Paul Krugman, “Tea Parties Forever,” New York Times, April 12, 2009, < http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/opinion/13krugman.html>. Krugman's assessment was that “the tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf (fake grassroots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects.”

² For example, see commentary from a one-day conference at the University of California, Berkeley in October 2010 entitled “Fractures, Alliances and Mobilizations in the Age of Obama: Emerging Analyses of the ‘Tea Party Movement,’” October 22, 2010; Chip Berlet, “Tea Party Loyalists Biased Against Blacks, Latinos, Immigrants, and Gays,” Alternet.org , October 26, 2010, < http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/10/26/tea-party-loyalists-biased-against-blacks-latinos-immigrants-gays/>; Peter Montgomery, “Taking the Tea Party Seriously,” People for the American Way, October 27, 2010, < http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/taking-tea-party-seriously>. In Adele M. Stan's article “7 Myths about the Tea Party,” myth number two is “The Tea Party movement is not an authentic grassroots movement; it's the creation of Astroturf groups.” Stan goes on to acknowledge the important roles of funders, conservative elites, and conservative media in the movement: “The success of FreedomWorks, AFP [Americans for Prosperity] and Fox News in mobilizing the Tea Party movement has brought an army of political operatives and lobbyists to the gates. Taken together, I think of these entities as ‘Tea Party, Inc.,’ distinct from the grassroots right-wing movement they often successfully mobilize.” Adele M. Stan, “7 Myths about the Tea Party,” in Don Hazen and Adele M. Stan (eds), Dangerous Brew: Exposing the Tea Party's Agenda to Take Over America (San Francisco, CA: AlterNet Books, 2010), p. 32.

³ In this article we employ “conservative” to indicate the general ideological positioning of those seeking to conserve the current social, economic, and political structure rather than specifically those associated with the Republican Party. We use the term “economic” conservative to refer to those who would give political priority to economic concerns or fiscal policy issues. We use the qualifying terms “social” and “moral” to refer to those conservatives who would give political priority to the preservation of what they interpret as Judeo-Christian tradition privileging, for example, patriarchy and the heterosexual family model. This is most readily identifiable in American political discourse through the wedge issues of anti-abortion and anti-gay rhetoric but it is not limited to these indicators. When referring to the political elites who are most often the public face of social/moral conservatism, we specify “Christian conservative” as they are most often leaders in Christian tradition and who, despite doctrinal differences, work as political co-belligerents on specific socio-political issues. For more discussion of these identifiers see Daniel K. Williams, God's Own Party (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010); Sara Diamond, Spiritual Warfare (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1989); Chip Berlet (ed.), Eyes Right! (Boston, MA: South End Press, 1995).

⁴ See Adele M. Stan, “Right Wingers Marching in DC Is Big News—But the Same Old Faces Are Pulling the Strings: The Men Behind the Religious Right Make a Comeback with the Tea Party Movement,” Alternet.org , September 14, 2009, < http://www.alternet.org/news/142606/right_wingers_marching_in_dc_is_big_news_–_but_the_same_old_faces_are_pulling_the_strings>.

⁵ PEW Research Center subscribers receive email newsletters that feature new surveys and publications, and the descriptive phrase about tea party supporters appeared in the February 24, 2011 newsletter.

⁶ Scott Clement and John C. Green, “The Tea Party, Religion, and Social Issues,” PEW Research Center, February 23, 2011, < http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1903/tea-party-movement-religion-social-issues-conservative-christian>.

⁷ The Christian homeschooling movement is a significant source for pedagogy on the providential history of America. For one resource, see Mark A. Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell, America's Providential History (Including Biblical Principles of Education, Government, Politics, Economics, and Family Life) (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Foundation, 1991). For more on the theme of American exceptionalism see, for example, Shelby Steele “Obama and the Burden of Exceptionalism,” < http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576532623176115558.html?mod = djemEditorialPage_h>.

⁸ Marilynn B. Brewer, “The Psychology of Prejudice: Ingroup Love or Outgroup Hate?,” Journal of Social Issues 55:3 (1999), pp. 429–444; Cynthia Burack, Sin, Sex and Democracy (Albany, NY: SUNY, 2008).

⁹ Burack, Sin, Sex and Democracy; D. Michael Lindsay, Faith in the Halls of Power (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); Williams, God's Own Party; Clyde Wilcox, Onward Christian Soldiers (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996); Didi Herman, The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998).

¹⁰ Robert D. Benford and David A Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements,” Annual Review of Sociology 26 (2000), pp. 611–639, at p. 612. For more on the framing process in particular, see W.A. Gamson, B. Fireman, and S. Rytina, Encounters with Unjust Authority (Homewood, IL: Dorsey, 1992).

¹¹ Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements,” p. 613; see also David A. Snow and Robert D. Benford, “Ideology, Frame Resonance and Participant Mobilization,” International Social Movement Research 1 (1988), pp. 197–218.

¹² Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements,” p. 623.

¹³ Benford, “Framing Disputes with in the Nuclear Disarmament Movements,” Social Forces 71 (1993), p. 691.

¹⁴ Benford and Snow, “Framing Processes and Social Movements,” p. 623.

¹⁵ Frank Baumgartner, “EU Lobbying: A View from the US,” Journal of European Public Policy 14:3 (2007), p. 486.

¹⁶ Frank Baumgartner, “EU Lobbying: A View from the US,” Journal of European Public Policy 14:3 (2007), p. 486, 486.

¹⁷ Frank R. Baumgartner and Bryan D. Jones, Agendas and Instability in American Politics (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2009).

¹⁸ William Connolly, Christianity and Capitalism, American Style (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008), p. 44. Connolly's thoughtful discussion of the relationship between capitalism and Christianity buttresses work in other areas of political science such as Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart, Sacred and Secular (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), mapping a direct link between religious fundamentalism and social welfare security, as well as Kees Van Kersbergen and Philip Manow (eds), Religion, Class Coalitions and Welfare States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), tracing the development of capitalism and the migration of Reformed Protestantism.

¹⁹ Cynthia Burack and Angelia R. Wilson, “Enemies and Allies: The Impact of US Christian Right Rhetoric on EU Politics,” in Peter Scott, Christopher Baker and Elaine L. Graham (eds), Remoralizing Britain (London: Continuum, 2008), pp. 136–154; Brian R. Calfano, Paul A. Djupe, and Angelia R. Wilson, “God Talk in the UK,” Journal of Politics & Religion, forthcoming 2012.

²⁰ Norman Fairclough, Language and Power (London: Longman, 1989), p. 52; see also Brewer, “The Psychology of Prejudice.” With Fairclough's work in mind, this article locates our interpretation firmly within the context of Christian right repertoires that lend meaning to language.

²¹ Burack, Sin, Sex and Democracy; Burack and Wilson “Enemies and Allies”; Calfano, Djupe, and Wilson “God Talk in the UK.” In addition to the large plenary session speakers discussed in this article, Values Voters holds small group sessions instructing grassroots activists in campaign methods, questions to ask candidates, recruitment of congregational members, setting up “cultural impact teams,” voter registration, candidate “values score cards” and policy details. These sessions are highly organized, offer a clear ideological perspective and do not allow for substantive audience participation or critical discussion.

²² Baumgartner, “EU Lobbying: A View From the US,” notes the strategic use of different frames for different venues; Burack's Sin, Sex, and Democracy, elaborates on various frames and how they are communicated to Christian conservatives by movement elites. For an example of the in-group framing pedagogy in action see The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), “Talking Points,” (2011), < http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.4475595/k.566A/Marriage_Talking_Points.htm>. NOM encourages its members to speak of their opposition to same-sex marriage in terms of the rights of both LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and heterosexual Americans.

²³ Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Touchstone, Simon and Schuster, 1991), pp. 812–813.

²⁴ Lindsay, Faith in the Halls of Power; Williams, God's Own Party.

²⁵ Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, pp. 815–816. It is important to note that Cannon's conception of Christian conservatives is different than the one that has come to common use in the years since his book was published. Cannon argues, for example that Koop's 1986 AIDS report was “generally accepted” by the Christian right; it was not, any more than Koop's later refusal to issue a report confirming the harm to women of abortion was accepted by the Christian right. On the other hand, Cannon identifies those who rejected the 1986 report as “secular elements of the New Right,” but in the years since the Reagan administration it has become clearer that Phyllis Schlafly, William Bennett, and Gary Bauer understand themselves not just as economic conservatives, but as Christian conservatives.

²⁶ Burack, field notes, 2006 Values Voter Summit, September 26, 2011. Speaking to a small group of activists at a ticketed “Americans United to Preserve Marriage Breakfast” at the Summit, Bauer told attendees that it is appropriate for Christian conservatives to be angry and to pressure a party that fails adequately to support socially conservative Christian candidates for public office.

²⁷ The subject of the ideological diversity of the movement arose during a panel discussion of political scientists (including Burack) and the FreedomWorks President and CEO Kibbe at George Mason University on September 15, 2010. At the event, “Remembering the Constitution: The Tea Party and the Future of American Politics,” Kibbe insisted on both the “leaderless”/decentralized nature of the movement and its ideological consistency as a movement that advocates libertarian principles, constitutional fealty, and a minimal state. We disagree with both of these characterizations of the movement.

²⁸ Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe, Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto (New York: William Morrow, 2010).

²⁹ Many tea party activists have denied the existence of racist elements in the movement. Writing for the Washington Post, David Weigel notes that after charges of racism in the tea party became common, movement activists made a concerted effort to police public events and exclude supporters bearing racist signs; see David Weigel, “Five Myths about the ‘Tea Party,’” The Washington Post, August 8, 2010.

³⁰ Kenneth Vogel, “Tea Party Expulsion Reveals New Rift,” Politico, July 20, 2010, < http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39940.html>. Before he responded to the NAACP resolution Williams had described Obama as “an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug” on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, September 14, 2009. After his expulsion from the Tea Party Federation he went on to lead the fight against the Lower Manhattan Mosque.

³¹ FreedomWorks, Press Release, July 14, 2010, < http://www.freedomworks.org/press-releases/freedomworks-responds-to-naacp-allegations-of-raci>.

³² Kate Zernike, “Tea Party Confidential,” In These Times, September 17, 2010, < http://inthesetimes.com/article/6439/tea_party_confidential>. Jennifer Stefano is now Director of Communications/Spokeswoman for Americans for Prosperity.

³³ Wilson, field notes, George Mason University, September 15, 2010.

³⁴ John Doran, “Big Sky Tea Party Cans Chief,” September 7, 2008, < http://helenair.com/news/article_e0299ac8-ba42-11df-a560-001cc4c03286.html>.

³⁵ The poll, sponsored by the University Washington Institute for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality is available at: < http://www.washingtonpoll.org/results/June1_teaparty.pdf>. See also results from Christopher Parker's multi-state survey, < http://depts.washington.edu/uwiser/racepolitics.html>.

³⁶ In an essay first published in The American Prospect, Michelle Goldberg argues that the Christian right is currently experiencing “the return of the repressed” racial anxiety that prompted a campaign of racial reconciliation in the 1990s. See Michelle Goldberg, “Tea Party Returns Christian Right to its Racist Past,” in Don Hazen and Adele M. Stan (eds), Dangerous Brew: Exposing the Tea Party's Agenda to Take Over America (San Francisco, CA: AlterNet, 2010), pp. 141–143.

³⁷ These distinctions between the contents of in-group and public rhetorics on same-sex sexuality and LGBT people rely on the analysis in Burack, Sin, Sex and Democracy.

³⁸ Teun A. van Dijk, Text and Context (London: Longman, 1977); and Teun A. van Dijk, Discourse and Power (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

³⁹ Jill Lepore, The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010).

⁴⁰ The Christian right's economic conservatism, including interpretations of the Bible as a primer for capitalism, owe much to the influence of Christian Reconstructionism on the Christian conservative movement as a whole. See Gary North, An Introduction to Christian Economics, < http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/docs/2236_47e.htm>, which was originally published in 1973. For an analysis of other key spokespersons for Christian libertarianism see Linda Kintz, Between Jesus and the Market: The Emotions That Matter in Right-Wing America (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997).

⁴¹ For one deployment of this conception of the founding and its contemporary significance see The Presidential Prayer Team (PPT), a Christian conservative project founded in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to pray for the president and other public officials. PPT articulates the providential founding of the nation and instructs its subscribers on the founders' piety and on the historical and contemporary significance of their Christian beliefs.

⁴² WallBuilders, no date, < http://www.wallbuilders.com/>. There are various discussions in the press about whether presidential candidate Michelle Bachman follows dominionist teachings of Rushdooney or Schaeffer including: Frank Schaeffer, “Michelle Bachman Was Inspired By My Dad,” < http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/151960/michele_bachmann_was_inspired_by_my_dad_and_his_christian_reconstructionist_friends_–_here's_why_that's_terrifying/?page = 4>; Ryan Lizza, “Leap of Faith,” < http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza#ixzz1VKuhFVCQ>; and John Whitehead, “Setting the Record Straight,” < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/michele-bachmann-christian-right_b_930834.html>.

⁴³ Gingrich Productions, “a performance and production company featuring the work of Newt and Callista Gingrich,” < http://www.gingrichproductions.com/>. Citizens United also produced the infamous Hillary: The Movie; see Citizens United v. FEC S.Ct. 876 (2010).

⁴⁴ Lepore, The Whites of Their Eyes, p. 16.

⁴⁶ Faith and Freedom Coalition, “About the Faith and Freedom Coalition,” (2009–2010), < http://www.ffcoalition.com/about/>.

⁴⁵ Sarah Posner, “The Non-Existent Tea Party-Religious Right God Gap,” Religion Dispatches, September 10, 2010, < http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/3322/the_non-existent_tea_party-religious_right_god_gap/>.

⁴⁷ Sarah Posner, “Will Ralph Reed's New Venture Wed Religious Right to Tea Partiers?,” Religion Dispatches, March 13, 2010, < http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/2347/will_ralph_reed%E2%80%99s_new_venture_wed_religious_right_to_tea_partiers>.

⁴⁸ Claims of “socialism” are a familiar trope for collectively dismissing ideologies even marginally separate from libertarian economics and as shorthand for evil. Lindsay, Faith in the Halls of Power; Williams, God's Own Party. Speaking on the Faith and Freedom “Winning a Generation: Getting the Youth Vote Back” panel, Human Events editor and youth opinion leader Jason Mattera conceded that Millennials tend to have positive attitudes toward social justice but clarified that “social justice is just a euphemism for socialism.” Burack, field notes, September 10, 2010.

⁴⁹ Burack, field notes, September 10, 2010.

⁵⁰ Morris also included Elena Kagan in the Sharia law indictment. At Faith and Freedom one well-known speaker, author and King's College President Dinesh D'Souza, directly contradicted the trope of Obama's socialism, arguing instead that Obama is driven to hate America and private enterprise because he has embraced his Kenyan father's anti-colonialism. Yet this contradiction did not call into question the overarching theme of Obama's socialism, both as an explanation for what is wrong with the country and as a mobilizing trope for left/progressive/Democratic Party evil.

⁵¹ Gingrich credited Rick Tyler at Renewing American Leadership for his comments that the key is freedom not money. Senator Jim DeMint reassured the audience that separating values from economics “doesn't work,” that the most prosperous nation is so because it rests on a “foundation of Judeo-Christian values” and, addressing the perception of a split in conservatism, he noted “you cannot be a fiscal conservative” if you do not understand that “culture must be based on values.” “If Republicans want to build a big tent,” he explains, “we will need to integrate the value issues with our economic and political issues.” The dysfunctional society that arises from the decline of value-related issues, such as the increase of “unwed mothers,” is costing the federal government. Wilson, field notes, Values Voter Summit 2010.

⁵² Santorum also relied heavily on the theme of American exceptionalism teaching that before the founding fathers recognized God-given natural rights “that makes the American success story possible.” Wilson, field notes, Values Voters Summit 2010.

⁵³ At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February 2011, much was made of Ronald Reagan's image of the conservative movement as a “three-legged stool” of social, economic, and defense conservatives. The imagery was probably deployed so frequently because some Christian right groups, such as the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, had boycotted the conference to protest the inclusion of GoProud, a conservative gay organization. Burack, field notes, CPAC.

⁵⁴ For the American Family Association's tea party-related items, see AFA Online (2009), < http://store.afa.net/c-94-tea-party-tea-shirts-buttons-sticker-specials.aspx>.

⁵⁵ Wilson, field notes, Values Voters Summit, September 17, 2010.

⁵⁶ Heritage Foundation, Indivisible: Social and Economic Foundations of American Liberty (Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation, 2010). The book collects essays by social and economic conservatives “focus[ing] on a key thread of each other's argument, looking at it through their own lens and describing what they particularly value about it from their perspective. Together, these principles make up the fabric of American liberty and the two lenses help us see the whole more vividly” (from the Preface by Jennifer A. Marshll and J.D. Foster). The book is available free as a download from the Heritage Foundation, < http://ac21doj.org/TOC-GandP/Indivisible.PDF>.

⁵⁷ Wilson, field notes, Values Voters, September 17, 2010.