A Tea Party Test

The issue of financial reform is finally making its way onto the legislature's docket. I think this will make for an interesting test of the fundamental values of the new Tea Party movement.

With financial reform, I expect that the Democrats will put forth a bill that has new regulations intended to minimize the chances of Wall Street triggering another financial panic. I also expect that the Republicans will oppose the bill because it goes too far, fearing that the unintended consequences and market distortions stemming from the regulations will reduce growth and prosperity more than the regulations will protect the economy from a new disaster.

The Tea Party is a populist movement; almost by definition, populist movements don't like the elites who control power. But the finance issue pits two major elites against each other: a distrust of the rich elite (Wall Street) and a distrust of the government elite (the current elites, at least).

Will there be any debate in the Tea Party movement? If the Democratic reform agenda is really just Republican-lite, it will be easy to cast both the Democrats and Republicans as being snugly in bed with Wall Street, in which case, the Tea Partiers would likely side with the Republicans.

I believe that the presence of active debate within the movement will indicate whether the Tea Party is just an element of the Republican party or whether it is a movement unto itself.