Fear, Itself The Threat Constructions Of Tea Party Candidates In The 2010 Republican Primaries

Abstract

This study explores the role that a faith-driven discourse has played in the electoral success of the Tea Party movement. The popularity of the Tea Party movement among conservative Protestant populations has led researchers to depict an emerging theological political ideology. Few have considered the historical and religious influences on the Tea Party brand, despite the fact that it has garnered support from a segment of the conservative American population which have traditionally used religious rationalisation as the basis for their political opinions. This thesis examines these historical and religious influences by means of a discourse analysis. This allows for the success of Tea Party candidates to be understood in the context of the mobilisation of a “nation at threat” narrative, cast ostensibly in religious language. I find that the linking of political opponents to the concepts of socialism, unconstitutional practices and immoralism allowed for a consistent narrative to emerge, whereby certain conceptions of the American identity were prioritised and deemed “acceptable”. I conclude that the electoral success of the Tea Party can be explained by the mobilisation of a primarily faith-driven discourse that gains traction through the mobilisation of threat to American society. The need for further research to account for the religious and economics aspect of the Tea Party movement is clear