DOCSLIB.ORG

An Exploration of the Origins, Composition, and Influence of the Tea Party Bryce Don Summary University of Missouri-St

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Exploration of the Origins, Composition, and Influence of the Tea Party Bryce Don Summary University of Missouri-St University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 8-2-2013 Reading the Tea Leaves: An Exploration of the Origins, Composition, and Influence of the Tea Party Bryce Don Summary University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Summary, Bryce Don, "Reading the Tea Leaves: An Exploration of the Origins, Composition, and Influence of the Tea Party" (2013). Dissertations. 298. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/298 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reading the Tea Leaves: An Exploration of the Origins, Composition, and Influence of the Tea Party by Bryce Don Summary M.A., Political Science, University of Missouri - St. Louis, 2010 B.A., Political Science, Eastern Illinois University, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri–St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science July 2013 Advisory Committee David Kimball, Ph.D. Chair E. Terrence Jones, Ph.D. David Robertson, Ph.D. Nancy Kinney, Ph.D. Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been completed without the assistance from a variety of different sources. I would like to thank the College of Arts of Sciences for the dissertation research award that I received in 2011-2012. I would also like to thank the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis for the Assistantship Awards that I received over the course of four years, as well as the department dissertation research award that I received in 2011. These funds helped to make my education and dissertation possible and for that I am very grateful. I am also grateful for the guidance provided by my dissertation adviser Dr. David Kimball. Dr. Kimball offered thoughtful advice and encouragement throughout my dissertation writing process and served as an invaluable mentor and friend. I would also like to thank all of the members of my committee David Kimball, Terry Jones, Dave Robertson, and Nancy Kinney, for their comments and questions which helped to greatly improve my dissertation. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their love and support. First, I would like to thank my parents for the sacrifices that they have made throughout their life which made the attainment of my educational goals possible. Second, I would like to thank my sister Jennifer who encouraged me to attend graduate school and whose guidance and support over the years has made me into the person I am today. Third, I would like to thank my Aunt Becky for reading my dissertation and offering constructive criticisms, as well as love and support. Last, but not least, I would like to thank Amy for her positivity and encouragement that helped me through the ups and downs of dissertation writing, as it was her unwavering support, that made this research endeavor possible. Abstract The Tea Party has become a powerful force in American politics. Emerging in early 2009, the Tea Party has elicited mass support among the public with important implications for public policy and electoral politics. However, there remains significant debate over the political characteristics and motivations of Tea Party supporters. The emergence of the Tea Party has also led to speculation that supporters will form a third party. Using survey data collected in 2010 and 2011, this dissertation examines the relationship between Tea Party and third party supporters. Evidence is found that although Tea Party and third party supporters disapprove of President Obama and hold negative views of the economy, the two groups are fundamentally different in terms of their partisanship and political attitudes. Tea Party supporters are found to be ideologically conservative Republicans, while third party supporters are shown to be political independents holding negative opinions of both parties. Using American National Election Studies data, this dissertation also explains the motivations behind Tea Party support. Evidence is found that Tea Party support is motivated by traditional moral values, racial resentment, negative views of President Obama, negative opinions of immigrants, and libertarianism. This dissertation also examines the emotional component of Tea Party support finding that strong feelings of anger and fear, related to perceptions of the state of the country, motivates support. Finally, this dissertation analyzes an aggregation of public opinion data measuring opinions of the Tea Party from 2010 to 2011. Support for the Tea Party is found to have declined from 2010 through the end of 2011, with the most precipitous decline occurring among its most ardent supporters. Ultimately, the findings of this dissertation suggest that the emergence of the Tea Party has created a rift within the Republican Party between the moderate and ideologically extreme elements, constituting a barrier to legislative compromise. 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Reading the Tea Leaves 8 Research Questions 10 The Tea Party Emerges 11 Tea Party Support as a “Movement” 13 Popular Accounts of Tea Party Support 14 Third Party and Tea Party Support 16 Hypothesis 1 17 Hypothesis 2 18 Attitudes Shaping Partisan Identities 18 Tea Party Scholarship 20 Hypothesis 3 23 Hypothesis 4 23 Hypothesis 5 23 Hypothesis 6 24 Hypothesis 7 24 Chapter Overview 24 Chapter 2 24 Chapter 3 25 Chapter 4 25 Chapter 5 26 Chapter 2: Examining the relationship between Tea Party and third party support 27 The Specter of the Tea Party as a Third Party 28 The Tea Party as a Response to Major Party Failures 31 Do Tea Party Supporters Desire a Third Party Option? 37 Brief History of the Influence of Third Parties in America 38 The Impact of Third Parties on the Major Parties 39 The Dynamic of Third Parties 40 Examining the Tea Party in the Context of a Third Party 41 Predictors of Third Party Support 43 A General Theory of Third Party Voting 45 Comparing Tea Party and Third Party Support 47 Socio-Economic and Demographic Characteristics 48 Political Attitudes 49 Method 51 Third Party Predictors 53 Tea Party Predictors 55 Results 57 Model 1 57 Model 2 58 Model 3 59 Model 4 60 Model 5 61 2 Model 6 62 Discussion 62 Conclusions and Ramifications 65 Chapter 3: Exploring the attitudinal predictors of Tea Party support 84 Shaping Partisan Attitudes 86 Examining the Tea Party: The Big Picture 90 Predictors of Tea Party Support 92 Tea Party Support: A Preliminary Look 96 A Republican Party Divided 99 Methodology 100 Measuring Tea Party Support 100 Predicting Tea Party Support 100 Predicting Tea Party Support: October 2010 101 Predicting Tea Party Support: February 2012 105 Results 107 Tea Party Support and Views of President Obama 114 and the Democrats Tea Party Support and Civic Engagement 115 Conclusions 118 Chapter 4: Declining public support for the Tea Party 144 Controversies in Survey Administration 145 The “Right” Way to Ask (or word) a Question 145 Including a Middle Response to Survey Questions 150 Branching and Survey Responses 152 Survey House Effects 153 The Many Ways to Measure Opinions of the Tea Party 153 Measuring Tea Party Support: Favorability and Support Briefly 154 Methodology: Creating the Four Aggregate Measures of Tea Party 155 Opinions Control Variables 157 The Case for Four Measures of Tea Party Opinions 160 Empirical Findings 161 Measuring Public Opinion over Time: Support for the Tea Party 165 Predicted Support 167 Measuring Public Opinion over Time: Favorable Opinions 168 of the Tea Party Predicted Favorability 169 Measuring Public Opinion over Time: Is the Public More 170 Aware of the Tea Party? Discussion and Conclusions 174 Appendix 196 3 Chapter 5: Implications of the Tea Party for American politics 205 Chapter 2 and 3 Reviews and Key Findings 206 Chapter 4 Review and Key Findings 210 A Rift within the Republican Party 211 Criticism of the Tea Party by Moderate Republican Elites 213 The Tea Party, Public Policy, and Opposition to Compromise 214 The Tea Party and Ideological Polarization 217 The Tea Party, the 2012 Elections, and Beyond 217 What does the Tea Party Mean for American Politics? 219 References 222 4 Tables Table 2.1: Tea Party Supporters vs. Third Party Supporters (August 2010) Table 2.2: Tea Party Supporters vs. Third Party Supporters (April 2011) Table 2.3: Predictors of Tea Party and Third Party Support (August 2010) Table 2.4: Predictors of Tea Party and Third Party Support (April 2011) Table 2.5: Ideology among Tea Party, Third Party, Republicans and Electorate Table 2.6: Motivation to Vote among Tea Party, Third Party, Republicans and Electorate Table 2.7: Support for Political Figures among Tea Party, Third Party, Republicans and Electorate Table 2.8: Variable Coding August 2010 Data Table 2.9: Variable Coding April 2011 Data Table 3.1: Characteristics of Tea Party, Non- Tea Party Republicans, and U.S Electorate Table 3.2: Characteristics of Tea Party, Non- Tea Party Republicans, and U.S Electorate Table 3.3: Predictors of Tea Party Support Table 3.4: Predictors of Tea Party Support Table 3.5: Ideological Placement of Democrats and Obama by Group, October 2010 Table 3.6: Ideological Placement of Democrats and Obama by Group, February 2012 Table 3.7: Political Activities by
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Tea Party and the Muslim Brotherhood: Who They Are and How American News Media Gets It Wrong
    Jeremy Abrams The Tea Party and the Muslim Brotherhood: Who they are and How American News Media Gets it Wrong Jeremy Abrams 1 Table of Content I. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 II. Defining Political Parties and their Role in Democracies ................................................................. 2 A. Generally ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 B. Structurally .................................................................................................................................................... 3 C. How the Tea Party and the Muslim Brotherhood Fit the Mold ................................................. 4 III. Brief Descriptions of the Tea Party and the Muslim Brotherhood ............................................. 4 A. The Tea Party ................................................................................................................................................ 5 1. History ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 2. The System in Which it Operates ..................................................................................................... 9 3. Official Status ........................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Stepping up to the Challenge of Leadership on Race
    STEPPING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP ON RACE Anthony C. Thompson* I. INTRODUCTION First and foremost, I want to thank you for inviting me to deliver this keynote address. I applaud your choice to participate in a conference on difference and leadership because these are critical issues that deserve our best thinking and our collective attention. I have watched with great interest as organizations from global businesses, to law schools, to court systems have begun embracing the concept of diversity and inclusion. Setting diversity and inclusion as operating goals in our institutions is long overdue and an important step toward addressing chronic equity issues in our society. But as I celebrate the attention and intention around such efforts, I also have a worry. I am concerned that, as we work toward the inclusion part of the effort, we are rushing a little too fast past the diversity component. As a country, we have been quite anxious to define diversity as “diversity of thought,” “diversity of experience,” and, yes, even “gender diversity” as a way of avoiding the difficulty and discomfort of examining racial diversity. But we, as lawyers and leaders, need to learn to get comfortable in that discomfort. Because as much as we might * Professor of Clinical Law, Faculty Director, Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at New York University School of Law. I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Filomen D’Agostino and Max Greenberg Research Fund at the New York University School of Law. I would like to thank Professor Kim Taylor-Thompson for her helpful comments on this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Media's Link with Individualism and the Dangers That Follow
    Digital Commons @ Assumption University Honors Theses Honors Program 2021 Social Media's Link with Individualism and the Dangers that Follow Veronica Prytko Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/honorstheses Part of the Political Science Commons, and the Social Media Commons SOCIAL MEDIA’S LINK WITH INDIVIDUALISM AND THE DANGERS THAT FOLLOW Veronica Prytko Faculty Supervisor: Geoffrey Vaughan, D. Phil Political Science A Thesis Submitted to Fulfill the Requirements of the Honors Program at Assumption College Fall 2020 2 Intro On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the Novel Coronavirus Disease a pandemic. The following days, the first lockdown were issued which closed all non- essential businesses and most people were advised to stay at home. As the months continued, lockdowns were gradually lifted and some non-essential businesses slowly started to open, but more recently states have been issuing in-state lockdowns and some people fear another lockdown could happen in the winter. During these lockdowns, one of the only means to connect with the outside world was through social media. Suddenly finding themselves with extra time, millions of Americans downloaded the top three apps of the time, TikTok, Zoom, and WhatsApp, to keep busy, stay employed, and order necessities to stay alive.1 All of these apps, among others, are a means to connect and interact with people. By watching videos, making Zoom calls, or texting their friends, people were finding ways to stay connected and have some type of social interaction. When Alexis de Tocqueville came to American in the 1830s, he observed “individualism” and concluded that it was needed for a modern democracies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tea Party in Congress: Examining Voting Trends on Defense and International Trade Spending Legislation
    The Tea Party in Congress: Examining Voting Trends on Defense and International Trade Spending Legislation Peter Ganz Creighton University I test how members of the United States House of Representatives associated with the Tea Party movement vote on four pieces of legislation relating to Both defense and international trade spending. Members with high FreedomWorKs scores, an interest group rating associated with the Tea Party, were found to have distinctly different voting patterns than the House of Representatives in general, while representatives that self-identified themselves as Tea Party showed no distinct voting patterns. Ganz 1 Research Question Since the Tea Party’s emergence in American politics in 2009 and its role in the Republican taKeover of Congress in the 2010 midterm elections, political scientists, politicians, media outlets, and special interest groups have sought to understand exactly what maKes the movement unique. While those associated with the Tea Party often call themselves RepuBlicans, there must Be differences that set the two apart; otherwise there would Be no reason for such a movement. Until now, investigations into the Tea Party have typically discovered that members of the movement are in favor of smaller government, decreased spending, and economic freedom, elements shared with the RepuBlican Party (Scherer, Altman, Cowley, Newton-Small, and Von Drehle, 2010; Courser, 2011; BullocK and Hood, 2012). Is there anything more significant that can be used to distinguish between the Tea Party and the rest of Congress? Drawing inferences from commonly accepted ideas about the Tea Party, this paper investigates whether or not members of the Tea Party extend their Beliefs in smaller government and decreased spending to the defense budget and the international trade budget.
    [Show full text]
  • Capitol Insurrection at Center of Conservative Movement
    Capitol Insurrection At Center Of Conservative Movement: At Least 43 Governors, Senators And Members Of Congress Have Ties To Groups That Planned January 6th Rally And Riots. SUMMARY: On January 6, 2021, a rally in support of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election “turned deadly” when thousands of people stormed the U.S. Capitol at Donald Trump’s urging. Even Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who rarely broke with Trump, has explicitly said, “the mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people.” These “other powerful people” include a vast array of conservative officials and Trump allies who perpetuated false claims of fraud in the 2020 election after enjoying critical support from the groups that fueled the Capitol riot. In fact, at least 43 current Governors or elected federal office holders have direct ties to the groups that helped plan the January 6th rally, along with at least 15 members of Donald Trump’s former administration. The links that these Trump-allied officials have to these groups are: Turning Point Action, an arm of right-wing Turning Point USA, claimed to send “80+ buses full of patriots” to the rally that led to the Capitol riot, claiming the event would be one of the most “consequential” in U.S. history. • The group spent over $1.5 million supporting Trump and his Georgia senate allies who claimed the election was fraudulent and supported efforts to overturn it. • The organization hosted Trump at an event where he claimed Democrats were trying to “rig the election,” which he said would be “the most corrupt election in the history of our country.” • At a Turning Point USA event, Rep.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tea Party in North Carolina: Threat to a New Birth of Freedom
    THE TEA PARTY IN NORTH CAROLINA: THREAT TO A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM By Devin Burghart and Leonard Zeskind Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights is responsible for the content and analysis of this report. Additional materials, including updates and exclusive web content can be found at irehr.org. Copyright © 2014 Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights. All Rights Reserved. No Part of this report may be reproduced without the permission of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights except for sections quoted with proper attribution for purposes of reviews and public education. The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR) is a national organization with an international outlook examining racist, anti-Semitic, white nationalist, and far-right social movements, analyzing their intersection with civil society and social policy, educating the public, and assisting in the protection and extension of human rights through organization and informed mobilization. INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH & EDUCATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS P.O. Box 411552 Kansas City, MO 64141 voice: (816) 474-4748 email: [email protected] website: www.irehr.org Contents Preface by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II 1 Foreword: Exposing the Hard Right's Bag of Tricks Against Poor and Working 2 White People by Alan McSurely Introduction 4 Inside the Tea Party in North Carolina 7 Tea Party Membership in North Carolina 10 North Carolina Tea Party Chapters 18 Beyond Policy: North Carolina Tea Party’s
    [Show full text]
  • Billionaires Tea Party
    1 THE BILLIONAIRES’ TEA PARTY How Corporate America is Faking a Grassroots Revolution [transcript] Barack Obama: This is our moment. This is our time. To reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that where we are many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope; and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can. Man on Stage: They’re listening to us. They are taking us seriously, and the message is: It’s our county, and they can have it when they pry it from our cold dead fingers. They work for me! NARRATOR: Where did it all go wrong for Barack Obama and the democrats? After sweeping to power with a promise of hope and change, a citizens uprising called the tea party movement emerged. Their message was “no” to big government spending, “no” to healthcare and climate change legislation, and “no” to Obama himself. Woman: Obama is a communist. He says that he doesn't believe in the constitution. NARRATOR: Then, two years into Obama’s presidency, tea party endorsed candidates emerged to sweep the republicans to victory in the House of Representatives. Male News Reader: 32% of the candidates that were elected last night across this country are affiliated with the Tea Party movement. Rand Paul: There's a Tea Party tidal wave, and we're sending a message to 'em. Female Reporter: And they see it as a repudiation of the President and his policies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tea Party: a Party Within a Party a Dissertation Submitted to The
    The Tea Party: A Party Within a Party A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Government By Rachel Marie Blum, M.A. Washington, DC March 22, 2016 Copyright c 2016 by Rachel Marie Blum All Rights Reserved ii The Tea Party: A Party Within a Party Rachel Marie Blum, M.A. Dissertation Advisor: Hans Noel, Ph.D. Abstract It is little surprise that conservatives were politically disaffected in early 2009, or that highly conservative individuals mobilized as a political movement to protest ‘big government’ and Obama’s election. Rather than merely directing its animus against liberals, the Tea Party mobilized against the Republican Party in primaries and beyond. This dissertation draws from original survey, interview, Tea Party blog, and social network datasets to explain the Tea Party’s strategy for mobilization as a ‘Party within a Party’. Integrating new data on the Tea Party with existing theories of political parties, I show that the Tea Party’s strategy transcends the focused aims of a party faction. Instead, it works to co-opt the Republican Party’s political and electoral machinery in order to gain control of the party. This dissertation offers new insights on the Tea Party while developing a theory of intra-party mobilization that endures beyond the Tea Party. Index words: Dissertations, Government, Political Science, Political Parties, Tea Party iii Dedication To M.L.B., and all others who are stronger than they know.
    [Show full text]
  • `` Une Voix Et Un Écho '': Analyse Des Interactions Entre Le Tea Party Et Le
    “ Une voix et un écho ” : Analyse des interactions entre le Tea Party et le système politique américain (2009-2013) Eric Rouby To cite this version: Eric Rouby. “ Une voix et un écho ” : Analyse des interactions entre le Tea Party et le système politique américain (2009-2013). Science politique. Université de Bordeaux, 2018. Français. NNT : 2018BORD0043. tel-01896475 HAL Id: tel-01896475 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01896475 Submitted on 16 Oct 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THÈSE PRÉSENTÉE POUR OBTENIR LE GRADE DE DOCTEUR DE L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BORDEAUX ÉCOLE DOCTORALE DE DROIT (E.D. 41) SPÉCIALITÉ SCIENCE POLITIQUE Par Eric ROUBY « Une voix et un écho » Analyse des interactions entre le Tea Party et le système politique américain (2009-2013) Sous la direction de : Patrick TROUDE-CHASTENET Soutenue le 27 mars 2018 Membres du jury : M. BATTISTELLA Dario, Professeur à Science Po Bordeaux, examinateur M. GAGNON Frédérick, Professeur à l’Université du Québec à Montréal, rapporteur M. SINTOMER Yves, Professeur à l’Université de Paris 8 , rapporteur M. TROUDE-CHASTENET Patrick, Professeur à l’Université de Bordeaux , directeur de thèse M.
    [Show full text]
  • The Revival of the Nevada Democratic Party
    CASE STUDY The Revival of the Nevada Democratic Party When a state political party’s electoral performance falters, how should political actors change its fortunes for the better— concentrate on the needs of individual candidates, bolster allied outside groups, or invest in the formal party itself? Sam Rosenfeld Daniel Schlozman August 2021 SNF Agora Case Studies The SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University offers a series of case studies that show how civic and political actors navigated real-life challenges related to democracy. Practitioners, teachers, organizational leaders, and trainers working with civic and political leaders, students, and trainees can use our case studies to deepen their skills, to develop insights about how to approach strategic choices and dilemmas, and to get to know each other better and work more effectively. How to Use the Case Unlike many case studies, ours do not focus on individual leaders or other decision-makers. Instead, the SNF Agora case studies are about choices that groups make collectively. Therefore, these cases work well as prompts for group discussions. The basic question in each case is: “What would we do?” After reading a case, some groups role-play the people who were actually involved in the situation, treating the discussion as a simulation. In other groups, the participants speak as themselves, discussing the strategies that they would advocate for the group described in the case. The person who assigns or organizes your discussion may want you to use the case in one of those ways. When studying and discussing the choices made by real-life decision-makers (often under intense pressure), it is appropriate to exhibit some humility.
    [Show full text]
  • The Tea Party: Burgeoning Or Beaten?
    Augsburg Honors Review Volume 5 Article 6 2012 The eT a Party: Burgeoning or Beaten? Philip Olsen Florida Alantic University Alexa Robinson Florida Atlantic University Follow this and additional works at: https://idun.augsburg.edu/honors_review Part of the American Politics Commons Recommended Citation Olsen, Philip and Robinson, Alexa (2012) "The eT a Party: Burgeoning or Beaten?," Augsburg Honors Review: Vol. 5 , Article 6. Available at: https://idun.augsburg.edu/honors_review/vol5/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate at Idun. It has been accepted for inclusion in Augsburg Honors Review by an authorized editor of Idun. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Teo Party: Burgeoning or Beaten? 55 The Tea Party: Burgeoning or Beaten? Philip Olsen, Florida Atlantic University and Alexa Robsinson, Florida Atlantic University Philip Olsen and Alexa Robinson are sophomores at Florida Atlantic University and presented this paper at the 2011NCHC conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Philip is continuing to pursue his bachelor\ degree in English and philosophy and expects to graduate in 2014. 56 The Tea Party: Burgeoningor BgatqX I. Introduction The Tea Party is a grassroots political movement which has gained a considerable following since its inception in 2009.Its platform centers on a single issue -- greater fiscal responsibility and conservatism on the part of each respective level of government. In this paper we examine the question of whether or not the Tea Party will develop into a viable political entity. We concluded early on in the process of researching this paper that extensive statistical analysis would only be a fruitless endeavor because of the contemporaneity of the Tea Party movement.
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Annual Report
    YEAR WWW.AU.ORG 2015 Annual Report Americans United FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE Our Mission Americans United for Separation of Church and State was founded in 1947 by a group of distinguished leaders from the political, religious and educational communities. A nonpartisan and non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, Americans United is dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation and works to help Americans understand the vital role that separation of church and state plays in protecting the right of conscience for all. 2015 Annual Report Contents LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 2 COMMUNICATIONS 3 GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY 9 LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY 12 LEGAL ADVOCACY 16 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 21 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION & ACTIVITIES 24 MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS 26 COVER: AU Executive Director Barry Lynn Introduces our Protect Thy Neighbor campaign at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. A LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: In this line of work, it can be tempting to be discouraged by hate. At Americans United, we hear over and over that women and LGBT people and religious minorities don’t deserve civil rights—all because the Bible says so. As a minister, it’s especially hard for me to hear faith abused in this manner. But there are moments that put everything right. June 26 was one such moment: On that day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bans on the marriages of same-sex couples violated the U.S. Constitution. It was a profoundly important day not just for the LGBT community, but for religious freedom advocates who understand that these bans were motivated by religion and thus violated the First Amendment.
    [Show full text]