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"3 SIMPLE WORDS: WE the PEOPLE": CULTURE, IDENTITY, and the CONTENTIOUS POLITICS of the CONTEMPORARY TEA PARTY MOVEMENT in MONTANA Stacy Keogh

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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Sociology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-11-2013 "3 SIMPLE WORDS: WE THE PEOPLE": CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND THE CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEA PARTY MOVEMENT IN MONTANA Stacy Keogh Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/soc_etds Recommended Citation Keogh, Stacy. ""3 SIMPLE WORDS: WE THE PEOPLE": CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND THE CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEA PARTY MOVEMENT IN MONTANA." (2013). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/soc_etds/22 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STACY M KEOGH Candidate SOCIOLOGY Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: ROBERT A. FIALA , Chairperson SHARON ERICKSON NEPSTAD PHILLIP B. GONZALES BILL BORRIE i “3 SIMPLE WORDS: WE THE PEOPLE”: CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND THE CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEA PARTY MOVEMENT IN MONTANA by STACY M. KEOGH B.A., HISTORY, GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY, 2005 B.A., SPANISH, GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY, 2005 M.A., SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2007 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sociology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico MAY 2013 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I first and foremost acknowledge Dr. Bob Fiala my dissertation chair, for encouraging me through this doctoral dissertation, his dedication to my progress, and patience with me as I submitted numerous drafts throughout the course of the project. I would also like to thank the other committee members, Dr. Phillip Gonzales, Dr. Sharon Nepstad and Dr. Bill Borrie for their guidance. I would like to particularly like to recognize Dr. Borrie for his incredible support as a colleague at the University of Montana. All of my committee members provided valuable recommendations pertaining to this study and assistance in my professional development. I would also like to thank my unofficial reader, Dr. Kevin LaPoint whose friendship and encouragement got me through the difficult times of the research process, and helped me push through writers block. I am forever grateful to all of you! I would also like to acknowledge all the participants in my study. Thank you for contributing to my education of the Tea Party, and for helping social scientists better understand the dynamics of your organization. Finally, I would like to acknowledge all my colleagues at the University of New Mexico, the University of Montana, and all my other friends who supported me through this process. Most importantly, I would like to thank my parents, Richard and Victoria Keogh for their incredible support and love as I fulfill my career aspirations. This project is complete because of your support. Thank you. iii ”3 SIMPLE WORDS: WE THE PEOPLE”: CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND THE CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF THE CONTEMPORARY TEA PARTY MOVEMENT IN MONTANA by Stacy M. Keogh B.A., HISTORY, GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY, 2005 B.A., SPANISH, GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY, 2005 M.A., SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2007 Ph.D., SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2013 ABSTRACT The Tea Party is a social and political movement urging government accountability, individual fiscal responsibility, and personal liberty as outlined by the United States Constitution. In this dissertation, I examine the cultural components of the Montana Tea Party asking two primary research questions: (1) What are the cultural dynamics of the Tea Party? (2) How does this determine the way the Tea Party engages in contentious politics? I found that the way the Montana Tea Party utilizes the resources of religion to provide a culture structure familiar to participants. It utilizes religious rhetoric to provide familiarity to the nation‘s civil religion, which is a politicized version of the sacred that is less spiritual than it is political. Finally, the Montana Tea Party consists of a variety of individuals representing a broad range of political ideology from moderate to far right. These perspectives vary socially, culturally, politically, and economically, representing various political parties, ideologies, and various degrees of religiosity. As a result, there is a iv fragmented sense of identity, making it difficult to stimulate collective political action. The action that does take place in the movement is primarily individually forged, though always encouraged and supported peripherally from others in the MTP. This study speaks to the literature on political sociology, social movements, and the sociology of religion. It provides new social scientific evidence on culture and mobilization and suggests a new lens through which we may examine tactics of mobilization in the 21st century. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT.............................1 CHAPTER 2 REVIEWING THE LITERATURE..............................................................19 CHAPTER 3 HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT.................................................42 CHAPTER 4 METHODS…….............................................................................................69 CHAPTER 5 MONTANA TEA PARTY MOVEMENT EMERGENCE.........................89 CHAPTER 6 COLLECTIVE ACTION FRAMES...........................................................117 CHAPTER 7 CONSTRUCTING A COLLECTIVE IDENTITY…................................133 CHAPTER 8 COLLECTIVE ACTION IN THE TEA PARTY…...................................160 CHAPTER 9 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION…....................................................192 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................203 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Bitterroot Valley……....................................................................................... 11 Figure 5.1 Emotional Responses and Outcomes in the Montana Tea Party .................. 114 vii LIST OF TABLES 6.1 Organizational Resources ........................................................................................121 viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT April 15, 2009: Tax Day. Frustrated, overwhelmed and appalled at the newly appointed liberal federal government, thousands of discontented, political Americans met in Washington D.C. to oppose government bailout programs. With a unified voice, they demanded that the American government return to the Constitutional mandates of liberty and justice for all legal, hard-working Americans. This gathering was more than just represent a group of people frustrated that some banks received bailouts while others were left by the wayside. It was more than just a peeved group of political or economic commentators eager to gain recognition through a public protest of government policies. Instead, it was a nation- wide effort that urged disgruntled and frustrated conservative Americans to return to the foundations of our country. It signified a cultural paradigm shift in the way the country views politics. They urged Americans to remember how the first American patriots fought for tax breaks three hundred years in the past. They urged the American populace to construct a 21st century American Tea Party to protest the economic policies set in place by the United States government. Since its appearance in the political arena, the United States TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party movement has fascinated the media, political arena, social and religious institutions, with their radical economic policies and even more radical protest antics (Boykoff and Laschever 2011, DiMaggio 2011; Foley 2012; Meckler and Martin 2011; Skocpol and Williamson 2011; Zernicke 2011). Nearly four years since the emergence of the Tea Party, it still has an enormous impact on policy initiative, political culture and social organizations and institutions. Some may believe that the Tea Party movement is little more 1 than a branch of the already conservative Republic Party. However, scholars have documented its clear divergence from traditional party politics and moved into a new category of political participation that seems to defy social science classification (Foley 2012). Yet, its profound ability to attract large numbers of followers leaves many of these scholars in a quandary, asking, ―Just what is the contemporary United States Tea Party?‖ The social science research that has explored the dynamics of the United States Tea Party has documented the demographic composition of the Tea Party (Skocpol and Williamson 2011), outlined its basic political and economic agendas (Foley 2012; Meckler and Martin. 2012; O‘hara 2010; Zernicke 2011), described its appeal to mainstream media (Boykoff and Laschever 2011, DiMaggio 2011; Zernicke 2011) and has even spoken with a few so-called Tea Partiers in an attempt to understand the political thought processes that pervade this new political movement (Skocpol and Williamson 2011). However, no published studies to date have actually explored the cultural dynamics of
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