Tea Party Movement Wants More Young People

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Some young professionals who are overwhelmed by the economic issues facing the nation are turning to the Tea Party to find a solution, said Tim Kraulidis, the state coordinator for the Illinois Tax Day Tea Party Movement.
 
“Young professionals are discouraged,” Kraulidis said. “And what are they going to do, write to their congressman?”
 
The Tea Party Movement is made up of grassroots organizations that protest against government spending in coordinated rallies. Most of the people who identify with the political group tend to be older than 45, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. Only seven percent of those aged 18 – 29, and 16 percent of those aged 30 – 44, called themselves Tea Partiers.
 
But as more young professionals begin to feel increasingly “helpless” about the nation’s finances, Kraulidis believes they’ll start coming on board.
 
“Our country has $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, whether it’s social security, Medicare or Medicaid,” Kraulidis said. “Where is that money going to come from? It’s going to come from the middle class, the group young professionals primarily belong to. Their burden gets heavier and heavier and they haven’t even reached the point of their greatest earnings yet. As they begin to realize this, that’s where I see them getting involved.”
 
Drew Heidgerken, 34, of Justice, Illinois, doesn’t attend the Tea Party rallies, but he has watched clips and speeches online and said he agrees with the ideology.
 
“The central element of the movement is the idea of responsible government and that’s one of the things I don’t see in government lately,” Heidgerken said. “When I see the Tea Party talking about pulling back on the runaway government, that’s something I agree with.”
 
Tea Partiers want to see more young people like Heidgerken joining the ranks. The National Tea Party convention held in Nashville, Tenn., last February, included workshops on how to attract the younger demographics to its efforts.
 
Young professionals are the ones that will carry the movement, because they are the ones dispersing the message through social media, Kraulidis said. This has been the case in Illinois, where Young Republican groups have been essential to getting the word out, he said.

 
“The only way for the different Tea Parties to communicate with each other is through social media,” Kraulidis said. “Our issues are not covered by the mainstream media. The movement could not have happened ten years ago. Technology has enabled it.”
 
For example, NPR reported on a “star of the movement,” Keli Carender, a member of the Seattle Young Republicans, who organized some of the earliest Tea Party movements in 2009. Her antics at the protests became “YouTube gold,” according to NPR.
 
But the movement is plagued by a reputation that may work against attracting young people. One critic of the Tea Party, Meghan McCain, the daughter of Sen. John McCain, called the political group racist during a segment of The View.
 
"I think it's why young people are turned off by this movement," McCain said. "And I'm sorry -- revolutions start with young people, not with 65-year-old people..."
 
However, Kraulidis pointed out in Illinois that two of the candidates that the movement supports are black. In fact one candidate, Cedra Crenshaw, who is running in the state's 43rd district, was passed over by Republican support and it was Tea Partiers who collected 2,500 signatures to get her on the ballot.
 
Of the critics, Kraulidis said, "They don't like the issues we're talking about and they want to defeat the movement, so they're trying to marginalize the opponent."
 
He reiterated that the party's core message, advocating for a smaller, more responsible government, will attract young people to the movement. It's just a matter of time.
 
Watch Keli Carender on YouTube.
 

 
(Photo credit: Aaron; C.C. 2.0)
 
Hungry for more political news? Read this piece on climate change legislation.