Amerika Haus NRW@School

Dormagen: Tea Party

Dr. Eva Schweitzer visited a class of the Bettina-von-Arnim-Gymnasium in Dormagen to read from her book “Tea Party” and to discuss its content with the students.

The U.S. election campaign 2012, and in particular the choice of candidates for the Republican Party is influenced by the ideas of the Tea Party. Presidential candidates like Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum specifically represent the interests of the Tea Party, which are: lean management, budget cuts, no new taxes.

Eva Schweitzer first read several chapters from her book. She engaged in a disucussion on the subject with her audience. She explained that the Tea Party is not a new phenomenon that emerged only with the election of the first black president, but that it was rather a trend with roots that go far back. She pointed out that most Tea Party supporters were white, not very young, conservative and earned above average. Further, that there were conservative supporters, who are against the new health care insurance ObamaCare and those who belong to the Christian conservatives. She said that the number of Tea Party activists was growing steadily.

Dr. Eva C. Schweitzer provided an overview of the Tea Party, its roots, its media supporters and financiers. She  explored not only the question of who the activists are and what their goal is but also the difficulties, such as the heterogeneity of the movement. She also illuminated internal disputes and their contradictions.

Eva Schweitzer holds a Ph.D in American Studies and lives in New York. She works as a political and cultural correspondent for DIE ZEIT, Berliner Zeitung, Financial Times Germany and Frankfurter Rundschau.