New Senate Tea Party Caucus small in numbers, but has an army of activists and massive conservative momentum behind it

From:
Senator Rand Paul Launches Senate Tea Party Caucus
(The New American) -- by Daniel Sayani --

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul announced that on Thursday, January 24, 2011, the Senate Tea Party Caucus will be holding its first ever annual meeting. Senator Paul is leading the creation of the Tea Party Caucus in the Senate, modeled after the earlier creation of a House Tea Party Caucus by Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann. Both Bachmann and Paul are Republicans, and Thursday’s meeting is expected to include several members of the Republican Senate Caucus, as well as activists linked to various Tea Party groups throughout the country.

The Senate Tea Party Caucus fulfills a critical, yet almost-Socratic role, as it finds itself within a legislative body hostile to Tea Party goals of smaller government, fiscal responsibility, balancing the budget, reducing the deficit, and a national security policy respectful of both civil liberties and the need for a strong national defense. Caucus members face opposition not only from the Democrats, who control the Senate by a 53-47 Majority, as well as from Senate Republicans, who, due to the nature of the Senate and its composition, tend to be more bipartisan, pragmatic, and less committed to the ideological purity held as an objective standard by Tea Party activists.

The Senate Tea Party Caucus finds itself marginalized also due to the fact that numerically, its size is insignificant. In a legislative body with 100 members, only 3, to date, have announced that they will be members of the Tea Party Caucus in the Senate: Senator Paul, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, and Utah Senator Mike Lee. The three senators, do, however have political clout and significance, particularly in the domain of the public eye and the media.

The three are scheduled to meet with John Tate, President of Congressman Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty, Grover Norquist, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), President of Americans for Tax Reform, and Islamist Activist, and Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer.

The commitment of the three to the principles which enabled massive Republican victories in congressional races throughout the country in the November 2010 elections, as well as their willingness to pressure members of the Republican Party into abiding by these principles and legislating according to them, remains a challenge that is simultaneously daunting and crucial.

The Republican Party has the possibility to capitalize on the widespread dissatisfaction resulting from the Obama Administration’s failure to articulate policies that resonate with and find support among the American People, and offer a different solution utilizing the same campaign principles of fiscal conservatism, smaller government, and more individual liberty.

This feat remains an uphill battle for the three senators, who not only are on the margins of the Senate Republican Caucus, but even campaigned as marginal candidates, soaring to victory in Republican Primaries, as they challenged the big government approaches of longtime Establishment incumbents and Establishment-backed candidates...MORE...LINK