The Tea Party Starfish Organizational Structure

by Brian Costin Most mainstream political pundits have a hard time understanding the leadership structure & motivations of the tea party movement. However, Jonathan Raush of the National Journal has an interesting take on the headless tea party movement and their open source type of support structure, which Raush and others compare the Tea Party to...

by Brian Costin

Most mainstream political pundits have a hard time understanding the leadership structure & motivations of the tea party movement. However, Jonathan Raush of the National Journal has an interesting take on the headless tea party movement and their open source type of support structure, which Raush and others compare the Tea Party to a starfish with lots of self-directed & decentralized groups and leaders rather than the traditional political model of a “spider monopoly” with a centralized organized party structure and hierarchy.

He states, “The absence of structure, leadership, and formal organization, once considered a weakness, has become a major asset,” the authors write. “Seemingly chaotic groups have challenged and defeated established institutions. The rules of the game have changed.”