Descaling the Leviathan: State-level Transformations of National Politics in the Progressive and Tea Party Eras

• In Event: 066 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Political Parties

Abstract

The emergence of the Tea Party is of acknowledged political significance and social scientific interest. However, the Tea Party, and contemporary conservatism in general, is not adequately understood, and political developments continue to outpace empirical research. This article makes the case that Tea Parry conservatism can be understood by analogy to Progressivism, which had a similar base of support and value commitments. This comparison calls attention to the central importance of the state level for understanding the present state and future trajectory of conservatism. The states provide a much clearer view of the goals, policy networks, and ideological varieties of contemporary conservatism. The states level is also the locus of considerable authority in policy domains of interest to conservatives, such as election and tax law, environmental and labor regulation, and administration of public education and health care. Most significantly, I argue that conservatives are presently pursuing a transformation of national politics that bypasses the federal government. This transformation involves two distinct forms of change: the creation of novel legal and organizational structures that increase the coherence of the states and limit the authority of the federal government; and factionalization of the Republican Party that could induce a substantial shift in partisan alignment and sources of political power.

Author

• Benjamin Merriman, University of Chicago