Maxim Kucer
2013
PhDr. Dissertation Assessment
Hnutí Tea Party a jeho vliv na domácí politickou scénu USA
Maxim Kucer (Max) has chosen to write his PhDr. thesis on the Tea Party Movement and its
influence on the domestic political scene in the United States. Max wrote his Master’s thesis at the
Faculty of Social Sciences on the same topic and has opted to submit a revised version for the PhDr. The
work contains an Introduction, three main chapters, and a Conclusion. Overall, the work is well written
and researched.
In the Introduction, Max explains why he chose the Tea Party as the subject of his work and his
explanation is convincing. After all, students at the Department of American Studies are encouraged to
write on themes that are somehow relevant to current American politics and the Tea Party is a prime
example. Max places the Tea Party in historical context and evaluates the primary and secondary
sources.
Chapter 1 represents an historical excursion into the original Boston Tea Party of 1773. It was a
revolt against what the American colonists perceived to be unfair taxation by the British. The tradition of
American rebellion against unfairness continued in nineteenth century populism. The Farmers‘ Alliance
emerged to help protect agricultural interests and was followed by the establishment of the People’s
Party and the presidential candidacies of James Weaver and William Jennings Bryan, which proved
unsuccessful. More recently, another form of populism was Ross Perot’s United We Stand, which
supported Perot’s presidential candidacy in 1992 and cost incumbent President George H.W. Bush
enough votes and helped bring William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton into the White House, thus ushering in a
new era in American national politics. However, Perot’s later efforts with the so-called Reform Party
proved unsuccessful with the lone exception of Jesse Ventura’s successful campaign for the governorship
of Minnesota. The chapter is both logically organized and Max’s argumentation is excellent.
In Chapter 2, Max traces the origins of the Tea Party Movement, which he rightly characterizes
as the first populist grassroots political movement of the 21st century. He goes into detail about
libertarian Ron Paul and his presidential candidacy, the Constitution Party (founded earlier in 1991),
FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Tea Party Patriots, and the Tea Party Express. Though these
individual organizations have had differences of opinion, their general consensus has been that
government has become too large and that excessive debt spending is a threat to American liberty. In
particular, the intrusion of the so-called PATRIOT Act into American lives has received much criticism
from Tea Party supporters. Various “bailouts” of banks and the automobile industry have also been
attacked. Max also mentions that the Tea Party Movement’s support and activities were declining as
time went on.
Chapter 3 represents a detailed analysis of the Tea Party’s impact on the 2010 Congressional
elections. Overall, 9 senatorial candidates and 129 congressional candidates campaigned with Tea Party
support. The Tea Party certainly helped a number of candidates win Republican primaries and notable
figures such as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul were elected in the November election.
In the Conclusion, Max places the Tea Party Movement within the tradition of American populist
movements. He indicates that, after reaching its height, the Tea Party is on the wane just like previous
populist movements. The internet and other electronic media are given credit for the Tea Party’s rise,
but Max rightly says that the Tea Party still does not have the political might to compete seriously with
the established two-party system in the United States.
I think that this work is commendable and meets the requirements for a PhDr. Max is continuing
as a doctoral candidate in our institute and I look forward to what he can produce in the future. For now,
I offer my praise for an excellent PhDr. dissertation.
…………………………………………………………
Doc. PhDr. Francis D. Raška, PhD.
Associate Professor of Modern History
Charles University
Faculty of Social Sciences
Institute of International Studies
Department of American Studies