Ken Connor: D.C. Republicans Could Undermine Tea Party Conservatism

Ken Connor of the Center for a Just Society cautioned conservatives on Friday that Beltway Republicans look to absorb and ultimately undermine the ideals of the tea party movement.

Before forming the Center for a Just Society, Connor served as chairman of the Family Research Council and with Florida Right-to-Life. He made a bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1994, losing to Jeb Bush.

As the midterm elections rapidly approach and tea party candidates continue to gain ground in primary battles across the country, the Republican establishment is beginning to feel the sand shift beneath their feet, wrote Connor in an essay released by the center on Friday. Rather than resigning themselves to irrelevancy, however, key leaders within the GOP establishment are determined to find a way to translate tea party enthusiasm into further entrenchment of the Republican status quo.

Connor offered his take on the tea party phenomenon.

The relationship between the tea party patriots and the GOP has been tenuous since the movement began over a year ago, he mused.More than anti-left or anti-liberal, the primary motivating spirit behind the tea party movement has been anti-incumbent, anti-Washington, anti-establishment.This spells bad news for everyone inside the Beltway regardless of party affiliation. Initially, the Republican response to the tea party phenomenon was to pay lip service to the movement while working behind the scenes to ensure the continued hegemony of the GOP establishment. However, this tactic has not proven very successful, as evidenced by recent primary upsets in six states including Florida and Delaware.

Connor warned that Beltway Republicans -- naming former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Karl Rove -- would continue to seek to undermine conservative ideals through access to fund-raising.

The American people are hoping the tea party candidates precisely because of their relative political inexperience --will help chart a new path for our government, wrote Connor. There is a desperate desire among the American people for a new and different generation of representatives people who run for office not because they need the job or the money or the power, but because they are people of integrity and honor who truly feel called to serve their fellow citizens.