Courtesy of Tea Party Patriots, Mark R. Levin

(2:03:18 – 2:23:10)

Both the poster and the speech attempt to elicit a sense of national identity by associating with the Founding Fathers, commonplace idols of respect among conservatives. The poster intends for the effect to parallel that of displaying a portrait of a lost relative, conveying that inaction against the growing federal government would “disappoint” them. On the other hand, Levin implies through his stylistically dark language that the Founding Fathers’ influence on the nature of American society has almost completely evaporated at the hands of the Left, contrasting his tone with the sense of hope for reform apparent in the poster. With this hopelessness, Levin fails to present a cause for which to stand up and protest, instead stirring up further resentment against the Left among his relatively small crowd of attendees.

Such a small crowd is the product of the Tea Party’s ever-diminishing influence over the ten years between the poster and the speech. True adherents to the movement in 2019 include the most right-wing sector of the Republican Party, a party that has shifted toward more centrist populism with the election of President Trump. Indeed, such members of the right-wing sector of the party tend to be more politically virulent or polarizing; Levin’s tirade-like address speaks to his knowledge of his audience—and himself. The poster, however, tries to appeal to as broad of an audience as possible, calling on all sectors of the political Right to initiate a large-scale movement to deliver lost power back to the Right, which was delivered in three of the following four elections.

Levin’s seemingly ad hominem approach highlights the stark contrasts in ethical and logical appeals between the two artifacts. In 2009, the Tea Party Movement was a newly born, little-known faction, so the Tax Day protests served as a “first impression” of the movement for millions, precisely why the poster authors include a tagline with a website for reference. Levin, however, allows his own national renown as both a radio host and a constitutional lawyer to be his own “tagline.” The lack of evidence-based claims is the result of the audience’s (and many more conservatives’) familiarization with Levin’s scholarship on the Constitution—epitomized by the sense that “He already knows what he’s talking about”—and his style to deliver a tirade on every subject that ties in the political opposition. With so many unfamiliar with the new Tea Party Movement in 2009, however, the authors relied on statistics (monetary figures) and a keen sense of timing (placing protests on Tax Day and soon after Obama inauguration) to legitimize the movement.