This past October our United States government was forced to shut down, as a budget agreement could not be decided upon by the October 1^st deadline. Republican conservatives (including numerous members of the Tea Party) would not pass a budget agreement, which involved funding Obamacare, President Obama’s new health care program. Although the shutdown ended, its effects have had huge effects on the country as a whole – especially, on the Republican Party. Now that the Republican party has been forced to re-evaluate itself, as Republican approval ratings have dramatically fallen, the party seems to be more divided than ever before.

The Tea Party is a faction of the Republican Party that feels as though our country has strayed too far from the words our founders wrote in the Constitution. They derive their name from the Boston Tea Party, which fits nicely with their main platform that the government spends too much and taxes too highly. As they are particularly active and a conservative minor party, members have actively been pushing the entire Republican Party further right in the political spectrum. This movement has caused dissent inside the party, as they struggle to find an identity for themselves.

One thing is for certain: the Tea Party’s uncompromising ideals are being noticed. Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, a man who had been at the center of the government shutdown dispute, seems frustrated by the Tea Party. In December of 2013, members of both the Republican and Democratic Party reached a modest bi-partisan budget deal much earlier than usual, ensuring that 2014 will not be another year marred by a government shutdown. Although members of both parties feel that the new budget takes steps towards both the Democrat and the Republican agenda, Tea Party members fought the bill. They made it clear that they thought the budget involved a steep increase in spending ($63 billion in agency spending over the next two years in exchange for savings that come over the next decade). Tea Party opposition to the budget prompted Boehner to give a pretty fired up speech on the “misleading” Tea Party critics who have “lost all credibility.”

As the Republican Party attempts to find itself amidst their moderate, conservative, and Tea Party members, it is surely evident that this year’s elections will shake up our Congress, as the 435 members of the House of representatives and 1/3 of our 100 Senators will run for re-election. Elections tend to reveal the country’s feelings towards our current government, and considering that a recent NBC poll shows that 60% of our country’s population would vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress. We can expect some big changes in our legislative branch. Perhaps the Republicans will come out a stronger party. Hopefully, they will find their identity along the way.