Low taxes and small government may be the Tea Party's defining issues, says Hanna Rosin in Slate, but the movement has developed a fierce "feminist streak." With a growing number of female Tea Party candidates and inflating resentment against the male-dominated Republican and Democratic parties, the mostly-female movement has arguably become a bastion of women's empowerment. An excerpt:
"Is the Tea Party a women's movement? More women than men belong—55 percent, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. And while no movement that uses Michelle Malkin as a poster girl could fairly be described as feminist, the party has become an insta-network for ambitious women.... Some are aspiring candidates who could never get traction within the tight, local Republican Party networks. Some are angry-mom-activist types who, like their heroine Sarah Palin, outgrew the PTA. But some would surprise you with their straightforward feminist rage.
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