On first clicking on the website i was immedietly drawn to the recurring image of the 'stars and stripes' which I felt encouraged a sense of patriotism, through the image of the Tea Party representing the country. I thought patriotism was a good aspect to use as it is a vital and natural part of the american way of life and by using it in this way presents the Tea Party as the 'natural' path to America's improvement, thus appealing to the public. The phrase displayed on the left hand side of the website and repeated on other pages throughout, further enhances this idea,
'A community committed to standing together, shoulder to shoulder to protect our country and the Constitution upon which we were founded!'
The word 'Protect' stood out for me the most as it implied that America needed to be saved and it is viewed as currently being in danger. The sentence contains inclusive words such as 'Our' and 'We' and the phrase 'Standing together, shoulder to shoulder' to reiterate the patriotism and coming together of the nation, to appeal to the public as it causes them to want to be a part of something. I also found the phrase 'The constitution upson which we were founded!' interesting as it shows us that the Tea Party value the old system and want less governmental control favouring a 'simplier' more natural approach.
Scrolling down the page I was met with bold headings such as Forum, Groups, Blog Posts and Events indicating that it was a social website where views were regularly discussed and a lot of information could be displayed and accessed. People could freely start and engage in discussions with generally like minded people making them feel that what they have to say is important and valued by others, and creates a 'community' atmosphere.
As a visitor to the site you are encouraged to join the website, and its facebook equilivant, 'Join almost 800,000 fellow Patriots on our Facebook page'. This is a continued theme throughout the site showing that the main aim behind it is to gain more support in order to achieve the change they want in America. This can also be seen in the presence of the radio showing us how they are using the media to reach the nation and gather more support.
Overall I found the website informative and east to access. The main aspect of the website was the community feel to it and the patriotic nature which made the site inviting and intriguing rather than my initial view of the party being intimidating and guilty of pushing their views on others.
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