On Dec. 16 1773, British colonials in Boston, in a protest against a legislature in which they had no voice because they were not allowed to vote, dumped tea in the harbor. This famous action against taxation without representation was forever named the Boston Tea Party. That is a far cry from the national Tea Party movement we see being promoted on a daily basis on Fox News. Unlike those rallies, the current Tea Party movement is not about tea or taxation without representation. It has become about GOP sour grapes and the fact that they have yet to accept the election results of 2008.
Grassroots movements start out as legitimately independent movements. They have legitimate grievances that they feel are being ignored by the current political system. Unfortunately, those movements are quickly consumed by established political parties who want to use the new energy to prop up their organization. Soon after, fringe groups also latch on to these movements. They will bring things like bigotry, lies and conspiracy theories that have nothing to do with the purpose of the organization they latched on to. Pretty soon the movements are no longer recognizable. That is what is currently happening to the Tea Party movement. And the GOP is not hiding it.
Republicans like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are proclaiming that the GOP and the Tea Party are merging. But it is not a merger. It's more like usurpation, an occurrence that many founders of the Tea Party Movement had feared.
The GOP has usurped the Tea Party movement with their private donors and "independent" foundations which are led by Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey. What independence the Tea Party movement may have had is slipping away. If I had a chalk board I could go all Glen Beck on you and draw how Republican money and Republican organizations have fully funded and infiltrated what used to be an independent movement. Why have they done this? To regain power any way they can. And the fringe groups, with tacit approval from some irresponsible members of the GOP, are gaining the spotlight and are now attempting to drive the agenda. It has gotten so out of hand that even Fox News is slowly backing away from the Tea Party Movement.
The other day, the GOP/Tea Party held a rally against President Obama's economic policies that have included 25 different tax cuts and provided 95 percent of American families with a tax cut. Tax levels for middle class families are at the lowest levels in decades. Facts the GOP chooses to ignore. The GOP will not let facts get in the way of their incendiary rhetoric. The truth will not deter them. They apparently follow the philosophy of George Costanza, who in a Seinfeld episode proclaimed, "Remember, it's not a lie if you believe it." All the GOP cares about is regaining power and if they have to sacrifice the Tea Party movement and the truth to do it, they will.
