(Tea) Party Like It's 1999

I've held back from blogging about the Tea Party on a consistent basis, mainly because their cause is founded on misinformation, their goals appear to be either unrealistic or unobtainable and their makeup is frankly off-putting and deceptive (despite their apparent influence).

I was suspicious of this group from their inception: a group of "Government Is Too Big And Is Taking Away My Rights & Money"-types who just happened to be protesting around the same time as a group of anti-tax activists; only difference is, the later group has been protesting for years, regardless of who's in the White House, and has to date received little media attention. Of course, they weren't riding a wave of anger, confusion and frustration that formed when America elected it's first non-white American President.

Not to say that the Tea Party has a solely racial foundation. As some of the links above mention, people are rightly angry that government hasn't worked like in all Schoolhouse Rock commercials I saw as a kid. Thing is, these "activists" overlook two things: their role in government, and the role of the power players.

First of all, the Tea Party had a chance to actually become both an influential and visible third option in politics, but they waited too long to put themselves together, preferring to serve as a foil to Democrats and flirt with the Republicans (the fact the Tea Party is even considering aligning themselves with Republicans disqualifies them as a legitimate third party movement in my book). But instead of putting some fresh new faces out there we saw the same old retreads, the likes of Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, hogging the mic and sucking up airtime. And let's not forget how FoxNews became their official cable news headquarters. While it's known that the network gets the lion's share of viewers, it's hardly a bastion of populism, and as the Bush years have shown they weren't exactly all about critiquing questionable actions by the Federal Government.

Second, the Tea Party acts like its only enemies are Democrats and Republicans in the Federal Government. In a way, it's that thinking that sunk the Democrats during the Clinton years; that belief that only the federal level matters in politics. Why aren't Tea Party people running for mayor or county council or state legislator or even governor? Why are they all swinging for the fences? One of the reasons the GOP made their "comeback" was because they created a foundation: they had Republicans on various committees and thinktanks, they became regular media pundits, and they were all over local government. I'm still waiting to see a flood of stories about people actually giving money to these guys, or some major lobbyists aligning themselves with the Tea Party movement. So far: nothing of note. Which is why I suspect why the Democrats haven't completely bent over backwards and the GOP is hardly being subtle about their desire to co-opt them: there's no solid foundation for the Tea Party to fall back on.

So forgive me if I don't celebrate their one-year anniversary with awe. It's a long way to go when you don't know where you're going, and you don't know where you're going when you're lost.