What started off as a bunch of Americans that were angry at the US government because it was mired down in self interest thus stalled and not much was getting done. Now it seems the Tea party movement is slowly being hijacked into doing a u-turn to bring back the status quo. The big question is will this work or not as it is way too soon to tell.
Perhaps this is just a variation of the bait and switch tactics used by merchants. They lure you to their store with some irresistible special offer, only to find it sold out when you finally arrive. Then they offer you something else that is similar and not on sale.
So what looks to be happening is the Tea Party movement may be fragmenting with each state or Tea party chapter having a slightly different agenda. This is to be expected as it is not a political party and does not have a platform. That means anyone with sufficient motivational communication skills can hijack parts of the movement for their own separate agenda.
Looking at the billboard depicted in this entry, there is a clear sign that this is not where the seeds of the Tea party movement started. At the very least the roots that sprouted from those seeds seem to have found some polluted water. This clearly is a u-turn ahead sign that may lead back as far as the civil rights movement of the early 1960’s.
The concept of the Tea party movement is sound and it does reflect what Connecting the Dots said before the Tea party movement found its feet, and that is push the reset button by sending all the incumbent politicians home. But it has also provided the concept of a clean slate that can be painted in any color or style from the ground up. But now increasingly it is starting to look like that new painting is just the same as the last with only new faces riding in on a wave of voter anger.
The undefined platform seems to be amounting to unlabeled merchandise and that may lead to more chaos than one could possibly imagine as they all end-up pulling in their own direction if elected. There are already signs that there is a significant possibility this could happen based on the Massachusetts special Senate election that filled the vacant seat left by the late Ted Kennedy. The more fragmented the Tea party movement is, the greater the chances of chaos.
But yet this is all very early so there is a need to wait for mid September before things take a more defined shape. As for right now there are just a few yellow flags starting to show as voter anger looks to be hijacked and they will not realize it until it is too late.
The election results will come down to 3 things. Stick with President Obama, and that seems to be the best choice as impatience can be self destructive. Send the horse running back into the burning barn as that is where President Bush and the Republicans left America. Or send in the unorganized Tea party to have an unorganized rumble on the floor of the House and the Senate that may resemble the Keystone cops.
I agree with what you say that these things are the result of what happens when there is no central control. It is hard to maintain a consistent message when everybody is a leader unto themselves. However, as a tea party member I condemned that billboard, and Mark Williams letter. Those were unacceptable. But the tea party as a whole is a great movement and I hope we do well in November.