Rebels Without A Face

The up-and-coming Tea Party movement has been called radical, extreme, and racist among some other names I won't mention here. Say what you will of the insurgent brigade, they are receiving a good amount of support from irate tax payers and copious attention from the media. The grass roots rebellion is analyzed in a new book by Will Bunch entitled The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama. Bunch focuses on the fringe hangers-on and collateral capitalists orbiting within the TP movement's sphere.  Michiko Kakutani reviewed the book in the New York Times, a day before the national primary elections. In his book Mr Bunch cites many ultra conservative voices i.e., Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachman, and Sharron Angle, all arguably extremists that are likely to cause more harm to America then to help it back up from its recent stumblings, but none of these names are officially affiliated with the leadership of the Tea Party. That's because there is no leadership of this movement.

Fresh from victories in the New York, Delaware, and DC primaries, the insurgent Tea Party-ers still have no face. The absence of leadership in this growing grass roots political arm could be deleterious to its modest if vigorous gains.As the more conservative, libertarian driven limb of the Republican Party, the Tea Party may only succeed in fracturing its own trunk, but does the movement care? They have said that their aim is less about political pandering than simply to raise awareness; to motivate, and mobilize the people of America to action against excessive government. If their goals are truly without regard for political affiliation, the movement has a chance to meet those goals. But without a leader, the Tea Party will continue to be associated with all sorts of extreme right wing wackos and wind up in the break down lane of the American power highway.