Tea Party Not a Force in U.S. Politics

The Associated Press has largely confirmed what President Barack Obama says about the Tea Party: They are a "fringe" movement.

After an examination of dozens of local chapters across the country, the AP concluded that:

The embryonic movement is not as much a force that drives public opinion as a reflection of it. Local chapters are underfunded, loosely aligned and often at odds with one another.The lack of a single leader, issue or strategic goal sets them apart from most politically potent movements.

America's tea party is a hodgepodge of barely affiliated groups, a home to the politically homeless, a fast-growing swath of citizens who are frustrated with Washington, their own state capitals and both major political parties. Most describe themselves as conservatives or libertarians. They rarely identify themselves as Democrats.

"We're regular people who are p---ed off at our government - period, end of story," Ralph Sprovier, a regional coordinator for Illinois Tea told the AP. "Defend us, don't spend more than we have, get the budget balanced and listen to what we say."

It's also no coincidence that the Tea Party began developing after the election of President Obama. With pictures of the Tea party founder holding a sign with a racial slur, there is an undeniable sense of racism and a propensity to blame others for their problems that permeates this movement. Why is it that many have come to this movement after losing a job or a home to foreclosure and watching their 401ks dissipate?

"The tea party has no single issue around which people rally - taxes comes closest - and it has no clear leader who drives the organization's message, motivates followers and raises money. Indeed, the hundreds of Tea Party chapters and tens of thousands of its activists cannot agree on the most basic strategic goal: whether to try to influence the current political system or dismantle it," the AP writes.

There are also contradictions in what the Tea Party members say they believe. Some Tea Party members call for an end to government programs, such as social security and unemployment, while collecting those same benefits. They are angry at the bailout program but associate themselves with the party that set the stage for a bailout through their policies.

If they are truly frustrated with government, why do they not have more of a platform than: "I don't want to be taxed." I guess they also don't like driving on the highways, going to the hospital when necessary or police protection.

These people are being used by conservative Republicans like Dick Armey to attack President Obama and Democrats. There is not a real interest from Republicans in seeing them become a legitimate, well-organized group that can push an agenda on to the nation's political stage. For example, A Tea Party group in Alaska had to fish a copier out of a landfill. Another in Kansas had only one laptop. When it disappeared, so did their membership list.

"What the Tea Party is good at is producing crowds. "But rally building is no big trick in the era of Twitter and Facebook, when people with cell phones can summon crowds for events as frivolous as snowball fights and bursts of song," the AP writes.

You can't just be mad at everyone. That may draw news cameras, but it doesn't produce any change.