I'd Rather Drink Coffee.

I keep asking myself if this Tea Party thing is only a passing fad we're going to see rehashed someday on VH-1's Remember the 2010s, or if it is a truly enduring political movement whose impact will be felt for many years to come. History will tell the story, but the influence this group appears to have had in recent elections makes me wonder how it came about, and what these white middle-class Americans, not so seemingly different from myself, are so angry about.

They profess to be angry about the increasing encroachment of the federal government onto their basic freedoms and object to what they consider to be the government spending too much money without working out where it is going to come from. They say they feel the middle-class bears too much of the financial burden for our country already, and asking more of them will only serve to finally break their back. Their name is actually an acronym that spells out their purpose: Taxed Enough Already.

Their objectives do not sound overly sinister, and I find that I can even relate to their mission. The middle-class of America certainly shoulders more than their share of  the burden of paying for our government's operation. It has always been that way, and probably always will be. If I truly believed this was what the Tea Party movement was actually about, perhaps I could join them. I certainly wouldn't mind paying less taxes. I don't particularly enjoy the idea of having an all-controlling central government determined to inject its influence ever more intrusively into my daily life, and the truth is that I would probably fit in at a Tea Party rally as easily as anyone. After all, I'm pretty much as white, middle-class, and conservative-raised as anyone could be. Why then do I find myself so viscerally disgusted by even seeing snippets of their gatherings on the news in the moments before I can reach for the remote to change the channel? Of course the media does tend to focus on the nuttiest attendees: angry white people holding signs declaring President Obama as a Nazi wannabe birth certificateless Moslem just this side of the anti-Christ, and at the same time paying homage to their unofficial queen: Sarah Palin, a woman who seems to have little interest in governing, but a lot in being as famous and rich as possible.

Should I trust my gut in finding this movement distasteful like former President Bush might, or do my negative reactions deserve to be more closely scrutinized? Being a proponent of Socrates' statement that an unexamined life is not worth living, I feel obligated to delve into the thing.

After reviewing web site after web site proclaiming the virtues of The Tea Party and the fine patriotic views it purports to stand for, I discovered my original opinion to be reinforced rather than refuted. It isn't the basic principles of the Tea Party I find objectionable although I do believe their choice of targets are misguided. Obama, Health Care, Pelosi, The Stimulus, and Bailouts appear to be buzzwords for mad as Hell Tea Partiers to throw punches at rather than the real culprits for the fundamental misfortunes of middle class Americans. My intuition tells me these issues run much deeper and are more complex than these good patriots care to ponder. These problems have also been around much longer than any of us care to think about. In my reading, I discovered this article that addresses these issues in a way that made a lot of sense to me.

But what truly bothers me about the Tea Party movement isn't what they profess to stand for. All of the rhetoric about smaller government and anger about taxes and spending is a flimsy, halfhearted attempt to disguise what it's truly about: The middle-class, white, properly God-fearing, salt-of-the-Earth types sense they are losing ground in America. Minorities of every sort are gaining power. Blacks and Hispanics are becoming more numerous, educated, and wealthy. Gay people are rapidly being accepted into the mainstream of American society. Our culture is shifting to a gradually more secular place where fundamentalist Christianity does not hold as much influence as it once did. The typical Tea Partier, who has always considered him or herself "the real Americans" our founding fathers had in mind when they put our nation together wants to fight back. They see this as their last stand--their final chance to turn America around to change it back to the country they wish it to be--a place where the can feel comfortably superior, where minorities know their place, where gay people are marginalized, and where a black man would know better than to have the audacity to run for President.

I am also convinced the Tea Party only exists because the perfect combination of variables fell into place for them. Most importantly, the economy tanked. There would be no fuel for such a movement to exist if this were not the case. Then Sarah Palin was named John McCain's running mate. The Tea Party may lack a true leader, but in her they have a perfect figurehead. She seems to voice their cause so perfectly that it makes you wonder if the Tea Party was somehow conceived because of her, or perhaps the whole thing was her secret brain child. It becomes a chicken or the egg question. She is their perfect ambassador, and they give her the perfect platform to spread her seemingly simple-minded message that nonetheless obviously resonates with this segment of the population. In Barack Obama, the Tea Partiers also have the perfect foil--a black, cerebral, liberal-leaning President with a suspiciously Muslim sounding name. No Hollywood writer could have invented a better arch-villain.

Over and over, I ask myself if I am being needlessly  prejudiced and judgmental in having such an uncharitable opinion of this group. Am I being short-sighted and unfair to these people who, demographically at least, are so like me. They seem to be a group that thrives and prospers on emotion--chiefly anger--while I am a person who tends to purposefully put my emotions aside in favor of logic and rationality. Perhaps this is what truly repels me. But logic also tells me that while the Tea Party may be able to exert considerable influence in the here and now because of the power of their emotion, they will not be an enduring force in American politics. How could such extreme Tea Party based candidates such as Carl Palladino and Christine O'Donnell be anything but flash fires that burn white-hot, but also quickly extinguish themselves? If I was to return five years from now to read this post, would I say to myself--'I can't believe the Tea Party was such a big deal I put this much energy into writing about them,' or will I think that this was just the tip of the iceberg for them as I try to ignore the television as it plays Sarah Palin's State of the Union Address filled with cutesy winks and references to Mama Grizzlies.

For the sake of our country, I hope not, and my gut says it could never happen...

Doesn't it?