Tea Party Express II Prepares to Roll

The Tea Party Express II, replicating the first Tea Party Express that consisted of a bus convey that crossed the country from California and ending in the March on Washington this past September 12^th, departs from San Diego on Sunday, October 25^th.

The Tea Party Express II will travel north along the West Coast, before turning east through Montana and South Dakota, before heading south east through such states as Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, before heading east through the South, ending up in Orlando on November 12^th.

The Tea Party Express II will make numerous stops at tea party rallies protesting high taxes, profligate spending, and intrusive government. The Tea Party Express II journey is designed to cut off a year long, grass roots campaign designed to influence the outcome of the 2010 elections to elect members of Congress agreeable to the small government agenda of the tea party movement.

The Tea Party movement represents one of the more remarkable grass roots political phenomena's in American history and a reversal of fortune for the Obama administration, which entered into office with a great deal of hope and good will. The Tea Party movement began with small, ad hoc rallies in large cities and small towns in the wake of the Obama stimulus package during the spring of 2009. There were particularly large rallies on April 15^th, Tax Day.

The Tea Party movement grew for another set of rallies to coincide with the July 4^th Independence Day holiday. The first Tea Party Express was an astonishing success in the late summer and early fall, culminating in the September 12^th March on Washington the numbered at least in the hundreds of thousands.

The Tea Party Express II promises to make the 2010 political season interesting and contentious. Neither political party will be entirely comfortable with the Tea Party movement. The Democrats have reason to fear that the small government message of the Tea Party movement will sweep away many Democratic office holders next year. At least some Republicans will not like the tendency of Tea Party people to eschew compromise.

The race in the New York 23^rd Congressional district is a case in point. Republican Party bosses have endorsed a liberal Republican they feel suited to a blue state district. A lot of conservatives, including the tea party people, support a conservative third party opponent. Sarah Palin, a favorite by many for President in 2012, supported the conservative candidate.

The Obama administration and its surrogates are particularly not amused. The Tea Party people have been accused of everything from racism to sedition. This is an absurd slander as the Tea Party people tend to be ordinary people from diverse races, creeds, and backgrounds.

Love it or hate it, one cannot ignore the Tea Party movement or the effect it is having on American politics. That effect is likely to be profound and long lasting.

Sources: Tea Party Express Official Website

National Tax Day Tea Party Set for April 15th, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, April 11th, 2009

Tea Party Express Rolls Across the United States, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, September 1st, 2009

The Tea Party March on Washington Draws Hundreds of Thousands, Mark R. Whittington, Septermber 12th, 2009

Janeane Garofalo: Tea Partiers Are Racist, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, April 18th, 2009