The Tea Party's Roots

I love a good political dog fight, and that's certainly what we should be getting this Fall before the mid-term elections in November.  But, most political fights have two dogs, so to speak, and right now, I'm wondering who they are.
Lovely Sarah is there, so is John Boehmer for the GOP. Barak is doing his bit for the Democrats, but the other Dems are lying lo-oo-oo-w. So, where's the fight?
It's not even on the political screen, I'd say, it's in the financial markets Americans have learned to love to hate. While the Tea Party is urging votes for patriotism, religion and the troops, it has given only lip service to its original purpose. Has it forgotten that it came to life in 2009 when a financial expert in Chicago suggested starting a tea party to force the government to come to its senses, stop spending and get to work on solving America's financial mess.
The mess is still there, only bigger and more entrenched. The presence of the Tea Party has forced the GOP to make its Pledge to America - a lackluster promise of lower taxes and more citizen input, all papered over with a return to constitutional values. No detail but lots of "Mother and Apple Pie." Meanwhile, the Tea Party waves the flag and blusters over "big government."
And the President? I don't think he understands the problem. He's been co-opted by the Tea Party flag-wavers and so he can't suggest loudly that patriotism means higher taxes to help America out of the mire because that message would only stoke the Tea Party fires. His own political philosophy would not allow him to utter the words "less government," and his taking of the bait in Afghanistan has eliminated his 2008 anti-war message. So, he reaches out to college students, surely knowing that they probably won't bother to vote again, but using them to deliver his own version of the old Democratic tax-and-spend-us-into-prosperity message.
Meanwhile, the real GOP seems hypnotized. It's frozen in the spotlight glare, unable to see or comment, simply waiting for a voter verdict and hoping that when it comes in, the GOP will win and be able to handle the feisty Tea Partiers and use them for its own goals.
And, yes, Virginia, the financial markets are doing just fine - for now.
No honorable dog would allow itself to enter the ring.