
What the tea parties represent more than anything, is something that would have never been possible on the Right a year ago - a substantial, anti-government grassroots movement that is increasingly becoming more radical. Eight years of defending George W. Bush created a conservative movement that justified big government, cast a blind eye to spending, and would have cheered a Big Brother agency like the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, I saw tea party signs calling to audit the Federal Reserve, abolish the income tax, to stop foreign aid and a crowd that now finds itself on the wrong side of Big Brother. Dick Cheney would have not felt comfortable. Ron Paul would have felt right at home.