Whose Tea Party is it?

When it comes to the Tea Party movement, there is one matter in dispute: the origins of the modern-day Tea Parties.  It has been claimed by some individuals, namely Ron Paulians, that the Tea Parties began with Ron Paul's campaign for President in 2008, while others believe otherwise.

Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party nominee for Vice President in 2004 and for President in 2008, wrote an article for the website NewsWithViews.com, in which he laments what he perceives as the abandonment of Ron Paul by the Tea Partiers, and advises to be wary of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, whom he describes as “establishment players” (talk about the height of absurdity!), but in this particular paragraph, he wrote:

First of all, the Tea Parties were actually born during the Presidential campaign of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas in 2007 and 2008. For all intents and purposes, the Tea Parties and the Ron Paul Revolution were one and the same. These were (mostly) young people, who were sick and tired of the same old establishment Republican Party. They were tired of establishment Republicans selling out the principles of limited government; they were tired of the US Constitution being ignored and trampled by both Republicans and Democrats; they were tired of an incessant interventionist US foreign policy that keeps sending US forces overseas to advance a burgeoning New World Order (NWO); they were tired of perpetual war; they were tired of the bank bailouts; they were tired of the Federal Reserve; etc.

One thing I can say about the Tea Parties of today: Chuck Baldwin is flat wrong.  What constituted the Ron Paul Revolution has never motivated a significant number of people (compared to the Tea Parties or the 9/12 Project), and the Ron Paul Revolution never morphed into the Tea Party movement; it never served as the nucleus.  What the Ron Paul Revolution did was morph into the Campaign for Liberty, which has been a player in the Tea Party movement, but only a minor player.

The Tea Parties began spontaneously a year ago, in Seattle, Denver, Mesa,Arizona and Overland Park,Kansas, and it was the stimulus bill President Obama was shoving down our throats a year ago that served as the motivation for the first Tea Parties.

A final note: because the Tea Parties began spontaneously, there never has been a sole leader of the movement itself and there never will be.  Daria DiGiovanni, who addressed the absurd claims of the Paulians in regards to the Tea Parties in an article she wrote for the website Parcbench, says it best:

When did a movement started by fed-up, everyday Americans become the domain of any politician, let alone Ron Paul?

And indeed, the Tea Parties, as well as the 9/12 Project, will never be the domain of any one individual; not Sarah Palin, not Glenn Beck, not Chuck Baldwin and especially not Ron Paul.