What is the Tea Party?

Unfortunately when I think of the Tea Party I think of Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Christine O'Donnell and Joe Miller.  My perception of these people is one of mediocrity.  Christine O'Donnell's, "I'm not a witch...... I'm you." Makes me want to shout, "No you're not!"  Or Sarah Palin and her, "How's that hopey, changey workin' out for you????"  She makes it seem she's connecting with the little people.  (I have seriously been part of a conversation before the 2008 election with someone that stated, "I'm voting for Sarah Palin.... because she talks like me."  Sad.  I don't understand.  They find unengaged and uninformed to be some sort of goal.  It's really sad that our political landscape has turned to this.  Sincerely, I thought this was what the Tea Party was all about.

Based on what I've read today, these people aren't at all what it's about.  Aside from two well-funded factions of the Tea Party there are many disparate factions.  Most not engaging on social issues, only on fiscal issues.  Our country is about more than just the cyclical trend of the economy.  It is about leading the world.  It is about ideas.  It is about its people.  It is NOT about building fences and having more than your neighbor.  People that are driven by money only (I admit I like having money....) and equate giving those less fortunate a flat screen tv just like we're giving them healthcare (yes, someone really used that argument with me) makes me really look inside myself to think about how I'm behaving in this election cycle.  This article in the Washington Post provides some much needed insight to a movement that is really not moving all that quickly......The Washington Post