As an actual third party, however, the Tea Party could play a different role in American politics: providing a haven and platform for the disgruntled and disillusioned, while freeing the GOP to try and regain some broad-based appeal. Yes, in the short term, Republicans would likely suffer even greater losses as TP candidates siphoned off some of the GOP’s far-right supporters. (A new Quinnipiac poll found that 74 percent of Tea Partiers consider themselves Republicans or Republican-leaning Independents.) But, faced with possible extinction, Republicans would have strong incentive to retool into a party that could once again speak to independents and conservative Dems. This development would benefit the entire republic. A vibrant two-party (or multi-party) system is a good thing. What we have right now is scary.
For this to happen, however, a leader will need to rise up—soon—and bring order to the swelling Tea Party chaos. This is no small task considering the inherent quirkiness of this grassroots phenomenon. Despite all the talk of ideological purity, Tea Partiers aren’t defined by their ideology so much as their attitude, meaning that any aspiring leader would not only need to toe a strict (very strict) conservative line but also display a handful of characterological attributes…
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