Where Does the Tea Party Go From Here?

Because of the large efforts of the Tea Party, the Republicans who survived the organization’s “layoffs” succeeded in gaining the House and nearly gaining control of the Senate. While winning both would have sent a sublime message, at least the Tea Party helped make sure that Democrats don’t have too much of a power grip in Congress.

So, after the midterm election partying is over (despite John Boehner saying there's no time for celebrating I'm sure there was some revelry last night), what does the Tea Party do now? Sure, many can lay claim that the Tea Party was just a Republican tool that should be put away in the shed, but its unofficial king and prince, Ron and Rand Paul, don’t seem to think that.

“They say that the U.S. Senate is the world’s most deliberative body. I’m going to ask them to deliberate upon this: The American people are unhappy with what is going on in Washington. Eleven percent of the people approve of what’s going in Congress. But tonight there’s a Tea Party tidal wave and we’re sending a message to them. It’s a message that I will carry with me on Day 1,” Rand Paul said, the new Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky, reported The New York Times.

And America will need the Tea Party to keep Republicans, and even Democrats, on the straight and narrow. It would be a waste to lose a political juggernaut that could easily be seen as a legitimate third political party, showing some older ones how it’s done.

Let’s face it, the impotent, elderly Green Party has been around so long that the only reason why it’s still green is because of mold and they never had the type of impact that the young Tea Party has shown this midterm election.

Basically the Tea Party, despite its pratfalls and a few knuckleheads, is probably the only political organization the Founding Fathers would want to belong to if they time- traveled to modern day America. (Before they’re scared wigless after seeing HD TVs and horseless buggies. But at least they’ll see a familiar face with Harry Reid.)

It’s safe to say that the Tea Partiers are here to stay, but since their job of kicking out Republican and Democratic incumbents out of office is over, they need to get more organized and incorporate the separate versions of themselves into one large group.

They still have some work to do -- Tea Partiers were not infallible in Tuesday's election. They failed to get Reid out of office, even though exit polls showed
that the majority in Nevada didn’t approve of the Democrat’s job in the
Senate and thought he was in office too long, reported ABC News. But Nevada still voted him in over his GOP challenger and Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle.

So while the media are the watchdogs of the government, the Tea Party should be the bouncers of any politician that doesn’t respect the Constitution or have the people’s best interests at heart.

Anthony Leone is a political columnist who has an extensive background in journalism, from newspapers to magazines to news sites and blogs.