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Only three years ago, if one were asked what the “Tea Party Movement” was, one might have been inclined to reply with a reference to a group of colonial protesters dumping tea in Boston Harbor in 1773.

Today, the term “Tea Party” is synonymous with a series of nationally coordinated protests centered on a much broader, if not looser, set of concerns than the Tea Act passed by the British Parliament 237 years ago.

The modern Tea Party Movement emerged on the national scene in 2009 when members of communities around the nation began assembling locally to protest several pieces of legislation that were passed in response to the economic crisis of 2008, as well as the health care reform bills passed by Congress.

The movement claims to have no central leadership, but instead consists of small assemblages within local communities, whose members cite as the justification behind billing the protests and campaign fundraising as a grassroots movement. 

 Today, the movement’s main concerns deal with reducing the size of government in every facet, lowering taxes, bringing down the national debt by reducing what they deem to be wasteful spending, and adhering to their own interpretation of the United States Constitution, often referring to principles laid out by the Founding Fathers.

The Tea Party Movement first gained a national foothold after protests were organized in February 2009, first by conservative activist Keli Carender in Seattle whose protest gained a large amount of favorable media attention from Fox News, and second by CNBC Business News editor Rick Santelli in Chicago, who broadcast heavy criticism of the government’s plan to refinance mortgages and suggested holding tea parties for traders to dump derivatives in the Chicago River. 

On Feb. 20, a Facebook page was developed to sound a call for Tea Party protests to occur across the country. Within a week of the page’s creation, this movement was being coordinated in more than 40 different cities, signaling the evolution of a modern Tea Party protest.

The emergence of the modern Tea Party Movement has also been characterized as a backlash to the election of President Barack Obama, bringing racial overtones into characterizations by Tea Party critics.

For example, in a story titled “The Tea Party Is All About Race,” Bob Cesca of the Huffington Post wrote, “Because when you strip away all of the rage, all of the nonsensical loud noises and all of the contradictions, all that's left is race. The tea party is almost entirely about race, and there's no comparative group on the left that's similarly motivated by bigotry, ignorance and racial hatred.”

A poll of Tea Party organizations conducted by the Washington Post found that 11 percent of the 647 groups surveyed affirmed that Obama's race, religion or ethnic background was either a 'very important' or 'somewhat important' factor in the support their group.

This summer the NAACP released a report by the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights that exposes the links between certain Tea Party factions and acknowledged racist hate groups in the United States.

Dennis Prager of the National Review debunks such assertions, noting, “It confirms that the Left really does see the world through the prism of race, gender, and class, rather than through the moral prism of right and wrong.”

According to Minnesota’s Tea Party Patriots, today there are at least 43 locally organized Tea Party groups within Minnesota alone, and this year’s national election primaries have seen quite a few political upsets by candidates running on a Tea Party platform. 

Republicans find themselves shaken by the Tea Party’s progress, more worried than not that the Tea Party’s influence will cut into key voting demographics usually supporting GOP candidates. 

Democrats hold similar hopes in that their voting base will hold steady while the Tea Party divides conservatives, but neither traditional party seems comfortable in the wake of the rapid rise in Tea Party supporters.

Some of the most nerve-wracking implications of the Tea Party’s agenda come from recent investigative journalistic reports on the financial backing and monetary distribution that form the backbone of the Tea Party’s “grassroots” organization. 

Much of the local controversy surrounding Minnesota’s Tea Party movement is centered on Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R) shaky transitions between her endorsements and backing of popular Tea Party members and a loudly vocalized support of the movement proper and incongruous endorsements of Republican candidates that many Tea Party members see as an act of betrayal and misrepresentation. 

In Duluth, many Republican candidates have expanded their platform to include strong Tea Party issues without avowing complete affiliation with the more radical elements of the group.

On the surface, what is seen of the Tea Party is honest; the movement’s motivation toward dissent and protest is grounded in strong conviction. 

What remains to be seen is what the movement’s strongly conservative multi-billion dollar benevolent financial heavyweights like the Koch brothers plan to do with their grand orchestration.

If Tea Party criticis like MSNBC's Keith Olbermann are to be believed, electing Tea Party candidates to office in 2010 would be a step back in time, almost back to 1773. Olbermann suggests that step back would result in rollbacks to Social Security, Medicare, Roe v. Wade, the 14th Amendment, the 17th Amendment, unemployment compensation, the Department of Defense, the EPA, the Department of Energy, and any regulations that impede mining, drilling for oil, and Market-Based Management, as practiced by the Koch brothers.

Want to read more about the Tea Party movement?

Is the Tea Party truly a "grassroots" movement, becoming a large force in American politics without the financial support of large corporations? Click here to read about the "media fantasy" behind financial contributions to the Tea Party.

Click here to view the results of a survey identifying what  CSS students know about the Tea Party.

Click here to learn about possible Tea Party principles outlined in Pledge to America, the GOP position paper that articulates an agenda the GOP would attempt to legislate if the party is able to win a majority in Congress.

Click here to learn about the Koch's financial influences outside the political arena. Read the facts and decide for yourself whether the Kochs’ philanthropy is being used to balance the scales against their ardent politics.

Click here to read blog reflections from the CSS journalist students who have been researching the Tea Party in light of the 2010 elections.