As the Tea Party has been gathering steam, people from all over are cramming in to see if they can catch a piece of the pie. And the pie gets bigger by the minute – with four Senate seats – those of Rand Paul (KY), Pat Toomey (PE), Marc Rubio (FL) and Mike Lee (UT) – being claimed by the Tea Party movement. There is even talk of a Tea Party Caucus in the Senate and House during the next congressional cycle. Former President George W. Bush has been trying to capitalize on the political success of the movement like any other. It may seem odd that he would do that, given that his two constitutionally legal terms of office are over and he cannot rise any farther than he has been in the past. But his brother Jeb is now being speculated about as a potential Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Now George seems to be trying to mobilize Tea Party support for his Jeb’s run to follow in his footsteps.

The Tea Party movement and its members would have to have really short memories if they were to follow the former president’s lead and throw their support behind another Bush. It is important to remember that the Tea Party originally rose in response to cronyism overspending by the BUSH Administration which has been expanded and continued by the Obama Administration. It is easy to forget – with all the attention centered around Obama – that Bush was the original target of the movement. The Tea Party will only get behind candidates true to their values and RINOs like Bush will not qualify. Sure, the Tea Party was largely behind Scott Brown here in Massachusetts and he’s a centrist on fiscal issues, but he was the best the Tea Party could settle for in the bluest state in the nation. Let’s not forget that George Bush snubbed now Senator-Elect Marc Rubio when he was running in the primary against establishment candidate Charlie Crist. Now Bush is playing like he knew the Tea Party was the real deal all along.

Of course, he still doesn’t seem to grasp what the Tea Party actually stands for. He says: “Here’s what I am most concerned about: isolationism, protectionism and nativism, the evil triplets that occasionally hold hands in America,” Wow, sounds a lot like his “axis of evil” – time to play the demagogue all over again. Unfortunately he’s 0 for 3 on this. The Tea Party is not isolationist or protectionist or nativist. The Tea Party supports a culture of liberty where free enterprise is left alone. This requires a government which remains in its proper functions. This would entail a pragmatic but strong foreign policy (not isolationist), free trade so that our market can prosper along with others (opposite of protectionism) and the fact that the Tea Party is a welcoming environment for people of all races and creeds who want to help out. This is neither nativist nor racist as many in the mainstream want you to believe – a manufactured Conventional Wisdom which clashes violently with Common Sense.

A lot of people are scratching their heads trying to figure out who the true leaders of the Tea Party are. Well, that’s a very difficult question to answer. Or perhaps the best answer is that the Tea Party has no real central leadership because it’s a genuine bottom-up movement and doesn’t need one – nor would it accept one. A lot of people have recognized the success of the Tea Party and have reacted to it. Several contenders looking to oust Michael Steele as RNC Chair have promised to give more resources to the Tea Party movement in future elections. A lot of people are under the misconception that Fox News is behind the Tea Party. This is blatantly untrue and should seem laughable to someone who looks at the facts through a Common Sense perspective. It’s true that as the Tea Party grew, Fox covered it while all the other major networks snubbed it. But this does not mean that Fox is the Tea Party. The truth is that the Tea Party is a grassroots movement which started with the actions of local activists. The major networks other than Fox all worshipped Obama like a god and made every move to discredit the Tea Party activists because they opposed the policies of Obama. Fox gave them a fair hearing. So, Fox may not be connected with the Tea Party, but Fox is the only media source which can be trusted with giving out credible Tea Party information.

Of course, just because Fox is not the Tea Party, that does not mean that Fox personalities will not try to cash in on the momentum and publicity of it. Mike Huckabee, who was a notorious tax-hiking RINO as governor and has been called a semi-socialist by some, now claims he was “tea party before it started.” Sarah Palin has only recently joined Fox but she was involved with promoting Tea Party candidates and events long before then. However controversial she may be, she is a true maverick, but the fact that she’s on Fox now does not help to extinguish the Conventional Wisdom that Fox News and the Tea Party are synonymous. Glenn Beck has done his homework on some of the main points of the Tea Party movement in order to become one of them, but I know firsthand that many Tea Partiers remain skeptical of him. He has become better over time, but he was not so quick in the beginning to support Ron Paul, the man who more than anyone else deserves credit for starting the Tea Party movement and whose son Rand has now been elected Senator. I see promise in Rand. He is much like his father but more realistic and pragmatic in his actions. I feel I can relate to him more and he helps bridge the gap between his father’s dreams and building a practical better future. The Tea Party needs to through its full and unconditional support behind him – not any tarnished poser with an ego.