"The bulk of the Tea Party followers are motivated by several factors:
The application of the same standards to BOTH sides of the issue."

Bruce, that is quite simply untrue. They appear to be motivated by a doctrinaire belief that small government will enrich all including the poor. We have been there before.   In the USA prior to Keynesian reflation (New Deal).   In the UK around the time of the general strike. In Reaganite USA. In Thatcherite UK.

It is voodoo economics. It is wrong. In its effects on the truly dispossessed (seen any black tea party members lately?) it is evil. It is aligned with the worst sides of the black magic of organised religion (in the USA which appears to have more than its share of ripoff "churches").

Shame on you.

If you in the USA do not sort out the nutters and supremacists you will lose your last hope. Fail even the limited egalitarianism that Obama represented and your best prognosis is the next US civil war (once again with colour the central stage). Worse is failed state status like the Sudan (or the wild west you irrationally worship). One stage further on is to ask how many of your nutters have nuclear or CB capability.