I don't believe any of the tea partiers actually believe what they say.  I think it isn't a movement about fiscal conservativism or freedom.  It is about right-wing religious populism and nativism.  I'm convinced that the people @ tea parties are the same ones who were at the mcCain rallies cheering on palin.

As further evidence, the Tea Party movement has turned against Ron Paul recently.  He is *the* original constitutionalistic, small government, pro-freedom, balanced budget republican.  He has been consistent, he said it all through the Bush years, he said it during the 2008 presidential primaries.  

The Ron Paul Revolution lingered after the election and became the proto-tea party movement as it lingered.  But then was hijacked by the religious right to bolster whoever the next right wing religious leader would be, which is Palin at this point I think.

The tea party movement turning on Ron Paul completes it full circle.  You know who else was anti-Ron Paul in the 2008 presidential primaries?  Fox News, the same organization who has advanced the tea party agenda.