How many Birchers hold high office, what major place do they hold in politics, what legislation are they moving forward or reversing, where are they in the real world of government and politics?
The tea party is real and effective, it gets things done, it has high ranking politicians.
Let's hope so. When it becomes an official "party", I reregister.
As I indicated in my earlier post, JBS is not a politcal party. Right now the tea party is not a "party", but a collection of individuals from other parties (principally Republican and Libertarian) who embrace many, if not most, of the same ideals that the John Birch Society has been promoting for decades. (Allies, not enemies).
From a wiki page The Tea Party Movement
The Tea Party movement is an American political movement that advocates strict adherence to the United States Constitution, reducing U.S. government spending and taxes, and reduction of the U.S. national debt and federal budget deficit. The movement is generally considered to be partly conservative, partly libertarian, and partly populist. The movement has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009.
How is The John Birch Society different from the Tea Party?
As mentioned earlier, The John Birch Society is not a politcal organization but rather educational. JBS President John F. McManus has spoken at various Tea Party rallies as well as at meetings of many other conservative organizations. The John Birch Society has been around for far longer, warning and educating regarding many of the same problems that Tea Party activists are now focused on. For over 50 years, since 1958, The John Birch Society has distributed an estimated total of well over 250 million pieces of literature ranging from warning about increased government spending, taxes, centrally planned inflation, the centralization of power in the government, and the gradual appeasement toward Communism to other topics heralding the virtues of sound money, withdrawing from the United Nations, and a foreign policy of non-interventionism.
You will find many in the Tea Party movement who are also John Birch Society members.
One of the John Birch Society's most prominent members was the late Congressman Larry McDonald
For the Tea Party to survive and thrive it must find like minded organzations (not drive them away).