The issue that should concern conservatives is that the Tea Party movement is a populist movement. And populist movements are inherently unconservative.
Huh? You can’t have a populist movement in support of enumerated Constitutional rights (also known as republican form of government)? I think they chose the name Tea Party because it beckened back to another populist movement called the American Revolution.
The American Revolution was an elitist revolution, which is what made it so remarkable and successful.
The French Revolution was a populist revolution.