Imagine what the LMS would have said about the founding fathers. Anarchists, terrorists who should be rounded up and hung!
So now political opposition amounts to terrorism. Lovely.
Oh, I believe you. You Americans were very lucky that the American War of Independence was against a foreign government that couldn't be bothered to do much in America except send the troops. What started out as a necessity - self-government without formal government, because the colonial authorities were cheapskates - turned into a winning strategy. Had it not been for informal government mechanisms, the Committees of Correspondence would have been what the Brits thought they were: little more than hot air. Had it not been for what used to be called "self-government" - again, governing without formal government - the pre-revolutionary protests would have been no more than what the Brits thought they were: mob riots.
It wouldn't have been possible had the authorities not been so supine. "Benign neglect" meant that Americans had to settle disputes, defend themselves against predators, and pursue mutual-aid project on their own initiative - without government help or support. Because they were used to governing each other informally by the time of the original Tea Party, they quickly became skilled at informal co-ordination and guerilla warfare during the American Revolution. Those skills won them America. [It's a known fact that when the colonials tried to fight like Brits, they were badly beaten.]
So now political opposition amounts to terrorism. Lovely.
You - and all the others here - have my sympathy. It's actually shocking to see so much hatred directed at Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. Try thinking about what a real terrorist would conclude from the anti-Tea-Pary hysteria fest.