It would be pretty quick because today's republican party is too similar to the democratic party while the Tea Party is much more distinct.
I have the same gut instinct. I visualize something like a tidal wave. The GOP would go out of business overnight if the Tea Party stood up as an organized opposition party.
The only thing keeping them in business at present, is the fact that Republican voters feel they have nowhere else to go.
We Americans really have nothing left to lose by starting a third party that represents conservatives. This is not Ronald Reagan’s republican party (even though there were moderates in the party back then). The republican “moderates” today are about where Clinton stood in the 1990s. They’ve moved left.
We have much more to gain than to lose. Even before this shutdown many of us knew that the republicans would likely lose the House thanks to Boehner.
What we need is a gang of many in the House & Senate to tell the GOPe that if WE do not get what we want we will LEAVE THE PARTY now. If they want Nancy Pelosi to be the leader so be it. I mean, how much worse can it really be without Boehner.
Remember how Joe Lieberman made such a threat to switch to independent when it was just one or two democratic senators from losing the majority? They listened to him and were careful not to cause him to leave the party. He had quite the power for some time.