What does TEA stand for?

I'm the first guy to favor average citizens getting involved in their government.

And, if nothing else, the Tea Party followers cannot be blamed for sitting on the sidelines.

But I've never seen such a loosely knit organization get so much media attention, mostly national media attention.

I might be missing something, but I've not come across a Tea Party national leader or candidate, or for that matter, a Tea Party party platform.

So, I scratch my head sometimes trying to figure out just who the Tea Party might be.

While some Republicans elected to Congress are said to be "Tea Party favorites" I really don't know what that means since there really is no official "Tea Party" with membership and fundraising mailing lists.

It could be the most influential non-party there ever was. Maybe it's just waiting for a leader or to be molded into another party, the Republican Party being the obvious, but not only, choice.

In fact, a lot of Tea Party ideas, if there is such a thing as a group idea, seem more libertarian.

So what does T.E.A. stand for.

We've heard the "taxed enough already." That's as good a brand as any.

But what will the future hold. Will the Tea Party realize the value in joining one of the other parties?

Will T.E.A. stand for Tendency to Eventually Acquiesce?

How about Too Excitable for Assimilation?

Or will it be Tragic Ending All-around?

Or maybe Tough Enforcement and Accountability.

Or the Tea Party may continue on as a quasi political party that one can describe like a Supreme Court justice once described pornography: We can't describe it or even define it, but we can recognize it when we see it.

By the way, this is not to equate the Tea Party to pornography, we're just using a little journalistic license here.