By Madeleine Morris
BBC News, Washington
They came from as far away as Hawaii, Maine, and Texas - an overwhelmingly white, middle-aged army of angry conservatives, furious with government spending and influence, and ready to do whatever they can to stop it.
"We are spending so much money we just don't have. And people are just glossing over that this is the real deal. This could potentially take down our country," says Christine Dwyer, a retired horse trainer from Westchester, Ohio.
Her views are typical of the people who gathered in Nashville.
The first national convention of the Tea Party movement drew around 600 people from all walks of life.
Workshops included "US Govt Bankruptcy - Facts for Citizens Who Don't Have Finance Degrees" and seminars such as "Comparisons between the current administration and the Marxist dictators of Latin America".
Many participants, like Christine and her friend Gail Dorody, a truck driver from Charade, Illinois, have never been involved in politics before.
Lack of respect
Ms Dorody's main concern is that the rest of the world no longer has respect for America.
"We have a president that goes around apologising for us. For what? If it wasn't for us most of the countries out there would be destroyed," she says.
The Tea Party movement describes itself as a grassroots movement of conservatives.
Tea Party movement convention
Some boycotted the conference due to the costs involved
The millions of tea partiers, as they are known, are organised into local groups, or internet communities across the country.
Barely a year old, the movement gained exposure last August when its followers organized mass protests against the Obama administration's health care reforms.
One tea party group, Tea Party Express, campaigned for Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown in January's vote for the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy.
Mr Brown's win helped put health reform plans on hold - a victory the tea parties are claiming as their own, and one they're hoping to emulate in November's congressional elections.
At the convention it was announced one tea party is forming a political action committee (PAC) - the fundraising groups that raise money for candidates.
Ensuring Freedom, as this Tennessee-based PAC is known, aims to raise $10 million to target up to 20 seats in the elections, supporting candidates who adhere to tea party beliefs.
Dr Dan Eichenbaum, an opthamologist form Northern Carolina, is one tea partier who has decided to run for Congress on a Republican ticket.
"What has happened over the last 30 years is power has become concentrated in Washington, because politicians have become career politicians."
Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=25161.0
