A SPLIT IN THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT? Complete with a Judean People’s Front reference.

Tucson Tea Party organizer Robert Mayer emails:

My advice to local organizers: Become self-sufficient. Capture names, email address, phone numbers, and zip codes. Raise money and merchandise (t-shirts, bumper sticks, etc) the events yourself. Do not let outside organizations like FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, and the Republican Party try to co-opt what you’re doing.

What we’re doing can only work with strong local organizations. Focusing too much on the drama upstairs at the national level will get us off track. Keep your head down and go for the goal. You do not need their direction to take this to the next level.

I think that’s good advice. This kind of split is inevitable in movement politics. My advice is to follow Mark Levin’s principle, and quit worrying about what “they” should be doing, or what “we” should be doing, and start thinking about what you can do. It’s a grassroots movement, and the Web means that good ideas will spread on their own.