With the Tea Party movement starting to exercise its political muscle within the Republican Party (it’s primary season in the USA), it’s timely to look at some of the ideas driving the Tea Partiers. Luckily for us in Australia, there’s a great Flickr photo set showcasing some of the more creative protest signs from various rallies around America.

There are some really concerning signs amongst some of the funny ones.

There is a strange preoccupation with “socialism” (or “socilism”) that has infected some of the conservative wingnuts in the Liberal Party in Australia. However, there is also a strong anti-immigrant theme, which underscores a real anger within the Tea Party movement (probably exacerbated by the global financial crisis and the unemployment epidemic in the US).

Linked to this anti-immigration anger is the call to make English America’s official language. Clearly, the rise of non-English TV stations and large numbers of Hispanic immigrants who speak Spanish is grating the Tea Partiers.

While the Flickr group is intended to be humerous, and to highlight the generally poor standard of spelling and grammar of the teabaggers, I think they show a concerning direction  in America’s political sphere.

Via Good.Is.