The Tea Party movement is driven by two powerful emotions: anger and fear.
The groups are angry about big government, big spending, big taxes and progressive policies under the Obama administration. And they're fearful of losing their values, their freedom and their rights.
Dozens of Tea Party groups have popped up across the United States, and you can see their strength in numbers when they co-ordinate mass rallies and protests. And now we're starting to see their power on the political scene. Once they decide to throw their weight behind a candidate, the Tea Partiers have proven they're capable of influencing an election outcome.
Most Tea Partiers want to stay politically separate from both the Republicans and the Democrats but their values and beliefs naturally align them more to the Republicans.
![[QODLink]](http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2012/2/11/2012211114212966734_16.jpg "Yusuf Raza Gilani")
