The Republicans brought their monster to life, and now it’s rampaging through the village as they watch helplessly.  Bringing the religious right into their tent seemed like a good idea at the time.  But outside forces morphed that animal into the Tea Party, and the GOP is now suffering the reality that it is they who are at the mercy of their creation.

Ronald Reagan aligned his party with the Moral Majority to bolster the GOP voting base.  It was a brilliant political plan that resulted in millions of southern Democrats and born-again Christians siding on the political right.  Republicans didn’t have a lot of passion around issues like Creationism, abortion, birth control, or sex education.  However, by adopting them as part of their platform, they brought in support from a large and passionate group of voters who really didn’t care much about the Republican pro-business agenda.  It was a win-win, and it redefined the party.  The new Republican fan base was a passionate and morally righteous group.  They had fire in their belly, but only for a fairly limited set of issues.

9/11 changed everything.  The attack brought an uprising of patriotic fervor that was stoked by the GOP into a national frenzy of desire for vengeance and justice as we marched into war.  Terrorism was positioned as a threat to all things American.  But that frenzy was not contained to the Republican core.  It spread widely and was fueled with abandon during the 2008 election season where fear, whispers of conspiracy, and racism flourished.  What started as primarily a religious movement had grown into a working class grassroots organization.  Yet it retained that passionate ideological fire and a renewed fear that the American way of life was at stake.

The Tea Party was born.  At first it was seen by the Republicans as an army they could use to rail against the evils of liberalism.  But as is so often the case, the slaves turned on their master.  After all, once all the soldiers start thinking everybody is out to get them, there’s little reason for them to worry about the guys across the battlefield until they’ve taken control of their own army.

Welcome to 2010, where the Republican officers are desperately trying to prove their allegiance to the Tea Party for fear of being fragged.  From Frankenstein to Battlestar Gallactica, any sci-fi fan worth their salt would have seen this coming from a parsec away.