I went to the Tea Party -- or as it was known alternatively, the Taxpayer's Protest Rally -- in Washington, DC on September 12. It was self-evidently an authentic grass roots event, and a rewarding experience.

But I was troubled that the large crowd was overwhelmingly white and largely middle aged and above. There were a fair number of blacks, but barely any Asians or Latinos. In addition, most young people were children accompanying parents and grandparents; not too many young adults were in attendance. Now, unlike the bean counters in our government and universities, I am not particularly adept at spotting racial types, but the relative homogeneity of the crowd was unmistakable.

I don't see this development as a particularly hopeful sign. The threats to our liberties inherent in the Obama-Pelosi-Reid program, if fulfilled, will prove destructive to all segments of our population. In  theory, the Tea Party movement should appeal to all demographic segments.

One possible explanation for the composition of the crowd is that, so far, it is predominately those whose American heritage traces back generations who have recognized the danger posed by Obama and his radical, left-wing minions. (My American lineage is only a century old. When I was a kid, I thought of myself as a newcomer. Decades of massive immigration, legal and illegal, have changed that.) Of course, most African-Americans trace back many generations as well, but sadly, the history of slavery and a parasitic grievance industry have diminished admiration for our founding tradition.

I hope that our newer Americans -- whose schooling, at the hands of an NEA-dominated educational system, is notoriously weak in the fundamentals of the limited government, constitutional republic that our Founding Fathers established for us—will catch on soon. A scarier interpretation is that new and recent Americans truly do understand and approve of Obama's radical program because they see it as beneficial to their interests and are not concerned about the consequences that will ensue for all of us. My money is on ignorance, not avarice; but either hypothesis, if correct, bodes ill for the Tea Party movement.