A WARNING FROM DAN QUAYLE: Don’t let the Tea Party go Perot. Here are some of Quayle’s (paraphrased) observations.

Uninvited by the liberal Democrat establishment and prompted only by their convictions, millions of Americans united against an unjustifiable expansion of federal power.

If real influence is the goal of the Tea Party movement, there's an example in the late 1970s tax revolt movement that began in California and exerted enormous influence on races across the country, helping elect Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The Tea Partiers are concerned, above all, with fiscal matters and national security; they are not focused on the social issues. If the Tea Party remains an independent political force in 2012, with no partisan ties, so much the better. It will force both political parties to speak to its issues, compete for its votes and heed its example of a confident and unapologetic challenge to a liberal president and Congress

Since the very first Tea Party gatherings, the progressive Left and national news media [yes, it’s redundant] has covered this movement in the only way it knows how -- as something grubby, impertinent and possibly dangerous. To them, the most "unhealthy" aspect of the Tea Party is that candidates with its support are winning, and many more are likely to win this fall.

The movement has enlisted Americans of every background in political activism, some for the first time, and it appeals to citizens on the strength of ideas rather than party affiliation.

Quayle was writing primarily to Republicans, which is why I paraphrased his message. America is a center-right country, with the emphasis on center. Tea Partiers must make it clear to all candidates, Democrat and Republican, that they will vote their convictions for liberty and a smaller Constitutional government over political party.