5. Tea Party activists know they don't have to get elected to change the world.

They understand that electing a handful of virtuous lawmakers won't solve the problem either, because what needs to change are the incentives operating on the entire political establishment. Here's how Milton Friedman described it:

"I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office."