A new, third tea-party?

NY Times columnist David Brooks articulated in a recent article that the tea party movement, if positioned correctly, could become a major third party in the coming decade. His justification comes from what could simply be put down as the “dumbing of America” in that the movement bases itself on what it is against…namely, the educated majority. Brooks cites that “…every single idea associated with the educated class has grown more unpopular over the past year…” including issues of global warming, foreign policy and abortion. These are the issues the movement is aiming to address, with a 41 per cent approval rating from the American public.

How can we then synthesize this information? Is the tea party movement a growing electoral force, or farce? How much of it is based on policy, and how much on simply being against anything the current administration puts forward? Being that it is populated by the less educated, how far can the movement realistically go?