(Melchizedek Communique, MC013110) A report on the Tea Party movement in the latest issue of the New Yorker magazine actually provides a good summary of the phenomenon.

Reporter Ben McGrath, writing in the February 1, 2010 issue, of course (inevitably) mentions Richard Hofstadter's essay dealing with the "paranoid style in American politics." (This is a secret rule, that all reporters assigned to any conspiracy story must mention Hofstadter's essay.)

"Well, you see, it is the paranoid style." First there was the anti-Masonry movement of the 1820s. Then in the 1850s came the Know Nothings.

McGrath mentions that the Know Nothings are called "the Lou Dobbs party" by Michael Kazin, author of "The Populist Persuasion." But as with most writers who survey the Know Nothings, McGrath fails to include that it was Millard Fillmore who was the presidential candidate of the Know Nothings, in 1856. This is because Fillmore is the pre-eminent "forgotten man."

Yours truly, the Melchizedek Communique editor, is the author of a succinct book dealing with Millard Fillmore and the issues surrounding him. "What Would Millard Do?" (available from lulu.com) explores little-known aspects of the anti-Masonry Party and the Know Nothing (Nativist) Party, as well as Civil War conspiracies, and connects them with an overall British/French bankers' plot to conquer America.

The current Tea Party movement seems to have been born when Rick Santelli, spontaneously or otherwise, launched a rant on CNBC in February 2009. "President Obama, are you listening?" roared Santelli at 7:10 am, Chicago time. "All you capitalists, come join in Chicago for a Tea Party in July. We will be dumping derivative securities into Lake Michigan."

But the question is, how spontaneous is the current Tea Party movement? In Champaign, Illinois, this editor marvelled at how well organized a local event was. A local bank flashing billboard urged Champaignians to meet at the West Side Park. Loud speakers blared constant patriotic music. Was there a hidden hand channeling genuine citizen anger?

McGrath covers this question of the possibility of an "astroturf" movement in his report. "FreedomWorks and a host of lobbying firms and think tanks, including Americans for Tax Reform, the Club for Growth, Campaign for Liberty, and the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, sponsored the [Tea Party] march in Washington last September. Lobbyists and think tanks in turn rely on financial support from corporate interests with enormous stakes in much of the prospective legislation on Capitol Hill."

On the other hand, where did MoveOn.org originate? Where did ACORN come from? Those "leftist" organizations are not exactly spontaneous, yet they channel genuine citizen anger.

So who is steering the vehicle in all these cases? It is as if some cunning hand steals citizen energy and drives it to its own purpose.

("The Movement", by Ben McGrath. The New Yorker magazine, Feb. 1, 2010)