AUS isn't there already a thread over there on taxes...besides, I really don't have that firm of a grasp on the issue it would work a lot better started by somebody else.
On the topic of the thread. The media has changed a lot over the last decade or two and sensationalism does sell, I would imagine that's why groups like the Tea Party and people like Glenn Beck get are so much more visible then they would have been in previous decades. People like turning on the tv and being outraged by Glenn Becks latest antics or in turn shouting "amen!". As long as he stays controversial and embraces all things fringe while there is precious little else going on in Republican land he'll keep getting big ratings, attract large crowds and be happy to do it...I'm sure Rupert Murdoch doesn't mind either.
Anyway whats the big concern? They've always been around, heck the Tea Party values (whatever I can gather about them anyway) used to just be mainstream conservatism and probably shared somewhat by everybody in mainstream America. Doesn't it speak volumes that in 2010 those same values are now seen as right wing fringe and dismissed by large numbers of people.