Who gets to decide what is a "big important" issue?
I think you're right and a lot of what we're seeing is people on the right being pissed at the spending. But there's a lot of loony mixed into that. I was in the US two weeks ago and saw several tea protests, somewhere between 8 and maybe 10. They all seemed to be in front of post offices, I have no idea why. Every protest I saw had signs like this-
This one was in Nehalem Oregon. On one side it reads "Stop the spending and big government!" The front reads "Save the military, impeach Obama" And of course you can read the side I managed to get a shot of reads "Save NASA, impeach Obama" All complete with picture showing Obama with a Hilter type mustache. I didn't talk to these people, too much traffic and there was a road crew trying to paint lane lines. But every group I saw had signs calling for smaller government less spending... but save the military and or NASA. Isn't the military and NASA big government spending? And to show the POTUS as Hitler or as I saw at other protest sites with a bone through his nose is beyond offensive. I stopped and spoke with 4 or 5 people at different sites. All seemed to have the same talking points. "Obama's a terrorist and a Muslim." "Obama hates white people." "Obama's a socialists." "We need to send him back to Africa." Etc, etc, etc...
Prior to my trip I was willing to believe the tea party folks were largely not racists. Now I'm not buying that, least not the tea party of Oregon. And after speaking to the group in Salem and finding out they we're getting their signs for free from some PAC out of Sacramento, Ca I suspect the racism extends nationwide.