The Republican party as a zombifying parasite
See, I thought the point of the whole "tea party" thing was small government and opposition to the income tax. Well, it probably was once before opportunistic defeated Republican presidential candidates from two years ago decided to jump in and turn it into a crazier Republican party. It's kind of like how Bob Barr bought his way into the Libertarian nomination after he lost in the Republican primary elections.
The Republican party is a pretty bffective political parasite; if some new party pops up that stands for, say, small government and personal liberty, pretty soon the Republicans will invade it, take it over, pervert its purpose, and generally turn it into an extension of the Republican party, which doesn't really stand for either of the aforementioned. Come to think of it, they've been doing things like this to other parties since they sucked up the Whigs. It's like one of those horrible things that invades snails' eyes.