The basics transcend all differences.
I generally shy away from anything political on this blog. But this morning, there is an article on Politico that is worth a little attention on a blog focused on business books. The article is entitled The new tea party bible, and it describes how the Tea Party Movement has used two books as “Bibles” for their purposes. The first is the most unlikely choice, the “liberal’s” guidebook for organizing, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul Alinsky. Politico had earlier written specifically about the Tea Party’s use of this book in the article The Right loves to hate – and imitate – Saul Alinsky. The second is the more recent The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom.
First, a few excerpts from Alinsky (I presented a synopsis of Alinsky’s book at the Urban Engagement Book Club in Dallas for Central Dallas Ministries, a couple of years ago):
As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would like it to be… it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be.
A reformation means that masses of our people have reached the point of disillusionment with past ways and values. They don’t know what will work but they do know that the prevailing system is self-defeating, frustrating, and hopeless. They won’t act for change but won’t strongly oppose those who do. The time is then ripe for revolution.
The building of many mass power organizations to merge into a national popular power force cannot come without many organizers. Since organizations are created, in large part, by the organizer, we must find out what creates the organizer.
I know that I have communicated with the other party when his eyes light up and he responds, “I know exactly what you mean…” — communication occurs concretely.
And a little about The Starfish and the Spider (from the Amazon page):
The title metaphor conveys the core concept: though a starfish and a spider have similar shapes, their internal structure is dramatically different—a decapitated spider inevitably dies, while a starfish can regenerate itself from a single amputated leg. In the same way, decentralized organizations, like the Internet, the Apache Indian tribe and Alcoholics Anonymous, are made up of many smaller units capable of operating, growing and multiplying independently of each other, making it very difficult for a rival force to control or defeat them.
Here are some lessons:
Lesson # 1: Learn from anywhere and everywhere to accomplish your goals. You will find books, companions, colleagues, alliances in many unlikely places. Embrace wisdom from wherever you can find it.
Lesson #2: We really are living in a bottom-up world. The top-down leadership structure of yesterday is so yesterday. The Tea Party on the Right, and community organizers on the Left, have this in common: no one leader at the “top” is dictating much of anything anymore. Leadership comes from within, from underneath, from everywhere. Modern social networking tools have simply accelerated the pace of this remarkable development.
Lesson #3: As I have often hinted, and stated openly, the more you know, the more you know. Keep reading widely. Keep learning. And remember that you can learn from people who come from very different places than you come from. The disciplined, ongoing pursuit of learning is the only path to a more effective tomorrow.
First Friday Book Synopsis 
Both good questions, and I am not an expert on the Tea Party, nor have I read the second book, The Spider and the Starfish. But… a thought or two.
I suspect that on both ends of the political spectrum, the Right and the Left, it is the groups that are most unhappy with the status quo (the Tea Party representing the “far right;” such groups as “MoveOn” on the “far left,”) that are most impatient and want to see change. So, in one sense, the answer to your second question is this: both political parties are like the spider, and the “outer elements” are more like the starfish.
Here’s what I think about the underlying question: the more like the “status quo” any leadership style adopts, the more likely that real change will have to come from the outer fringes.