What happens when grass roots movements become institutionalized?

[RandomAnthony]

The tea party people are fightin'.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/us/...

I'm fascinated by a couple questions that emerge in light of the tea party or, well, any "grass roots" movement, liberal, conservative, or other. What happens when the movement becomes so big that the organization becomes institutionalized? Does the movement lose its identity? Are perspectives excluded? Does the grass roots movement lose its charm and outsider qualities and become what it hates? What are some good and bad examples of grass roots movements evolving?

[[deleted user]]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: where was this "tea party" movement when the Bush Administration, along with the Federal Government, were spending billions of dollars a month fighting a war in Iraq based on the flimsiest of evidence and the most knee-jerk of assumptions?

I'd like to give the tea party movement more credence, but I'm afraid it's based more on an "I Hate Obama" stance than actual outrage over government spending/overspending/misspending. And the fact that the GOP and neo-conservatives have tried to co-opt this movement should come as no surprise.

[RandomAnthony]

Did you make air quotes as you typed, Misha? I tell my students to punch me if I make air quotes in class.