The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agency, Nashville

They came from as far away as Hawaii, Maine and Texas - an overwhelmingly white, middle-aged army of angry conservatives, furious with government spending and influence, and ready to do whatever they can to stop it.

"We are spending so much money we just don't have. And people are just glossing over that this is the real deal. This could potentially take down our country," says Christine Dwyer, a retired horse trainer from Westchester, Ohio.

Her views are typical of the people who gathered in Nashville.

The first national convention of the Tea Party movement drew around 600 people from all walks of life.

Workshops included "US Govt Bankruptcy - Facts for Citizens Who Don't Have Finance Degrees" and seminars such as "Comparisons between the current administration and the Marxist dictators of Latin America".

Many participants, like Christine and her friend Gail Dorody, a truck driver from Charade, Illinois, have never been involved in politics before.

Ms Dorody's main concern is that the rest of the world no longer has respect for America.

"We have a president that goes around apologising for us. For what? If it wasn't for us most of the countries out there would be destroyed," she says.

The Tea Party movement describes itself as a grassroots movement of conservatives.

The millions of tea partiers, as they are known, are organised into local groups, or internet communities across the country.

Barely a year old, the movement gained exposure last August when its followers organised mass protests against the Obama administration's health care reforms.

One tea party group, Tea Party Express, campaigned for Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown in January's vote for the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy.

Mr Brown's win helped put health reform plans on hold - a victory the tea parties are claiming as their own, and one they're hoping to emulate in November's congressional elections.

At the convention it was announced one tea party is forming a political action committee (PAC) - the fundraising groups that raise money for candidates.

Ensuring Freedom, as this Tennessee-based PAC is known, aims to raise $10 million to target up to 20 seats in the elections, supporting candidates who adhere to tea party beliefs.

Dr Dan Eichenbaum, an ophthalmologist from Northern Carolina, is one tea partier who has decided to run for Congress on a Republican ticket.

"What has happened over the last 30 years is power has become concentrated in Washington, because politicians have become career politicians."

Most tea partiers say they do not want to form a new political party, but change politics from within the existing structure.

"The goal is to take over the carcass of the Republican party and reform it according to its original principles. They were good principles, ones we all believed in," says Dr Eichenbaum.

"The party left those behind and went off in the wrong direction. We're going to use the Republican Party to take back control of Congress and re-establish the Constitution as the law of the land." This anti-Washington attitude is one shared by the hero of many tea partiers, and the key-note speaker at their convention, the former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.

"President Palin 2012" pins and posters adorned the convention centre ahead of her appearance, and her speech, which lambasted the Obama administration, was greeted with several standing ovations.

"She is a wonderful example of why we're all here. We appreciate her involvement. But we don't want her to be our leader," said Julie, a convention participant from Indianapolis.

But Julie's friend Larry from Michigan said, "I would support Sarah Palin in whatever she decides to do."

Sarah Palin's participation in this convention undoubtedly brought it more media attention than it would have received otherwise.

Her 45-minute speech was carried live by three US television networks, and her reported $100,000 fee was criticised by some tea party groups who boycotted the Nashville meeting.