If you’ve been watching the “mainstream media,” you probably haven’t heard about the second Revolution crossing this nation from sea to shining sea. These modern-day Sons of Liberty may be a bit more grumpy and have a national political action committee, they’re lashing out against big government just like their colonial predecessors who instigated the Boston Tea Party. After all, it was King George’s “public option”  suggestion most historians believe finally pushed our forefathers over the edge.All kidding aside, watching these “tea parties” across America has been a bit disturbing.We’ve all seen the outrageous signs wielded by tea party-goers in newspapers and on national television. Just last week, one poster equating President Obama’s health care reform to the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau gained particular attention, eliciting a soft condemnation from Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., who called the posters “inappropriate.”Those probably wouldn’t be my words. Perhaps “crazy” or “sadistic” are better adjectives to describe these signs.Much to my chagrin, I missed my opportunity this weekend to experience a tea party in person when the “Tea Party Express” finally rolled into Baton Rouge. I did, however, catch a photo from the event of a woman holding a gem of a sign: “Hussein Obama: Stop killing our American soldiers.”The sign wasn’t just a not-so-subtle attempt at race baiting by emphasizing the president’s “Muslim-sounding” name. And it didn’t stop with its accusation that our Commander-in-Chief is morally responsible for the deaths of American soldiers after taking over two wars from his predecessor. The woman was also attempting a confused statement about the president’s political ideology. She had cleverly replaced her “S’s” with swastikas and an “O” with a hammer and sickle  — asserting the president is both a Nazi and a communist. Now I know not everyone at the rally could possibly be of such a low-level of dignity (or literacy) as the person who held up the sign. But I am interested in knowing what these sorts of messages say about the state of political discourse in our country.Jenifer Madsen, president of the Baton Rouge Tea Party, said the sign is not representative of the movement’s sentiment in general.Madsen said the rallies do produce “a handful of horrendous signs,” but they are usually “pretty tame.” On the sign in question, Madsen said it “disgraces the office and the country.”It’s a relief the chief organizer of the Baton Rouge tea parties has rebuked the poster. But the fact the person who made the sign felt comfortable holding it in the company of her fellow tea partiers speaks volumes about how far the political discourse has degenerated. The organizers of the tea parties don’t police the signs at their rallies  — nor should they. But that shouldn’t stop people at the rallies from giving them a piece of their mind and making them feel uncomfortable if their views are removed from the group.Then again, when you look around at some of the other messages in the crowd, I see why that woman was confident she wouldn’t be ostracized from the crowd.The sentiment of these people is worthy of discussion  — they feel the federal government has over-taxed them and has taken on roles not set out in the Constitution (hardly a novel concept). But the way they have gone about communicating their frustration is downright ridiculous.Dressing up like colonists and equating the nation’s attempt to reform a broken health care system to the tyranny of the British Crown or Nazi Germany diminishes the contributions of people who really did sacrifice their lives under oppressive governments. When such venomous language is so prevalent, it’s clear these tea parties are not embracing a part of our history, but hijacking it.Mark Macmurdo is a 22-year-old history and economics senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mmacmurdo.–Contact Mark Macmurdo at [email protected]