What is now called the Tea Party began in 2007 as a loosely-organized yet highly-motivated grassroots support effort for Congressman Ron Paul's bid for the White House. Since those early days, a lot has happened to the Tea Party.

For one thing, the Tea Party is now much larger and broader than any one person's political candidacy. And though a Tea Party candidate has not yet obtained the White House (Ron Paul was the lone Tea Party Republican candidate in both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections), a host of Tea Party candidates have won several elections in the US House and Senate—as well as many State and local races. And to win these elections, Tea Party candidates have had to repel the attacks against them from the Republican establishment. In fact, the GOP establishment is far and away the Tea Party's biggest enemy.

Republican leaders such as John Boehner, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Peter King, etc., have made one of their missions in life to defeat Republican Tea Party candidates—even if those candidates are incumbents. This is for good reason: the establishment Republican Party is diametrically opposed to the goals and principles of the Tea Party.

Based on the positions of most Tea Party candidates (which is all we have to go on as the Tea Party is not a real political party but only a grassroots activist effort being conducted mainly within the Republican Party), the goals and objectives of the Tea Party can be summarized generally as follows:

They support a non-interventionist foreign policy.

They support the Constitution and recognize the current attacks against the Constitution, especially against the Second, Fourth, and Tenth Amendments.

They oppose the NSA spying on the American citizenry (including the use of drones for such purposes).

They oppose the Patriot Act and the militarization of the Department of Homeland Security as well as local and State law enforcement agencies.

They oppose the Import-Export Bank.

They oppose the Federal Reserve Bank.

They oppose CISPA.

They oppose the indefinite detention provision of the NDAA.

They support ending the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

They support limited government spending—especially at the federal level.

One can easily see that many, if not most, of these goals and objectives are diametrically opposite the goals and objectives of the establishment Republican machine. And more than anything else, the Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., wants GOP congressmen and senators to be "team players." Of course, by "team players" they mean good little Republican robots that will not buck party leadership.

Since Representative Ron Paul retired, the Tea Party leader in the U.S. House is Justin Amash of Michigan. And working side-by-side Rep. Amash is Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. In the U.S. Senate, the Tea Party is being led by men such as Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ted Cruz of Texas. There are several other Tea Party supporters in both the U.S. House and Senate, of course. It is no accident or coincidence that each of these congressmen and senators has incurred (and continue to incur) the wrath of establishment Republican leaders.

Congressman Peter King (R-NY) reserves his harshest rhetoric, not for any Democrat, but for Senator Rand Paul. King said that Rand Paul "disgraced his office," he "doesn't deserve to be in the U.S. Senate," and he "tells absolute lies." Karl Rove has repeatedly lambasted Justin Amash. House Speaker Boehner has spearheaded well-financed opposition to Amash's reelection campaign this year. Senator John McCain (the GOP standard bearer in 2008) recently called Amash, Paul, and Cruz "wacko birds." So much for Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment to not speak evil of fellow Republicans. It would appear that commandment only applies to not criticizing the GOP establishment, while Republicans espousing Tea Party convictions are open-season for Republican leaders to lampoon and lambast without mercy.

Earlier this month, the GOP establishment spent over $1 million in a single House district race in an attempt to defeat 20-year Republican incumbent Walter Jones. The reason? Jones has a history of voting against the wishes of the party establishment—especially concerning the freedom issues listed above. Thankfully, they failed.

But all over the country, in national, State, and local elections, the GOP establishment is working feverishly to keep Tea Party candidates out of office or to defeat incumbent Republicans who support the Tea Party agenda. In fact, one way I can tell whether a candidate deserves my support or not is by the support or opposition he or she receives from the GOP establishment. If the Republican establishment supports him or her, I can pretty much know that I should vote for someone else.

The reason that Boehner, Karl Rove, and other big-government Republican leaders are trying so hard to defeat Justin Amash in particular is due to the fact that Amash has quietly but effectively spearheaded the momentum of small-government conservatives on Capitol Hill. Since the retirement of Ron Paul, Amash has successfully formed a potent coalition of constitutionally-minded Republicans within the Tea Party movement. He calls his coalition the "House Liberty Caucus." Of course, most of the framework for this caucus was put together by former Congressman Ron Paul.

Since Justin Amash was elected to the House and Rand Paul was elected to the Senate in 2010, eight of the eleven Ron Paul-endorsed congressional candidates won elections in 2012, including Senator Ted Cruz. All of these folks had significant Tea Party support. Boehner and Rove have reason to be worried. No wonder Amash's establishment-endorsed opponent has over $1 million to spend trying to oust him. No wonder the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (a long-time establishment organization) has unveiled a $50 million war chest designed to defeat Tea Party congressmen nationwide.

And please know this, too: the establishment has done its best to infiltrate the Tea Party so as to dilute its message and weaken its effectiveness. In fact, some Tea Parties around the country are now mostly dominated by establishment neocons. Thank God, many, if not most, of the Tea Parties around the country are still mostly comprised of strong, constitutionally-minded, non-establishment folks who refuse to bow to the GOP hierarchy. But we must be aware of the neocon infiltration that has taken place among many Tea Parties.

In virtually every political race this year—including national, State, county, and city—the establishment will be working tirelessly to elect their hand-picked neocons. When you hear Tea Party-type candidates being lampooned as "wacko" or "far right," etc., when you hear their critics and detractors say, "He can't win," please understand that you are listening to an establishment elitist whose job is to undermine the candidacies of those folks who refuse to go along with the establishment. Many of these critics will call themselves "conservatives." They will say they are simply being "pragmatic" and "reasonable." Hogwash! What they are doing is trying to ensure that non-establishment candidates never get elected.

The future of the Republican Party—or even if there is a Republican Party in the future—depends on the next few elections and whether or not the establishment will be able to bully and buy-off the votes of the American people. When John Boehner, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, etc., demand that Congress provide amnesty for illegal aliens, when they try to ram their elitist, big-government agenda down the throats of congressmen and senators, when they spend hundreds of millions of dollars trying to defeat Tea Party Republicans, you can rest assured that they are not seeking the welfare of the country or even of the Republican Party.

The big-government establishment doesn't give a flip about freedom, the Constitution, or even the constituent back home. What they care about is THEM. They have become part of a wealthy and powerful cabal of miscreants who are going to be well-taken-care-of NO MATTER WHAT. They are themselves the pawns of evil power-brokers; and in order to survive, they must make sure that there are other pawns coming to Washington, D.C., to keep the power base intact.

This is a war. It is not only a political war; it is a spiritual war. It is a war for both the soul of the Republican Party (which at present, there isn't much of one left) and the soul of the country. It would really help if our pastors and churches could awaken to this war and help us fight it. The establishment knows it's a war; and they are fighting it with every ounce of energy in their collective being. And they have declared the Tea Party as public enemy number one.

What started as one congressman's presidential bid back in 2007 has now become a full-blown assault on the big-government establishment in Washington, D.C.—and around the country. The result is there is now a small army of Ron Pauls on Capitol Hill.

I urge you to ignore the shills of the establishment and go to the polls in the primaries this year and elect as many non-establishment candidates as you possibly can. Let's give Karl Rove and John Boehner something to really worry about.

Dr. Chuck Baldwin left the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida to move to Montana. He hosts a weekly radio show. His website is here.