As shown by the recent Republican cave-in to Democrats (after having won the last election of all things), it is clear that Tea Party conservatives have been ineffective in countering the Chamber of Commerce/Wall Street Republicans who dominate the Republican Party and who have complete and utter contempt for the American middle class.

What should Tea Party leaders do?

They need to move from the grass roots to a higher level of organization within the Republican Party....

Congress has been passing continuing resolutions instead of normal budgets for the last few years.

CRs just continue previous spending without any substantive changes. Passing a CR prevents a government shutdown if there is no budget and the government has run out of money. CRs can be for short or long periods.

With the government about to run out of money this week, Republicans had an opportunity to pass a short-term CR during the lame duck session to fund the government...