OK, maybe these particular tea parties/libery bells are different

If I were giving advice to U.S. Rep. Zack Space, I'd tell him to steer clear of any of the potential ambushes that an umbrella group for Ohio tea parties and conservative groups has planned for the months leading up to the May 4 primary.

That is, unless the Ohio Liberty Council disavows the racist and violent rhetoric that has become common at tea party events across the country, and promises that its members will act like civilized adults rather than a lynch mob. (The group insists that it treats its guest speakers civilly and respectfully, but more on that later.)

In a news release issued Monday, the Ohio Liberty Council, describing itself as "a non-partisan grass-roots volunteer organization comprised of leaders from tea party and other liberty-minded groups," said it has invited all the candidates running in the 18th Congressional District primary election in May.

The Liberty Council's coalition includes the Buckeye Firearms Association, "9/12 projects" in Central Ohio and Columbus (groups inspired by Fox News flamethrower Glenn Beck), tea parties in Dayton and Cincinnati, and other "liberty" groups. (Editor's note: In the original version of this column, I described the Buckeye gun group as "a hard conservative political group that disguises itself as a gun-rights outfit." That unfairly suggested that their primary focus is something other than gun rights. That's not the case, and I apologize for the misstatement. TS)

Though perched on the right fringe of American politics, the groups purport to represent a groundswell of citizen taxpayers who are angry about government encroachment into the private sphere. And while the Republican Party has been ardently courting tea party and 9/12 groups, many of them lean to the right of the very right-leaning GOP, and have expressed distrust of both parties.

So what's not to like about people joining together to impact politics in the name of liberty?

Well, the first thing not to like is their co-opting of words such as "liberty-minded" and "patriots," with the implication that anyone who doesn't subscribe to their agenda is neither a patriot nor a lover of freedom.

Some other things to be concerned about when these people start feeling their oats:

"¢ Repeatedly last summer, tea party get-togethers with members of Congress wound up being ambushes where self-indulgently angry citizens shouted down, intimidated and bullied their democratically elected representatives. (Things have to get pretty ugly before I'll feel sorry for your average congressman.)

"¢ Racist, violent and inflammatory signs and placards have been common at tea party events. Some of the messages: "Geld Obama" (which hearkens back to Slave Era threats to castrate "uppity" male slaves); "Obama's Plan: White Slavery"; "The American Taxpayers Are the Jews for Obama's Ovens"; "Barack Hussein Obama: The New Face of Hitler" (with a doctored photo of the president, wearing a Hitler mustache and Nazi uniform); a poster with a cartoon showing President Obama slitting the throat of Uncle Sam; "Barack Obama Supports Abortion, Sodomy, Socialism and The New World Order"; "Obama Was Not Bowing: He Was Sucking Saudi Jewels!" (with a cartoon of Obama, well, trying to suck an Arab's jewels); "Impeach Osama Obama, aka Hussein"; "Obama = Hitler"; "This Is What It Must Have Felt Like in 1776, Can You Feel the Revolution?"; "Obama Socialist Pig"; and "Hang 'Em High: Traitors in Congress "“ Pelosi, Reid, Waters, Schumer, Fran, Dodd, Conyers Kerry, Clinton..." (Thanks to the Huffington Post for compiling many photos showing this stuff.)

"¢ Right-wing radicals in the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies in fall of 2008 hollering, "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!" in reference to Obama.

"¢ The chilling statement at a recent tea party gathering in eastern Washington state in which tea party planner Dianne Capps, of the Lewis & Clark Tea Party Patriots, said she'd like to hang Washington state Rep. Patty Murray. Here's what Capps told a crowd of about 600 tea partiers:

First she asked the crowd if they had seen the classic Western mini-series "Lonesome Dove" (based on Larry McMurtry's Pulitizer Prize-winning novel).

Then she asked, "What happened to Jake (Spoon) when he ran with the wrong crowd?

"He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray."

Capps later tried to soften her words by saying that she had added, "hang Patty Murray, by vote," but the TV station that recorded the bit said the recording doesn't show any such thing.

"¢ This is a small thing, though I thought it was interesting. The headline to the news release about the Ohio Liberty Council's invitation to 18th District candidates reads: "Tea Party and Liberty Groups Make Candidates Stand and Deliver at District Candidates Nights." The term "Stand and Deliver" was the common instruction that 17th and 18th century British highwaymen gave to travelers they were robbing at gunpoint.

IT'S IRONIC THAT many in the tea party movement are comparing our president to Adolf Hitler, based on his wanting more government involvement with health care (which would make us more like such Nazi-like regimes as, um, Sweden and Canada).

The irony stems from the fact that these loosely organized tea party groups bare a striking resemblance to the various angry, populist right-wing groups that developed in post-war Germany in the early 1920s in response to the total economic collapse at that time. These bullying "brown shirts" eventually coalesced into the National Socialist Party, and, as they say, the rest is history.

The fact that white supremacist and virulently racist anti-immigration groups are increasingly being drawn into the tea party movement just reinforces the comparison.

This isn't to say that all tea partiers are potentially violent or racist, or even the vast majority of them. Many are sincerely concerned about the economy, government spending and taxation, and can make a reasoned argument against big government.

Indeed, the Ohio Liberty Council insists that it's a peaceful outfit that encompasses several groups in addition to tea parties. The council's "media team" informed me Tuesday that they adhere to a code of ethics that promotes positive discussion, civility and respect toward guests.

They said they provide security at their large events, "and all of our meetings have been civil, and there have been no arrests, citations, or complaints from attendees, speakers or guests."

However, they declined to disavow the inflammatory actions of tea party groups, including the "hanging" threat made at the Washington state rally.

I would suggest to the Ohio Liberty Council that if they want to gain support from more than a small fraction of the voting public, and jettison their wing-nut reputation, they should aggressively distance themselves from the inflammatory, violent and racist approach too often seen at tea party rallies and events.

As for the question of the day - will Congressman Space accept an invitation from a hard conservative group that so obviously despises him? - that's doubtful. A spokesman for his campaign said Wednesday that Space "looks forward to debating the issues that are important to Ohioans with the nominee that the Republican Party chooses in May. While the Republicans continue to have an intra-party squabble and fight amongst themselves, Zack Space is going to (do a lot of wonderful stuff)."