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BARABOO -- It was an unlikely declaration, coming from a progressive congressman addressing a progressive crowd.

"I want to be an advocate for the tea party," said U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, opening his speech at Fighting Bob Fest.

"Wait, wait not that one," Pocan said, speaking to the annual gathering of progressives at the Sauk County Fairgrounds. "Not the tea party of Scott Walker and Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz. Im talking about the real Boston Tea Party, and maybe the need for another real tea party."

The Madison Democrat went on to deliver a quick history lesson on the Tea Party the Boston one, that is.

Pocan noted that the 1773 political protest was the work of a group of colonists fed up with the power the East India Trading Co. held over subjects of the British government, while the king and the wealthy elite profited.

"They were upset because they viewed the Tea Act as a massive corporate giveaway that hurt real people and small businesses in the colonies," Pocan said. "If only we could convince the current tea partiers to understand that the Tea Party they claim to be inspired by wasnt fighting against the government, they were fighting against a government that had been taken over by corporations and their interests."

The freshman congressman, who represented Wisconsin's 78th State Assembly district from 1999 to 2013, said the relationship between government and corporations today is in many ways similar to what it was in the 1770s.

"Our progressive movement is still in the same fight against the infestation of corporations in our government," he said.

His speech was a rally for progressives to continue to fight corporate influence in politics and government.

In Wisconsin and beyond, he said, there is a battle between two visions for society: one in which the luckiest hold the cards while the rest continue to struggle, and the other in which those who work hard and play by the rules can make it.

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Mark Pocan calls for a new 'real tea party' at Fighting Bob Fest