New logo wanted for Richmond Tea Party

Richmond Tea Party

Primarily acting as government watchdogs - shining the light on government activities and working to get citizens involved in their government.

Looking for a logo that is "clean" with bold lines/text. The tea party movement invokes old/Colonial imagery, and we're trying to be more modern.

Would like logo to incorporate some of the design characteristics of our current text-based logo (attached). This could be by using the entire text of the previous logo, or perhaps even using just the "R" or "RTP" or variations of same. The font used is Roman Antique, which I can share if needed. We just don't want a 100% departure from the current text-only logo, because we do have some brand association to that logo currently.

In my head, I have images of a lantern shining, with forceful beams of light shooting from the lantern. This would indicate how we are watching politicians/government. Or a torch, or sunlight, etc...I'm just not sure what would be best. Logo should indicate strength, and not be childish/comedic/cartoony.

We use red/black/white as the primary colors. Red color is #ac393a. Our website is http://www.richmondteaparty.com.

As for layout, what would probably be best is a graphic/symbol on the left side of the logo, and then text/name on the right. But a single emblem style could work too, but our organization's name is rather long.

This logo will be used in both square and landscape orientations, so that we can use for Facebook and other online formats. However, if we need to discuss additional money to create more/additional orientations, I am open to that.

Let me know if I'm being entirely unclear, and I'd be happy to discuss additional details.