Posted on 11/14/2010 3:38:40 PM PST by kristinn
A gay conservative group and some Tea Party leaders are campaigning to keep social issues off the Republican agenda.
In a letter to be released Monday, the group GOProud and leaders from groups like the Tea Party Patriots and the New American Patriots, will urge Republicans in the House and Senate to keep their focus on shrinking the government.
"On behalf of limited-government conservatives everywhere, we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement," they write to presumptive House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell in an advance copy provided to POLITICO. "This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue."
The letter's signatories range from GOProud's co-founder and Chairman Christopher Barron — a member of a group encouraging Dick Cheney to run for president and who has been known to post images of his bare torso to Twitter — to Tea Party leaders with no particular interest in the gay rights movement.
As of Sunday evening, the letter had 17 signatories. They include tea party organizers, conservative activists and media personalities from across the country, including radio host Tammy Bruce, bloggers Bruce Carroll, Dan Blatt and Doug Welch, and various local coordinators for the Tea Party Patriots and other tea party groups.
"When they were out in the Boston Harbor, they weren't arguing about who was gay or who was having an abortion," said Ralph King, a letter signatory who is a Tea Party Patriots national leadership council member, as well as an Ohio co-coordinator.
King said he signed onto the letter because GOProud seemed to be genuine in pushing for fiscal conservatism and limited government.
"Am I going to be the best man at a same sex-marriage wedding? That's not something I necessarily believe in," said King. "I look at myself as pretty socially conservative. But that's not what we push through the Tea Party Patriots."
That indifference is essentially the point of the gay conservative group.
SNIP
TEXT OF LETTER
Dear Senator McConnell and Representative Boehner
On behalf of limited government conservatives everywhere we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement.
Poll after poll confirms that the Tea Party’s laser focus on issues of economic freedom and limited government resonated with the American people on Election Day. The Tea Party movement galvanized around a desire to return to constitutional government and against excessive spending, taxation and government intrusion into the lives of the American people.
The Tea Party movement is a non-partisan movement, focused on issues of economic freedom and limited government, and a movement that will be as vigilant with a Republican-controlled Congress as we were with a Democratic-controlled Congress.
This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue, nor should it be interpreted as a political blank check.
Already, there are Washington insiders and special interest groups that hope to co-opt the Tea Party’s message and use it to push their own agenda – particularly as it relates to social issues. We are disappointed but not surprised by this development. We recognize the importance of values but believe strongly that those values should be taught by families and our houses of worship and not legislated from Washington, D.C.
We urge you to stay focused on the issues that got you and your colleagues elected and to resist the urge to run down any social issue rabbit holes in order to appease the special interests.
The Tea Party movement is not going away and we intend to continue to hold Washington accountable. Sincerely,
Christopher R Barron
Chairman of the Board, GOProud
Andrew Ian Dodge
Coordinator, Maine Tea Party Patriots
Pam Stevenson
Coordinator, Arizona Tea Party Patriots
Dianna Greenwood
Executive Director, New American Patriots (Ashland, OH)
Jim Mason II
Chairman and State Coordinator, Nebraska’s Tea Party Patriots
Ralph King
Co-coordinator Cleveland Tea Party Patriots
Co-coordinator State of Ohio Tea Party Patriots
Jack Lien
Coordinator, Tea Party Patriots of Great Malls (Montana)
Tammy Bruce
National Radio Talk Show Host
JP Weber
Coordinator, Annapolis (Maryland) Tea Party
Doug Welch,
Blogger and member Southern Illinois Tea Party
Bruce Carroll
Conservative Activist and Blogger
Pam Stout
Coordinator, Sandpoint Idaho Tea Party Patriots
Dan Blatt
Conservative Activist and Blogger
Everett Wilkinson
Coordinator, Florida Tea Party
Jimmy LaSalvia
Executive Director, GOProud
Paul Crockett
President Santa Clara (California) Tea Party
David Thor Andreasen
Cumberland County (Maine) Tea Party
Yada yada yada.
You people are hopeless. You simply cannot see the stupidity you recommend.
The whole article, and that’s all you were concerned with?
“You simply cannot see the stupidity you recommend.”
And what, pray tell, would that be?
This is the gorilla in the room.
Leftists, which include all liberals, Democrats and Paultard/liberaltarians, have at the core of their being, attachment to sexual libertinism. They will compromise occasionally on this or that, but they will never compromise on sexual libertinism. It is their core value and principle. They will never admit it; they will dress up this evil in the name of “freedom”, “right to choose”, “liberty”, “rights” and so on.
But what it is, when you strip off the wrapping paper, is addiction to sexual immorality the worst of vices, whether they practice them themselves or not. It is their God.
It is the core of feminism, homosexualism, indoctrination in schools, stripping the natural family and fathers of any rights or protections, AFDC and welfare, in fact all welfare programs, their love for legalized porn (see the threads about the “Pedophilia For Dummies” book on Amazon and how many freaking idiots on FR support that!), and so on. Michelle 0bastard’s visit (planned anyway, I didn’t see if she acutally followed through with it) to Mumbai’s “sex workers”, and so on.
Their focus on money money money is because they don’t want their golden calf touched.
“What a load of destructive nonsense.”
It’s destructive nonsense to get caught up in social issues when there are so many things that are easier to fix. Lower taxes, cut spending, appointing non-activist judges and so on.
When these are fixed, move on to other issues.
“But, in fact, the raison d’etre of government in America, all government, including the national government, is to protect the unalienable rights of the people, all the people, equally.”
Exactly. That’s why it should stay the hell out of social issues.
“But right now the fedgov will not ALLOW the states to address social issues.”
Now, that is something that should be addressed.
Obviously, you’re not one of us.
zot
Well, whatever #506 was, it is gone, and now so are you.
“Perhaps what you are overlooking is that the left has artfully intertwined all of those social issues into spending at the federal government. “
It’s time to artfully untangle these issues.
“You can not undo the government aspect without addressing the social issues of those groups backed by the government spending.”
Sure you can. It might not be easy and it might be painful, but in the end, it will be well worth it.
“If the Tea Party does not understand this, they are doomed to failure.”
We’ll see. They actually have to fend of the assimilation into the corrupt DC culture or it won’t even matter.
Your homepage is beautiful. Those sonograms are amazing.
Who can see them and not be pro-life?
Wise up. For once, try to see the wind up for a punch before it’s thrown at you.
There's a difference between social conservatives and homo-agenda pushers.
WE ARE RIGHT AND THEY ARE WRONG! Who gives a flying crap what the media says? They're merely the Goebbels arm of the left. You want conservatives to tippy toe around social conservatism to appease leftists?
"Working with" the GOProud or any other all-homo-agenda organization is suicide. Those guys aren't even fiscally conservative. Did you even read their agenda? I posted some of it above. The want SS benefits for their butt buddies, they want our gov to go after other countries whose homo-policies they don't like, they want fedgov handouts to "gay owned" businesses - fiscal conservatism my ASS!
All they care about - and they've admitted it! is the homo-agenda. You're either stupid or lying, and I don't care which, other than stupid can be fixed by reading.
The gov cannot be neutral. Either abortion is legal or it is illegal. Either homosexuals can be all over the place in the schools and military, or they cannot.
There is no third neutral ground.
Antoninus, what do you think of my comment:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2627138/posts?q=1&;page=504#504
chilltherats just got zotted and you can see from his comments why....
Two others were zotted previously.
Where do you stand on this?
That is certainly ironic coming from someone who has been warned multiple times on this and similar threads today and yesterday.
Once more, if the Tea Party movement ejects or marginalizes social conservatives it WILL FAIL.
Ronald Reagan understood and demonstrated that successful conservatism included fiscal conservatism, social conservatism and a strong national defense. That is the ONLY WAY conservatism works.
Libertarians may want fiscal conservatism (actually I don't think many of them care as long as they don't have to pay taxes), but libertarians also abhor social conservatism and they are failures when it comes to national defense.
And if you want to come back with some nonsense about being a "Goldwater Conservative" who only believes in fiscal conservatism and national defense, you should remember that Goldwater was the GOP's McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis all-in-one, Goldwater's version of conservatism FAILED (you will NEVER hear a liberal describe himself as a "Mondale Democrat").
I think that in 1963 it was read into the record as a warning. Of course now some congresscritters really are members of a socialist organization, some "progressive" Dem organization. I forget it's name. One of my Reps, John Hall, is a member. He was defeated in the midterms. Now he can go back to touring with Orleans. :-)
The excerpt was from a book, the Naked Communist.
At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:
Well, maybe it ought to be about TRUTH for a change.
Maybe it's time the "politically astute" Vanguard Elite rainbow parasites in The Party(tm) get tossed out on their arse.
Au Contaire - I learned this, and a few other things, when I went to Washington for the FR Natonal Tea Party Convention and 9-12:
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