This is the issue I have with the Tea Party. it stinks & makes me very suspicious of these people. Social issues are just as important as fiscal ones & I do not believe the two should be seperated. We don’t live in a vaccuum society; everything is intertwined & affects each other.
Because of this issue, I believe the Tea Party has become its own worst enemy.
I notice an increasing slant of the Tea Party toward Libertarianism. It has become more libertarian than conservative. Thus the reluctance to engage in social issues.
The social cons who continue to favor the nanny state and the spending on entitlement don’t belong in anything attached to the Tea Party which was formed in response to government bailouts and fiscal irresponsibility.
The Tea Party was formed over fiscal issues, not social, accept that, not everyone shares your views on social issues.
We need to fix this country fiscally otherwise social issues won’t mean squat.
You know we are headed to a bigger downfall in the country and the world for that matter when even the tea party is not enough. The Tea party silences people who every well could have issues against Obama. So what good is that.
Yep. The Tea Party has completely ignored social issues. Ironic that some Pubs are telling voters to ignore them too.
Well said. Looks like the Tea Party is fronting for the money crowd. I vote pro-life and that may be a third party.
Is it a tax free organization?
A rowdy band of radicals?
Perhaps the politics of America has been SO co-opted, anything is taken from the original and manipulated against itself?
One thing is certain ... those of us that just happen to fit within a "tea party" stereotype, don't necesarrily belong to a "tea party".
Rather, we assemble to hear speakers and communicate with each other.
Pro-life happens to be a plank in the platform of everyone I've ever met at a "tea party" assembly
Thus, expect the "Tea Party" to become another phrase/title that clouds the mature attempt to stop the runaway government.
Just as an expalnation of my thinking ...
I understand the original Boston Tea Party to be a bunch of guys that, IMO, were not necesarrily educated or politically astute but were a bunch of pissed of Bostonians that decided to send a message to King George, which basically said, "FU and your tea"
I think today they would probably be labeled anarchists.
“You can’t be a fiscal Conservative and not be a social Conservative. A large part of the expanse of government is to make up for a dysfunctional society, because our culture is falling apart, the family is falling apart.” Jim DeMint
You can't be a fiscal Conservative and be a social liberal. How do you reconcile a desire to have government solve the world's problems without advocating for the programs to do it?!
Technically every issue that affects you personally is a social issue as we are all part of society. Our families are part of society. Taxes affect people who make up society. They pay for things the government wants to spend on, and that affects society.
You really can’t compartmentalize, all issues affect people and they all have morals of some kind behind them (good or bad) and they are all ‘social’ issues as tehy impact individuals and groups within society.
We have to stop rejecting this LIBERAL idea of compartmentalizing issues. That’s how you wind up in liberal pretzel logic.
So the NRA should get involved in pro-life issues?
Single-issue organizations serve a good purpose. Those who disagree over other issues can find common ground in them and help push that one cause.
The left practiced the art of incrementalism like grand masters while we were asleep at the board. The direction of our society will not be changed in one fell swoop either. We must pick our battles in order to win the war and right now, at this point in our timeline, the battle to be won is the economy.
Making the coming election a referendum on any social issue will chase the needed independent vote back to the left and cost us the WH. That would give obama the chance to change the SCOTUS for the next forty years, effectively guaranteeing at least two more generations of RvW as law of the land.
Winning the WH by running on the economy prevents that at least and reverses it at best.
Plus, once the tea party gets organized like that, with party leadership making the decisions for the masses, it’s dead. It’s just another political party. The way I see it, no body speaks for the tea party.
then don't join the Tea Party.
This is why the political right is in such disarray. Far too may assume that any movement must be ideologically pure, and all-encompassing.
Hint: Fiscal issues can be addressed without addressing social issues. One does not need to win the entire war in one battle. Waiting for that opportunity guarantees failure.
Anyone with half a brain would understand that you can and should take your victories where you find them. With the Left absolutely exploding the deficit, now is the right time to swing the pendulum back towards fiscal responsibility. The majority of the country can see this easily.
By forcing the Tea Party movement to take on more (and highly divisive) issues merely dilutes its momentum... and leaves the Right on the sidelines once again.
It's not all about you and your pet issues. Sometimes, a mature person needs to support a cause without co-opting it into their own cause.
This is a long thread, which I will read later, but I just want to add that I am seeing a trend, which leads me to think the official Republican line is to keep the social issues out for 2012.
The only problem is, they are only keeping one side out. I’m sure they will not take the same action if someone is distributing pro-choice literature or pro-gay-marriage literature.