Successful Tea Party Movement Must Include Pro-Life Issues, Not Just Economy

Life News ^ | 8/31/10 | Tom Glessner

[wagglebee]

LifeNews.com Note: Tom Glessner is a pro-life attorney who is the president of NIFLA, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates. NIFLA is an organization with more than 1,200 affiliated pregnancy centers that provides legal, medical and practical help for pregnancy centers across the country.

Political change is blowing in the wind but it is not the change promised by Barack Obama when he ran for the presidency. For sure, Obama has brought political change to the nation, but his transformational policies have meant bigger government, higher taxes, federal subsidies of abortion on demand, and greater governmental control over the lives of American citizens.

Hundreds of thousands of citizens across the nation have raised their voices to protest Obama’s policies of change. They are crying out for a different change that will honor the integrity of each individual and create an atmosphere where true liberty in all spheres of life – economic, cultural, and spiritual- reigns. Political pollsters are now predicting a huge seismic shift in the political landscape this November. The recent Glenn Beck sponsored rally in Washington D.C., attended by thousands upon thousands of grass roots activists, indicates that this public outcry of protest is real and powerful.

The Tea Party movement is comprised of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents from all walks of life. The political ruling elite, the corporate world, and the media have completely failed to comprehend this populist movement dismissing it as marginal, extreme and even racist. However, this movement is not composed of ignorant and bigoted individuals, as suggested by the political class. Rather, it is an authentic grassroots movement of thoughtful and patriotic people demanding real change from an out-of-touch political establishment.

The Tea Party movement, for the most part, centers its protest on economic issues and concern about the loss of freedom that an ever-growing federal government brings. These concerns are valid and appropriate. Most leaders of this movement also believe in the sanctity of life and the need to halt the wholesale destruction of innocent human life through abortion and other life related issues such as embryonic stem cell research. However, many in the Tea Party movement have made it clear that while they are sympathetic with the pro-life cause, the abortion issue is not formally part of the Tea Party agenda.

Economic issues are a vital concern; as is the growing size of the federal government and its overreaching into the lives of ordinary citizens. The overwhelming burden of excess regulation and taxation upon businesses and individuals is alarming. In the same manner, however, the killing of 1.25 million unborn children annually from abortion must be a grave concern. Accordingly, a failure by the Tea Party to incorporate the serious pro-life concerns of millions of Americans into its agenda will be fatal to achieving success.

Perhaps, the Tea Party should take a lesson from the old fashioned three-legged milking stool. When I was a child I visited my aunt and uncle on their dairy farm and was intrigued watching my uncle milk the cows while sitting on a three-legged stool. I asked him why he used such a funny chair to milk the cows. He explained that a four-legged chair can be unbalanced if one of its legs is a different length than the others and it could even tip over if you leaned backwards. A three-legged stool, on the other hand, balances evenly and won't tip over even if one of its legs is longer

We should learn something from the old-fashioned milking stool. There are three legs to a successful agenda that will change America for the better. Each leg is critical and the current grassroots movement for change in America will collapse if any of these legs is ignored. These legs are:

1) Revival of the Economy: This leg requires the establishment a strong robust economy that creates full employment and does not burden small businesses with taxes and oppressive regulations that hinder job development. Limited government and reduced taxation are at the core and are necessary to bring the nation out of the serious economic recession/depression in which we find ourselves.

2) Maintaining a Strong National Defense and Protecting Homeland Security: This leg requires a serious commitment by the government to win the war on terror and protect our country’s border from those who would illegally enter and do us harm.

3) Protecting the Family Unit and Restoring the Right to Life for All: The social issues – protecting the sanctity of marriage and restoring the right to life – are issues of equal importance. Millions of Americans, including myself, have placed these issues at the top of the priority list for the next generation of political leaders to seriously address.

To date, while it appears that most Tea Party leaders verbally support all three legs of this “milk stool” some, such as Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, assert that the social issues (and specifically abortion and the right to life) must take a back seat to the other two legs, which are seen as more important.

A further example of this viewpoint was shown in a recent interview of Sarah Palin with Sean Hannity of Fox News. Gov. Sarah Palin, a committed pro-life leader, was asked to name the top five issues facing the country today and the deaths of 1.25 million unborn annually from abortion was not on her list. If, indeed, this is the approach a new Congress takes after the November mid-term elections, then the agenda of the Tea Party movement will fail.

America must be forewarned. A nation that fails to protect the lives of its most vulnerable members has set a course for itself that will lead to its eventual destruction from within. The killing of future generations through the act of abortion has already taken a toll on the demographical future of the nation and the Western world. Unless this trend is stopped then, notwithstanding the impact of the Tea Party movement, our culture and nation will have effectively committed suicide.

The invention of the three-legged milking stool was truly ingenious. Will the current populist movement for change understand this and formally incorporate the life issues into its agenda? Time will tell and the future of America hangs in the balance.

[Jim Robinson]

Hell no! If you’re not fiscally AND socially conservative, you’re not conservative! We fight for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!! That includes the right to economic freedom!!

[EternalVigilance]

I just hope you don't get in the way.

I'm always amazed that Republicans consider those who advocate for the core principles of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution to be obstacles to what they want.

[EternalVigilance]

You may find the exchange here to be somewhat enlightening.

[longtermmemmory]

the elitists and the hijackers want only fiscal issues.

We have to look at the tea party as long term. The founders agreed slavery had to be addressed but left it to another generation.

First we take over with the financial AND SOCIAL ISSUES that are the winners. (taxes, spending, marriage, education) Then we ratchet over to the other issues.

The trick of the RINOS is to trick us in to eating the whole cake instead of taking bites.

[HairOfTheDog]

But hey, they'll keep telling you they're for lowering your taxes and limiting government!

This time, I'm looking for them to do more than talk. And for that, I'm willing to keep the conversation simple.

We have a GOP who has talked a good game on both fiscal and social issues for a long time, with some success at getting elected, but not a lot of success in actually accomplishing change on either front. You say don't trust the politician who says morals don't matter... well, I haven't seen a lot of progress from those who say they do!

So I guess I'm voting for keeping it simple this time around. Solve my taxes first... then maybe, just maybe, I'll trust you with a few ethical and moral questions.

[wagglebee]

The founders agreed slavery had to be addressed but left it to another generation.

And that decision nearly destroyed America.

[Tex-Con-Man]

So much of the liberal agenda would melt away without government funding. If we don't at least defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting within the first month, I'm gonna google molotov cocktail instructions.

[TomasUSMC]

Without Life, all other issues are non issues.

[trisham]

Barry Goldwater was an abysmal FAILURE because he thought that conservatism was only about fiscal conservatism and a strong defense. Ronald Reagan recognized the need for social conservatism and won two landslides.

The people who want fiscal conservatism and the exclusion of social conservatism ARE NOT conservatives at all -- they are libertarians.

***************************

Excellent observations.

[EternalVigilance]

This time, I'm looking for them to do more than talk.

Spoken like the enabling spouse of an abusive, cheating husband.

Good luck with that.

[Lazlo in PA]

Here is a great example of how the “Pro Life” movement let the media pigeon hole them into their narrative. Anti Death vs. Pro Death has far more impact on a conversational level. Calling oneself “Pro Choice” sounds reasonable and fair to most Americans. I will also say again that legislatively, no real policies have moved towards shifting Roe. I would argue like I did in my first post that the new equipment used for ultrasounds give folks tangible evidence of life in the womb and silly lefty like protests with props and slogans do little. This is how the movement will make gains gradually. To make Tea Party like gains a whole new style of motivating the public will need to be created. Trying to shoehorn on to an existing movement will end in the failure of both.

[EternalVigilance]

Solve my taxes first...

They love to tell you they will. But if they're the type that downplays the moral basis for American government, you can be 100% sure that they're lying.

[wagglebee]

There are over 50 MILLION Americans who were never given liberty or the opportunity to pursue happiness. Were they alive today most of them would be paying taxes (thus keeping Social Security from disaster AND keeping overall tax rates lower) and helping to grow the economy.

[wagglebee]

They love to tell you they will.

It's amazing how many people have forgotten the end result of, "Read my lips: no new taxes."

[HairOfTheDog]

Spoken like the enabling spouse of an abusive, cheating husband. Good luck with that.

No, actually, that's what continuing to talk to you feels like. For me it's about getting rid of them, and getting on with somebody new who will get things done. And I'm willing to start with the easy task that actually has the biggest impact on me. Bloated government.

[allmendream]

In total agreement.

People see the Tea Party movement as a train going up a hill, and they want it to carry as much of their water as possible!

A recent survey showed that about half of Tea Party people are social conservatives and the other half are libertarian leaning.

If you want to split the Tea Party in half, and overburden the train that is (so far) going over the hill, by all means, INSIST upon the social conservative purity of all Tea Party candidates/speakers/voters.

TEA = taxed enough already.

[Lazlo in PA]

Three people and his mother know who Doug Kmiec is. I doubt he factors into anything. The bigger issue is the fact that the pro-life movement lost Catholic voters in PA to a candidate who appointed czars who believe in 5th and 6th trimester abortions? How were these people lost to a so called slam dunk issue? The original issue here is not the fact on whether abortion is abhorrent, which it is, but on the issue of folding the anti-abortion message into the Tea party movement. A pure Tea party has a better job of bringing about further conservative goals in the future. The anti-abortion movement needs to streamline and become better at bringing along at least the God fearing first to prove it’s mettle.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

A recent survey showed that about half of Tea Party people are social conservatives and the other half are libertarian leaning.

Yeah, and lots of surveys are more about promoting an agenda than reporting actual data.

Ask anyone who has spent any considerable amount of time with Tea Party types, and they will tell you the Tea Party is 2/3 to 3/4 social conservatives.

The libertarian minority knows full well they are a minority, and the RINOS, MSM and Democrats are trying desperately to help this vocal minority impose a fiscal-conservatism only litmus test on the rest of the Tea Party majority.

[EternalVigilance]

And I'm willing to start with the easy task that actually has the biggest impact on me. ?

It's not all about you.

And again, you're deceiving yourself. Those who refuse to deal with the core moral problem and promise you the moon on the money front are lying to you. Every bit of political history of the last couple of decades reveals this vividly.

[HairOfTheDog]

People see the Tea Party movement as a train going up a hill, and they want it to carry as much of their water as possible!

Awesome metaphor.

TEA = taxed enough already.