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
And no, it isn't only the "fiscal" stuff. It's the freedom stupid.
I assume you have an example of exactly how that is supposed to work? Lay out how you see that happening please. I'd really like to know.
If you try and eat the whole elephant, you will choke and die.
The welfare state, the gay lobby, millions of laws, and all this other crap didn't just spring up over night. It took time for the commies to get their ducks lined up.
We can do big things to roll that back, but not if we hop up on our High Horse and start smacking people over the heads with Leviticus.
Roll back to Art 1 Sect 8 FedGov. Work to get spending under control before it destroys us completely. Get rid of stare decisis and voire dire and start informing juries of their DUTY to judge the law as well as the crime. I'd prefer an NRST, but I'd be just as happy with a flat tax with ZERO deductions for special "government approved interests". Anything but the insanity we have now...
As I said before, you end judicial activism and get rid of the FedGovs power to "help" the special interests and suddenly the gay lobby has ZERO power to do anything and abortion is dealt a "death blow" when Federal funding dries up and States are once again allowed to pass abortion bans.
It's the Constitutional way to get this done.
No, I prefer Ronald Reagan’s three pronged approach: Strong defence, strong economy and strong social values. And his straight forward winning strategy: We win, they lose.
Don’t back down!
Conservatives agree with him.
To start with, people with some sort of morals are going to be much more likely to work instead of suck off of welfare. They’ll actually be contributing to it.
More morals means less crime and the expenses involved with that.
If we weren’t pandering to the gays, we wouldn’t have the expense involved with dealing with the consequences of their lifestyle.
If people were more moral, they’d be picking up the slack in helping the poor privately instead of pushing off the responsibility onto the government, which is going to cost because the government has to pay for it somehow.
The most moral people tend to be very patriotic and support the military. We’d have that strong defense that we need.
The most moral party in this country is the Conservative Party and everything it stands for is what real conservatives are looking for.
Fix the moral issues first and the fiscal ones will follow as people are more responsible.
Try to fix the fiscal ones, and you’ll fail. The moral ones will not automatically follow. That’s liberalthink. That’s the justification behind welfare and every other expensive social program the government runs. Liberals blame the moral breakdown on not enough money, just give them enough and they’ll straighten out.
That’s worked out real well for us now hasn’t it?
GOProud is engaging in self promotion and reeled in some dummies to support them.
How many members does GOProud have? I bet damn few. This organization is a Cat's Paw. It is a tool for the benefit of Democrats like the Log Cabin Republicans were.
Definitely a good one!
Strong Social values.
Ok... Which values? Yours? Mine? His?
Or how about those relating to self reliance, freedom, individual responsibility, honesty, that the Founders left up to We the People instead of codifying in the Constitution or the Federal Code of Law?
OR... do you have something against freedom? It is sometimes messy and people may not live their lives the way you want them to.
Definitely a good one!
Strong Social values.
Ok... Which values? Yours? Mine? His?
Why don't you ask the Boss?
Whose values Jim?
What you describe are talking points and not policies that fit within our Constitutional framework. You can't force people to be moral by pointing a gun at them.
You can force them to be moral by not giving them a choice. No support from welfare. No excuses or blaming society. You earn your way or you live off the charity of private organizations.
You cannot mandate Patriotism either. Ask the Russians how that worked out for them. You can make your Country worth being proud of.
Reducing the FedGov to just its Art 1 Sec 8 powers cures two ills. It reduces spending and it gives us back our liberty.
We can handle the moral issues on our own from there.
John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating,
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams is a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our second President.
Our fiscal problems are only a symptom of our breakdown. The cause is a breakdown in moral issues.
That’s why we need to fix the moral ones first or concurrently with the fiscal.
Fixing the fiscal problems is not going to save our country and the argument that if we fix the fiscal ones first, then we can work on the moral ones will not happen. It’s just a diversionary tactic to shut up the social conservatives with the promise of something that the fiscal conservatives have no intention of delivering on.
Their argument then will be that they could fix the fiscal problems without fixing the moral ones, therefore it’s proof that we don’t need to fix the moral ones after all. They’ll just betray the social/moral conservatives.
Our country is going to fail because of moral failures, not fiscal ones.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2627138/posts?page=306#306
“Absolutely not! And it was also never intended to be a tool for evil! They cannot FORCE atheism or abortion or homosexual marriage on us any more than they can legally take away our guns or over tax us or force us to buy an insurance policy against our will.
America was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are the rights to Life and Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness!! Look it up!
Limited government! Individual Liberty!
The government needs to butt OUT!!
As it is the liberals run rough-shod over us and the evil they cannot accomplish legislatively, the scum in black robes takes care of for them. Time to bring back tar and feathers!!
DON’T TREAD ON ME!!! “
Which is what I’ve been saying the entirety of my 11 years on FR. It’s the FREEDOM stupid.
Biblical morals. Like the ones this country was founded on.
And there’s more like this where it came from.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bb0yRRGsLvsJ:www.free2pray.info/5founderquotes.html+founding+father+government+meant+for+moral+people&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence said. “[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind.”
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said, “[T]he Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.”
Gouverneur Morris, Penman and Signer of the Constitution. “[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.”
Fisher Ames author of the final wording for the First Amendment wrote, “[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind.”
John Jay, Original Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court , “The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”
James Wilson, Signer of the Constitution; U. S. Supreme Court Justice, “Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other.”
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary stated, “The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House, “Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”
George Washington, General of the Revolutionary Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, First President of the United States of America, Father of our nation, “ Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”
Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence “[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
“Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof.” Continental Congress, 1778
blah blah cry cry.
The Libertarian party is NOT to blame for any Republican loses.
So, your answer is a Morality Police. And how is that going to work?
blah blah cry cry.
The Libertarian party is NOT to blame for any Republican loses.
I posted word for word what Jim said and you questioned it. You do backpedal fine!
We'll need to start by repealing the Constitution and writing a new one. We'll then need to kick out everyone who doesn't conform to Christianity. Not sure what we'll do about the differences between Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists... But everyone else will be forced to convert or leave the Country.
Is that how you see this working?
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