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
Uh - counterpunch got punched out of FR by the boss.
I guess his “common sense” diddn’t smell so nice.
If King George had been forcing “gay rights” on the citizens of Boston that would have been on the table.
They didn’t have the social destruction caused by leftists that we have now.
Your entire focus on money and ignoring the very real moral issues that are destroying civilized life is blindness. It also loses elections because more Americans than you like to admit care very much about moral issues.
“The Pink Swastika is a powerful exposure of pre-World War II Germany and its quest for reviving and imitating a Hellenistic-paganistic idea of homo-eroticism and militarism.”
Dr. Mordechai Nisan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
But right now the fedgov will not ALLOW the states to address social issues.
Cut the head of the snake. Waiting until dozens of SCOTUS decisions are somehow overturned is not only stupid, it’s giving in to the enemy.
Please read what Ghost of Philip Marlowe wrote:
Perhaps what you are overlooking is that the left has artfully intertwined all of those social issues into spending at the federal government. They did so for the express purpose that you have to support both, the government’s involvement and those particular socially targeted groups.
You can not undo the government aspect without addressing the social issues of those groups backed by the government spending.
If the Tea Party does not understand this, they are doomed to failure.
And the godless left has now indoctrinated and influenced three generations of people who have so much moral blindness that they are posting nonsense on this thread.
The official platform of the Libertarian Party is ultra kook wingnut utopian leftism to the point of anarchy. The platform accepts all “gay rights”, abortion, porn and drugs without any restrictions whatsoever, reduced military. It’s insanity.
Hope you have your flame suit on. Here, borrow mine...
What did Buck say BTW?
Some social issues are not federal issues and should be kept out of sight.
No wonder the Pauls felt so at home there.
Won’t do him any good. He’s dead, Jim.
Like what? Please be specific.
TEA Taxed, Enough, Already,, The number one problem facing this nation, bar none, is the cancerous explosion in the size and pervasiveness of government.
Those immoral behaviors will not directly affect me to any noticeable degree because i will not engage in them. I will try to win those people over to my way of thinking.
But taxes and national health care affect me DIRECTLY and SEVERELY.
Focus, on the task, enslave the government beast, then we can work to make changes in those other areas. Without economic freedom, all is lost.
LOL. So now, GOProud speaks for the Tea Party? These people are the actual “teabaggers.”
The problem is post-election, we have some folks using revisionist history to describe what the Tea Party was about.
The Tea Party was about smaller government, less regulation, and taxes.
If you examine the official platforms of major Tea Party organizations, you will not see any reference to social issues like abortion and gay rights.
Sure they are valid issues for conservatives but you can’t ipso post facto magically add them when they did not exist in the Tea Party platforms before the election.
You’re like the guy whose whole house is caving in around you and instead of checking the foundation to see what the problem is, you’re climbing up on what’s left of the roof to nail in some new shingles.
Without its moral basis, there is no America. There is no possibility of self-government in liberty.
Why doesn't he mention the actual name of his blog: 'Gay Patriot'? At least 12 people on this phony "tea party" list are gay actvists. This is a transparent attempt by the homosexual lobby to co-opt the movement. I guess since the Ann Coulter invite backfired on them, GOProud is trying a new gimmick. It won't work. We aren't that stupid.
/b>Surprise, surprise! And look how many idiots took the bait! There is no "neutral" position.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.