This special election has been a gift to the Republicans in their quest to co-opt the tea party. Surely it would be ironic if Ted Kennedy in death helped the Republican Party get back to electability. Yet Kennedy may have delivered lapsed Republicans back to the party, and split the tea party movement so it is no longer as big a threat to both parties.While a registered Republican myself, I have no party loyalty anymore. And as an officer in our local Tea Party, I have been a big advocate of keeping the Tea Party movement at arm's length from the GOP for the time being. Agreed, where our goals coincide we should work together. Electing Scott Brown in order to defeat ObamaCare was a common goal, though as someone who lived in Massachusetts I fully realize that "conservative" in Massachusetts is "RINO" most everyplace else. Both the Tea Party and Republicans agree that electing Scott Brown will make others in Congress rather less eager to vote for loony Left/Mainstream Media collectivist policies, such as cap-and-trade, tax increases, and gun control.
But that is where the commonality should end. The Tea Party movement is not a child of the GOP, but a reaction to the GOP's continued inability to speak for us and our values. It exists as much because of GOP incompetence in carrying the Reagan banner as anything Obama and the Left/Mainstream Media have done. While they talk a good game - and spend a lot of time at parties and seminars and on Facebook doing just that - the current crop of Republican activists have generally been unwilling to fight for traditional Republican values - values that a majority of Americans really do support. Because they've had no stomach for the fight of late, and no vision on what that fight even should be, Republicans were utterly outmaneuvered by a bunch of political hacks in 2006, and a bunch of idealist amateurs in 2008.
Some in the GOP are finally getting it, and are starting to man the ramparts with us. We welcome them as brothers and sisters in arms, but do not automatically recognize them as our leaders. They do not, simply because of their GOP label, automatically speak for us anymore. And without us, not the GOP national leadership who came late to the game, Scott Brown would be driving his truck off into the political sunset.
2 comments:
I don't buy into the "tension"; I think we may have a few people who would like to discredit the "we the people" movement and will say anything to slow down the momentum.
The beauty of Brown's victory is that a "we the people" candidate won. He is not a Republican nor does he represent the GOP. Much of the reason why progressives were so successful in their takeover was because they didn't allow the letter "r" or "d" affect the candidate. That is what the Tea Party has done over the past year.
Scott Brown never used the word "Repuublican" in his campaign. It wasn't on his ads, in his speeches or on any marketing. He ran as the people's candidate... hence the landslide victory.
I do suspect that the GOP will continue to try and capitalize on the Tea Party movement, but I also believe they will do so at their own peril. I've seen Republican candidates get slammed by the Tea Party and taken out of the running by "we the people".
"We the people" are winning the battle for freedom. The war isn't over so there is much left to do; however, every victory God blesses us with should bring us all to our knees in gratitude and empower us to stand firm in our calling.
Every time I get a GOP request for donations to the party, I write back saying I can no longer give "in general terms" to the GOP because there are far too many half-ass democrats parading around as Republicans. The chairman of the GOP must be getting a lot of such notices as he is now insisting that GOP candidates clearly stand for conservative principles. And guess who is slamming him because of it - that's right, fellow Republicans! But, good for him, I heard him say the other day that the party could fire him if they wanted but he will hold to his stand that candidates must take firm stands.
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