United Liberty
Tea Party Movement ‘Too Libertarian’ for Social Conservative Leaders
Fri, 03/12/2010 - 10:28am | posted by Chris Moody
Social conservative leaders are worried that the Tea Party movement doesn’t care enough about abortion and gay marriage, Politico reports.
This appears to be a growing theme, ever since Mike Huckabee said that he skipped CPAC this year because it was “too libertarian” for him. In his most recent book, Huckabee wrote of a growing movement of what he called “faux-cons;” people who hold free market views on the economy, but don’t think the government should use its coercive powers to promote a “family values” social agenda.
Now, more prominent social conservatives are repeating a similar line. Here’s what some of them told Politico:
- “There’s a libertarian streak in the tea party movement that concerns me as a cultural conservative,” said Bryan Fischer, director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at the American Family Association. “The tea party movement needs to insist that candidates believe in the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage.”
- “As far as I can tell [the tea party movement] has a politics that’s irreligious. I can’t see how some of my fellow conservatives identify with it,” said Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals.
There are probably good reasons why they’re so worried. The Tea Party movement has not based its activism on their top priorities, (do you see anything about gay marriage or abortion in their Contract From America?) and the social conservatives fear they are losing their grip on the center-right.
If anything, this is an excellent opportunity for supporters of limited government to explain why increasing government coercion to propel conservative social ends is no different than using coercion to promote liberal ends. The government that has the power to help your cause is the same government that can promote the opposite agenda after you lose the next election. Better not to give them the power at all in the first place.
I mentioned this problem recently in a conversation with a social conservative. The person’s reply: “Well, that’s why you should always vote Republican.”
Sorry pal, it just doesn’t work like that.
Clearly, this is a fact of politics that social conservatives have yet to learn.
Are the religious fascists going to pass a constitutional amendment to outlaw secular political organizations?
I want to crush those disgusting bastards! They deserve bankruptcy!
Mike Huckabee 2012~!
That a terrible idea. No thanks to Tax Hike Mike.
The social conservatives have had their run in the GOP. I, for one, am sick of apologizing for these idiots and the dumb crap their leaders say.
Time to put God back where he belongs, in church.
Time to make the Republican Party a party of liberty and freedom, not ultra strict religion.
Amen
If the “GOP” == “Social Conservatism” then call me a libertarian. There is a reason the tea party doesn’t focus that much on gay marriage and abortion.
Sounds like the social conservative leaders are getting the message. We don’t care.
The Tea-party movement is what it is. It is a movement supporting smaller federal government, lower taxes and government adherence to the Constitution.
Pseudo-conservatives are also what they are. It is their choice to have their own positions. Just as it is Tea Party choice to accept or reject pseudo-conservatives.
Huckabee is a good, honest person. But Huckabee is not a Constitutional conservative.
RINOs were not thrown out of office by Democrats. RINOs were just not supported by conservatives, who let them lose.
hi it is great going
Certainly Tea Party strategists aren’t doing much to calm the worries of the culture warriors. As Smith notes, a grass-roots group called the Tea Party Patriots is pushing for a revised version of the Contract With America, which helped Republicans to take control of Congress in 1994. The group has set up a website where visitors can select 10 issues they’d like to see included in the new “Contract From America.” The ballot includes 21 issues—with abortion, gay marriage and other hot-button culture-war issues nowhere to be found. “They’re free to do it, but they can’t say [the new contract] represents America,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told Politico. “If they do it they’re lying.”
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