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Tea Party Endorsements

by | 12:00 pm, June 8, 2010 | 4 Comments

There has been quite a discussion on the web lately about whether or not Tea Party organizations should make endorsements. Here’s my take: they should. Here’s why.

It is important to understand that the Tea Party movement is just that: a movement, not a political party. Much as the left and the left-leaning media would like to paint tea parties as a political party, we’re not. We are much bigger than that: we are a movement sweeping America. The left is scared witless and well they should be.

The Tea Party movement–or the Liberty movement as I call it–is more like an interest group or a civic group. We’re like Elks or Moose, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Rotary Club, the VFW, the NRA and in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the tea party shares members with many of those organizations. Each of those civic organizations has an issue-oriented reason for being, something they stand for. They advocate for those issues.

The Tea Party movement differs only in what brings us together. We stand for American values: for life, liberty and property; for limited constitutional government, for fiscal responsibility and free market capitalism. It is the broadest possible statement of what it means to be an American.

This is a grass-roots movement. There is no leader and each organization may or may not affiliate with a state-wide, regional or national organization, such as the Tea Party Patriots. Some are formally organized as 501 (c)3 corporations, some as 501 (c)4, some not formally structured at all. Each organization is free to do pretty much what it thinks best.

Should they endorse? Some organizations exist solely for the purpose of education–the 9-12 groups are a lot like that. They and others feel that they are called to educate and that endorsement is not appropriate. To them I say: We are on the ropes. We have almost lost the fight. Education is a fine and necessary long-term purpose, but if we lose either of the next two elections there is no long term.

Others want to highlight the candidates and even provide a forum for debate, but not to endorse them. To them I say: debate is fine and necessary but the time for debate is closing and the time for action is upon us.  Here’s why not endorsing doesn’t work.

In the Florida FL-19 special election in April the South Florida Tea Party favored candidate Ed Lynch but was careful not to specifically endorse him. They even went so far as to organize a phone bank but not for a specific candidate. Activist Karin Hoffman of DC Works for Us tells the result:

The Precincts that DC Works For Us was responsible for had an 84% return for the candidate. The same region only had 3 precincts go for McCain….had the [other] grassroots taken ownership of the whole District with this strategy, we would have another conservative in Congress.

As any marketing professional will tell you, it is not enough to put your product on display and hope people will flock in to buy it. You must advertise. We must commit. It is time to get off the bench, grab the bat and step up to the plate.

Support the candidates who support our values.


Category: Colorado Politics, Liberty, PPC
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Comments

  1.   Chuck Moe
      June 8th, 2010 @ 1:48 pm

    There’s a real danger in endorsing any candidate. The danger being that no one candidate totally espouses the platform of the tea party. How can they when the tea party movement itself cant agree on a total platform…nor should they. The moment a candidate is endorsed, a certain percentage of tea partiers will be upset with the choice. Then you may very well see what has happened in Colorado with it’s Campaign For Liberty chapter. The CO CFL (intentional or not) implicitly endorsed a candidate months ago and divided it’s members to the point that the CO CFL barely exists. There is too much diversity amongst tea partiers to expect something similar to not happen.

    Perhaps, the loss of a few tea party members who can’t or won’t support a particular candidate would be worth the value of an endorsement but there will be no way to please all members.

    Even here on PPC you have bloggers and readers with wildly different opinions on Buck and Norton despite everyone having the same information on the candidates. Some feel that the only difference is the candidate’s sex while others see large differences in policy or at least possible policies. Who should Colorado Tea Parties endorse? Buck or Norton? Good luck getting anywhere close to an agreement with that.

  2.   Donald Johnson
      June 8th, 2010 @ 2:26 pm

    The power of the Tea Party, 9.12 Groups et al is that they get people involved in politics and let them choose the candidates they want to support. Even the Republican and Democratic Parties don’t endorse candidates until after primaries or until there is only one candidate.

    Are some candidates trying to manipulate the Tea Party et al to their own advantages regardless of how the Tea Party et al are affected?

    Looks like it.

  3.   Brian Wilson
      June 8th, 2010 @ 7:28 pm

    Most Tea Parties in Colorado have endorsed Buck I think. Northern Co, Southern Co, Hear us Now (Denver), and Arkansas River Vally for example.

  4.   Donald James
      June 12th, 2010 @ 7:42 am

    I am impressed by Karin Hoffman’s math. How did she manage an 84% turnout in the precincts she was responsible for in a special election? Didn’t Ed lunch get just over 3300 votes? So the combined population of Florida District 19 is about 4500 Republicans? The winner, Ted Deutch, receieved nearly 24,000 votes and we don’t even know how many Dems stayed home on election day. GEESH! NO WONDER THIS IS A SAFE DEMOCRACTIC SEAT! A Republican could not possbily win here unless 90% of Dems stayed home.

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