Truth to Power

Last night, by God’s good grace, I had a chance to meet and hear Thomas Tabback author of "Things Forgotten."  Thomas’s talk was inspiring, but his Q and A seemed to be God’s vindication for our work and position on NY-23.

As you can imagine, I received some nasty emails from dedicated Republicans for our challenge to the GOP over Dede Scozzafava in New York.  They’re great people.  They’re just all wrapped up in party, Party, PARTY and miss the principles sometimes.  They believe they’re doing the right thing–and they are, sort of.  We’ll help them see the light.

Anyway, the sort of folks who sent me those notes were represented in a few of the people who came out to hear Mr. Tabback.  These folks dominated the question and answer session, but they didn’t really ask questions.  Instead, they gave speeches about the importance of being true to the party and how newcomers to political activism don’t have the right to speak truth to the power of the Republican party.

I held my breath waiting to hear Mr. Tabback’s response  I was afraid he’d say they’re right, that we in the Tea Party movement had no business challenging elected Republicans to stand up to their own party.  I was afraid God had drawn me there to tell me to knock it off.  What would be worse than to think I was leading people astray?

Of course, Tabback didn’t side with the party people.  He said, "That party is a big part of the reason we’re in this mess right now." He disagreed that anyone owes anything to a party–that such an idea makes of king of political parties and his message is flatly "no kings among us!"  His message was clear:  we will no longer settle for the lesser of two evils.  We will not be pressured into choosing evil every again.  If the ballot contains no brave, principled, integral candidates, we will write one in.  “I like to write in the name of Jesus Christ” he told us.

Exactly!  That’s why the Tea Party exists.  Yes, we’ll vote for Republicans who represent our values, who won’t compromise on principle, who won’t deny God, who won’t keep silent when their party does wrong.  Frankly there are more good, principled Republican politicians than there are such among Democrats.  But the GOP cannot put up an enabler like McCain, an equivocator like Dole, or a leftist like Scozzafava and expect us to support its decision. 

Nor can the GOP expect us to vote for candidates – incumbent or challenger – who are too cowardly, uncertain, or unprincipled to tell the party “get lost” when it screws up!  And the Republican Party has fallen off the path of liberty, freedom, and justice quite a lot lately.  I don’t here too many of its leaders smacking it around.  Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson are the ONLY two who consistently tell the party to fly right. The only two.

Nor can they expect us to donate money to the NRCC when the NRCC turns around and hands it over to the enemy!  The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent tens or hundreds of thousands of donated dollars on behalf of Scozzafava—a candidate who opposes the party’s own platform.  Why would anyone who believes in life and small government give a dime to the NRCC? 

While I felt bad for the people who asked these questions, I felt wonderful for the tea party people and myself.  We felt vindicated for our rally at St. Louis City Hall last Friday.  We felt vindicated for demanding that our elected Republican officials tell us clearly where they stand on Dede Scozzafava’s candidacy.  We are vindicated in wonder if Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are cowards for refusing to stand up to their party.  We are vindicated in demanding that Roy Blunt tell us where he stands before we give him our trust.

The Tea Party movement is about telling the parties: it’s OUR country, not yours.  When someone tells you, “You can’t vote for a rogue candidate because it’ll help the Democrats,” you have every right—maybe an obligation—to say, “Then tell your party to make rogue candidates unnecessary.”

It’s our life.  It’s out kids’ lives.  No one can tell us to compromise jack.