Grassroots Duty Means Taking on Your Own Party
It was just another morning of Facebook perusing when I stumbled upon a post on a regional Tea Party group’s Facebook page which called out Speaker Boehner and encouraged Congressman elect Mark Walker to vote otherwise for Speaker. This poster was attacked by other membership and leadership.
“I’m getting pretty tired of this divisive rhetoric on the site,” said one poster.
“Nobody respects a gadfly,” said another.
A leader of the group chimed in with the following:
“So, is the original post really going to hold someone’s “feet to the fire,”? I’m thinking probably not. In fact complaining about everything that’s not exactly to your liking only alienates people who otherwise would probably be on your side of the issue – whether that’s other conservative activists or conservative leaning elected officials. I’ve found that the best way to influence the political process – other than voting out bad people and voting in good people (or at least better people) – is to call your representative and have a conversation with them… send them an e-mail. Get your friends to do the same. Influence their decisions by respectfully making your case and sharing facts, figures, concerns, issues etc. If you are trying to hold Mark Walker’s feet to the fire – through this type of Facebook posting – well…. you might want to reconsider your strategy. I don’t think it will get you the results you are looking for.”
I decided to chime in, and this is the post I left:
“Let me start by ensuring we know that this is a disagreement among friends. I am not trying to be divisive or troll on a thread. I have an opinion and I would like to discuss it, so long as you are willing to engage and humor me. We agree a lot more than we disagree, and for that I am thankful.
I have seen a lot. I’ve been involved in politics since, well….second grade. Really started getting active in 1992 at 15. Of all the campaigns, of all the volunteer work, of all the successes…I thought that I was earning “influence”. What I have discovered over the past couple of years is that the people telling me what I’m telling you is correct. All of that effort isn’t building your influence, it’s building the power and legacy of some elected official. We are pawns in other people’s games. (This is a general rule, obvious exceptions will exist.)
I can’t tell you how many times I was convinced to go against my “gut” on an issue or in an election because “a member of my team” said it was “in our best interest”.
Time and time again, all I have seen is policy and issues I’m against get the “go”. I’ve seen candidates I don’t really agree with get the “win”. I have come to realize that I was an instrumental part in helping the other side win! We can all agree here that Democrats are wrong. What we apparently can’t seem to find common ground on is that not all Republicans are “right”.
I will always hold elected officials feet to the fire. I have my beliefs and I want those beliefs acted on. To the extent they don’t get acted on, we should ensure that the politicians know their political future depends on voting our way. That leads to your point of “replacing them”.Ah! I’m glad you brought that up. That is a major point. Are you really interested in replacing them, or will you simply continue to find excuses to support them? “Lessor of two evils”, etc. “We’ll get them next time”. “If we only had the Presidency”. (This on the heals of “if we only had the senate.”)
I could write pages on this…but to sum it up. If we, as conservatives…and I believe you guys are despite our differences in tactics….want to ever accomplish anything, we have to get beyond the type of generic support that seems to be offered to certain candidates and Parties. They will sweet talk you to death, but you have to look at ACTIONS. You have to stop taking the abuse and stop making excuses for people that act against YOUR best interests.
In all honesty, at this point I see very little difference between your group and the Republican Party. What is your claim? Where will you fight?”
It was then pointed out that we should move on. This group supported a true conservative in the primary, but then supported Thom Tillis in the General Election. “We lost and that’s when all the infighting started. We looked at the two candidates that could actually get the roughly 1.4 million votes to win and picked the one that would move the Senate to the right. Some took exception to that and I’m fine with that. Isn’t it time to move on?
I responded,
“Move on from that? Certainly. We will disagree though on the “two candidates” mantra though. There will only every be “two candidates” until groups like ours are willing to stand up and say “no” to status quo politicians. We won’t win the first time, but we will retain our integrity. I was so proud that you chose the candidate in the primary that most agreed with your beliefs. I was disappointed that you didn’t do the same in the general.
So this becomes the poster child for where we are now as a “Tea Party” or “LiberTea” movement.
To what extent are we willing to stand up to people who are registered as the same Political Party that we are? Do we have an obligation to get in line and support them Carte Blanche? Can we and should we bring pressure to them to do what is right vs what is politically expedient?
I say yes. You?
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