Friday, March 12, 2010

Christian Right concerned by Libertarian influence

Like Paleoconservatives, the Christian Right has never been a friend to Libertarians with their support for the Patriot Act, government involvement in the bed room, income redistribution to Israel under the guise of "foreign aid" among other things. So I wasn't surprised that in my daily email that I receive from Politico had an article titled "Tea Parties stir evangelicals" . The gist of the piece consists of Christian Right complaining on how many Tea Party organizations aren't making the culture wars (gay marriage, abortion, etc) the forefront of their platform or not mentioning them at all.

There are two theories that I have been able to gather in regards to the low key mentions of the culture wars; 1. People are more concerned about their economic situations and 2. When looking at states where gay marriage is legal (Massachusetts, Iowa to name two) people's lives didn't go through this drastic change and upheaval as opponents of gay marriage would like others to believe. I found this one quote by Tony Perkins who at one time was tinkering with the idea of running for David Vitter's Senate seat;

Groups such as FreedomWorks, said Perkins, bring a libertarian bias that doesn’t represent the “true tea parties.”

Apparently Tony Perkins knows what all Tea Parties stand for, despite the fact that the movement is widely considered a broad movement and also the movement sparked out of Ron Paul's 2008 Presidential Campaign. In regards to the culture war Paul has stated that issues like gay marriage and abortion should be decided by the states as it's outlined in the 10th Amendment. Apparently that doesn't sit well with some evangelicals. The fact of the matter is that Libertarians oppose statism and government cohesion in the names of "morality" and "helping people". That doesn't sit well with big government conservatives like Perkins and his bunch, but I don't expect them to change their ways that's just as much as a pipe dream as Obama's tax pledge. However the fact that the anti-gay speaker at CPAC Ryan Sorba was booed off the stage by the next generation of voters is a sign that statist social conservatism is being rejected which is good for personal liberty.

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