Comments on: Disunity in the Tea Party Movement http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2009/11/11/disunity-in-the-tea-party-movement/ Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:51:34 +0000 hourly 1 By: Chip Tarbutton /2009/11/11/disunity-in-the-tea-party-movement/#comment-23462 Chip Tarbutton Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:32:29 +0000 http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/?p=3291#comment-23462 I am a board member of the Roanoke Tea Party movement. We certainly did disavow the CCC as they are a violently racist group. One of our fundamental beliefs is that we need to follow the founding documents (Constitution and Dec. of Independence). It took till the 1960s to begin to truly live the fact that all men are created equal. So obviously a group like the CCC has no role in what we beleive. I would disagree with your assessment that their is a riff in the tea party movement. These jokers just showed up at an event and plastered cars with flyers. I wouldn't designate that as involvement in the movement. That said, if you have millions of people that are upset with the irresponsible fiscal policies and comnplete disregard shown by both parties to the Constitution, you are likely to get a few kooks like this that will try to glom on and get some converts. They will be dissapointed as none of the tea party members I know have any interest in divisive racial politics. If anything, we want to broaden our outreach to include African-Americans, who are not embracing our message. There has been a war on poverty now for 40+ years...and Federal social programs have failed to address the issues of poverty in many black communities. We need to look at this problem differently (as well as other pockets of stubborn poverty like Appalachia) as a society and focus on real job creation. We would contend that the root cause of these problems are a lack of jobs. We would also contend that the Feds can't create jobs...businesses create jobs. Those are the issues we like to discuss...real solutions to real problems. Groups like the CCC are a plague on society and distract us from real conversations. We want to realize Dr. King's vision that we judge a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. And by sticking to the principles in our founding documents, we'll get there together...as Americans. I am a board member of the Roanoke Tea Party movement. We certainly did disavow the CCC as they are a violently racist group. One of our fundamental beliefs is that we need to follow the founding documents (Constitution and Dec. of Independence). It took till the 1960s to begin to truly live the fact that all men are created equal. So obviously a group like the CCC has no role in what we beleive.

I would disagree with your assessment that their is a riff in the tea party movement. These jokers just showed up at an event and plastered cars with flyers. I wouldn’t designate that as involvement in the movement.

That said, if you have millions of people that are upset with the irresponsible fiscal policies and comnplete disregard shown by both parties to the Constitution, you are likely to get a few
kooks like this that will try to glom on and get some converts.

They will be dissapointed as none of the tea party members I know have any interest in divisive racial politics.

If anything, we want to broaden our outreach to include African-Americans, who are not embracing our message. There has been a war on poverty now for 40+ years…and Federal social programs have failed to address the issues of poverty in many black communities.

We need to look at this problem differently (as well as other pockets of stubborn poverty like Appalachia) as a society and focus on real job creation. We would contend that the root cause of these problems are a lack of jobs. We would also contend that the Feds can’t create jobs…businesses create jobs.

Those are the issues we like to discuss…real solutions to real problems. Groups like the CCC are a plague on society and distract us from real conversations.

We want to realize Dr. King’s vision that we judge a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. And by sticking to the principles in our founding documents, we’ll get there together…as Americans.

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