With some high profile center-right bloggers outraged by the American Conservative Union’s decision not to continue gay Republican group GOProud’s sponsorship of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, it’s worth listing a few points about GOProud and CPAC the finger wavers should think about:

1. GOProud’s position on marriage: “Opposing any anti-gay federal marriage amendment.  Marriage should be a question for the states.  A federal constitutional amendment on marriage would be an unprecedented federal power grab from the states.” Deferring marriage policy to the states is a respectable (albeit mistaken, in my view) conservative position; referring to the marriage amendment as “anti-gay” is not.
2. GOProud’s stated support for marriage federalism is highly misleading. The organization wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, falsely suggesting the law interferes with the right of the states to set marriage policy. DOMA is not a federal same-sex marriage ban, but merely a federal guarantee that individual states won’t be forced to recognize or adopt the marriage definitions of other states. What good is it for GOProud to say they support states’ rights on the issue if they want to leave the states defenseless against activist judges?

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As our annual CPAC gathering kicks off today with the sponsorship of the gay Republican GoProud organization, it is important to understand something about socially liberal “conservatives”.  They don’t exist. Period. (O.K. there is Jeff Flake on DADT, but he is still 100% pro life).

American conservatism is comprised of three indissoluble principles; social values, national defense, and classic economic liberalism.  A movement that includes those who categorically reject one of those ethos is not a big tent.  It is a circus.  That is because those who reject social values or national defense will indubitably reject fiscal conservatism as well.  How many self proclaimed social liberal/fiscal conservative Republicans are indeed stalwart, intrepid, and truculent in their defense of the free market and liberty?  Very few, indeed, and certainly not anyone who is associated with GoProud.

As Erick observes, GoProud has worked to undermine conservatives throughout their existence, even if that meant teaming up with the SEIU.  If these clowns were in the trenches fighting our battles for limited government and a robust America-first foreign policy, we would be more inclined to accept this group.  However, GoProud, along with every other self proclaimed conservative socially liberal group, has been missing in action as it relates to the issues that are important to authentic conservatives.  That is because conservatism without the social values is like a body without a soul.  It is lifeless.  Thus, they expend their efforts assiduously pushing their hard left social agenda, with no regard for any fiscal or national security issue.

Conversely, it is the inimitable social conservatives like Jim DeMint and Michelle Bachmann who are inexorable in their defense of national security and free market economics.

This is not the time to begin reaching out to fair-weather gay conservatives whose motives are dubious at best.  Social conservatism is under assault on every front; from the repeal of DADT and the integration of women in combat, to the proliferation of gay marriage throughout the states.  In my home state of Maryland, even the former Republican Senate leader is joining with Democrats to make the Old Line State the 6th state that recognizes gay marriage.

We must work indefatigably now, more than ever, to reassert ourselves over social issues and not cede the battleground to the left.  Are we prepared to eschew the core values that we seek to promote because of contrived “generational changes”?

Let there be no ambiguity concerning the motives of socially liberal “conservatives”.  If they are willing to abjure some conservative values due to generational shifts, they will easily surrender the rest of the policy battlefield to the whims of the left.

Cross-posted to Red Meat Conservative

The word truce is defined as “a suspension of hostilities for a specified period of time by mutual agreement of the warring parties; cease-fire; armistice.”  In recent months, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has turned this word “truce” into a rallying cry for libertarians and a curse word for social conservatives by calling for the next president to forge a “truce” with social conservatives on the pursuit of social issues.

And then, he says, the next president, whoever he is, “would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,” until the economic issues are resolved.

But you see, there were no “hostilities” to begin with.  The social conservatives were minding their own business, and Daniels sucker-punched them.  And that was just the start.

In November a group of “gay conservatives,” GOProud, and a mish-mash of other libertarian-leaning “Tea Party activists” joined in the fun with their own letter, asking Republicans to “resist the urge to run down any social issue rabbit holes in order to appease the special interests.”

And on Wednesday, Daniels, apparently not sufficiently stung by the storm of criticism that followed his original “truce talk,” decided to double down on his previous gaffe by stating:

“I would like to think that fixing [the debt] and saving our kids’ future could be a unifying moment for our country and we wouldn’t stop our disagreements or our passionate belief in these other questions, we just sort of mute them for a little while, while we try to come together on the thing that menaces us all”

Truce? “Rabbit holes?” “Mute button?” Ladies and gentlemen, if there weren’t hostilities before, there certainly are now.

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The word truce is defined as “a suspension of hostilities for a specified period of time by mutual agreement of the warring parties; cease-fire; armistice.”  In recent months, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has turned this word “truce” into a rallying cry for libertarians and a curse word for social conservatives by calling for the next president to forge a “truce” with social conservatives on the pursuit of social issues.

And then, he says, the next president, whoever he is, “would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,” until the economic issues are resolved.

But you see, there were no “hostilities” to begin with.  The social conservatives were minding their own business, and Daniels sucker-punched them.  And that was just the start.

In November a group of “gay conservatives,” GOProud, and a mish-mash of other libertarian-leaning “Tea Party activists” joined in the fun with their own letter, asking Republicans to “resist the urge to run down any social issue rabbit holes in order to appease the special interests.”

And on Wednesday, Daniels, apparently not sufficiently stung by the storm of criticism that followed his original “truce talk,” decided to double down on his previous gaffe by stating:

“I would like to think that fixing [the debt] and saving our kids’ future could be a unifying moment for our country and we wouldn’t stop our disagreements or our passionate belief in these other questions, we just sort of mute them for a little while, while we try to come together on the thing that menaces us all”

Truce? “Rabbit holes?” “Mute button?” Ladies and gentlemen, if there weren’t hostilities before, there certainly are now.

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I was trying to reconcile within myself what exactly has occurred in the past month and a half in the Movement of Conservatism. The schism seems to have occurred via the supposed victimization of gays within the Movement. Two months ago everyone was on the same page about what needed to happen for America, we needed to wrench the gavel out of the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. We all worked very hard together to make that happen. What happened immediately following the election on November second was a concerted effort to silence Social Conservatives A Leave Me Alone Ethos Is Libertarian, Not Conservatism. The groups calling for this Fiscal Conservatism only push were Libertarian TEA Parties and GOProud. Those groups are a smaller part of the Conservative Movement then Social Conservatives Of Course There is Major Crossover.

– They are mostly social conservatives, not libertarians on social issues. Nearly two-thirds (63%) say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, and less than 1-in-5 (18%) support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

You see what I can not reconcile is that immediately after an election of which the goal was to restore America to greatness, some would immediately try to undercut a majority of the voting Conservatives. GOProud did not stop pushing for DADT repeal, it was their social issue and they fought on behalf of it. In the same way Social Conservatives should never stop fighting for those social issues that they are passionate about. If the goals of the two groups should be on opposite sides well that is just very American. That CPAC blow up is a perfect example of the two not agreeing on the same social issue’s. CPAC organizers decided that financially they would benefit more with GOPROUD and without Social Conservative Organizations including Heritage Foundation Freedom To Associate Or Not. Their conference their call. Heritage and other Socially Conservative organizations ought to compete with CPAC for their customers and no doubt in the future will. The beauty of that is as Conservatives we will get to decide where we choose to spend our money.

Here is the thing that is ticking me off, Social Conservatives are being painted as bigots by others in the Movement. When those words are uttered or are intimated by someone within your sphere they can never be taken back. What we have is a slew of Libertarians and or Liberal posers who are attempting to rip the Movement apart with their victimization of GOProud CPAC Is Also Promoting Legalization of Marijuana & The ACLU?. We will either continue to work together to rid the Country of Congresspeople who spend us, our children and our grandchildren into oblivion or we won’t, but I refuse to engage in the petty concerns of a bunch of closet liberals to help them to tear down this Movement. We are all grownups and we all can make financial decisions for ourselves and when Heritage and the other Social groups have a conference I will attend it as well as CPAC. There is a big tent in the Republican Party but there is no room for liberals and you will know them by their victimhood, do not let them determine the fate of the Conservative Movement that is ascending. I am certainly not making it up that there are liberals/progressives infiltrating the Movement They Are JFK Democrats, Nothing More, Make Them Go Back To Their Party. The bottom line is that we can work with these people to take America back to its limited government design however we will not be silenced on the issues that matter to us. We will not allow them to dictate the future of the Republican Party when they can just as well go back to their Party of origin and reclaim it from the progressives who have hijacked it!