The Constitution, Every Time, On Every Issue…
on January 10th, 2013 at 9:03 am
“The Virginia Tea Party Federation does not take a position on gun issues, including lobbying as an organization.”
I wrote this article last week and it got quite a bit of attention, pointing out the sheer folly of this public statement of the Virginia Tea Party Federation leadership in light of the action likely to take place in the near future regarding the 2nd Amendment. Not like it is a surprise, but the Obama Administration is now threatening to further infringe upon 2nd Amendment rights by Executive Order. There have been conversations about confiscation of firearms. The hysteria on this issue is reaching epidemic proportions.
How does that decision by the tea party federation sit with you now?
Could the federation of picked a WORSE time to outsource the constitutional fight to the VCDL? Not that the VCDL isn’t a fine organization, but we are going to need EVERYONE in on this fight! I can assure you that there are a lot of gun owners who will NOT comply with a blatantly unconstitutional effort to further strip gun rights. Shouldn’t the tea party be the leaders on this crucial issue? The Roanoke Tea Party thinks so.
And we will be leading during this crucial moment regardless of the spineless position of the federation.
But this isn’t the only constitutional issue that the tea party federation has abdicated on. It also seems they have given up on any defense of the 10th Amendment as well. While the Federation’s legislative agenda has some good issues in it, there is nary a hint of support for the 10th Amendment.
So since the federation is outsourcing 2nd Amendment support, it makes sense to shift your support to groups that actually want to fight for the Constitution. So I would recommend you to join the 10th Amendment Center. Click here to learn more about this group.
Unlike the federation, the Roanoke Tea Party works with groups like VCDL and the 10th Amendment Center to protect your constitutional rights and then will fight with them, side by side, at this critical moment in American history. In fact, I am now the state co-coordinator for the 10th Amendment Center based on our efforts around nullification. We aren’t begging for whatever scraps politicians in Richmond are willing to give us, we want the Constitution to be adhered to and we want it done now!
If you expect the Federal government to wake up tomorrow and start “allowing” the states and the people to exercise the powers they should have , which is everything not in Article 1 Section 8,then you are dreaming. The rights enshrined in the Constitution and the 10th Amendment are the foundation of our governmental system. And they enshrine something even more critical and unique in world history.
They acknowledge that our rights do not derive from government but from our maker. When we start seeing that our Constitution is the center of the fight, we may start having some success in fighting the liberals on a host of issues.
A candidate for the U.S. Senate last year said repeatedly that if we don’t control spending, nothing else matters. While I agree with her whole-heartedly about the spending addiction government has at all levels, this statement doesn’t acknowledge the root cause of the federal spending problem; that most of what the federal government does is outside of its constitutional authority.
Until you acknowledge and fix that issue, you will NEVER resolve the issues in DC. The Constitution was designed to limit government. But every day we see the Federal government breaking out of its well-designed chains, and Federation or GOP leadership is unwilling to take any substantive steps to fight it.
- Congress won’t impeach the President when he violates the Constitution
- The Federation won’t give anything but lip service to the 2nd Amendment or the 10th Amendment
- Virginia only takes halting steps (at best) to stop a Federal government stripping its power away day by day
It all comes down to freedom. Economic freedom being stripped away as government takes more and more of your money, leaving you with fewer options. Your civil freedoms are being stripped away as your rights to bear arms and be secure and private are evaporating before your eyes. All brought about by progressives who believe in a murderous false doctrine that most GOP politicians are afraid to speak out against.
The Roanoke Tea Party is often criticized by others because we refuse to compromise on principles and we refuse to stop talking about the key issues that some find distasteful. Well I have one question for you? Is there any other political group in the state talking about these issues?
We feel our role as guardians of the Constitution is more important now than ever and we need your help today. Join our group. Donate money and help us get the word out. And if you are in a Tea Party in a different part of the Commonwealth…it’s time to start doing something that really matters. Help us get the Tea Party movement back to where it needs to be…
Fighting for the Constitution.
Chip Tarbutton
The VCDL appears to be a defunct org.
They don’t update their website until they get their legislative agenda up and completed for the session. They are quite active and effective…but their web presence is a bit frustrating.
Gotcha. Question. I heard RTP reapplied for membership in the VTPF last month after it’s membership was cancelled. If true why was it cancelled and why did you reapply?
It is true, but I think it was in November when I reached out to their leadership group to discuss getting back in the federation. We were expelled in 2010. I didn’t really reapply as much as started a conversation with them about getting back in. The primary reason I reached out to them was simply to create a bigger united tea party front in the face of the challenges we are all facing. I also did it because I promised a number of our members, I’d try. I also was asked by numerous tea party activists around the state that I met in the course of various efforts that liked what were doing in Roanoke and wanted us to rejoin.
So I decided to at least explore the possibility. There is new leadership and I hoped that perhaps things had changed. The effort quickly failed and I realized it was the same old federation that expelled us in 2010.
They refused to acknowledge that the expulsion was in violation of their own bylaws and they demanded I remove all of the negative articles I had written about the federation. When they refused to point out exactly what parts of the negative articles were not factually based….and refused to back an inch off of their position, it became pretty obvious I was wasting my time.
As for the expulsion in 2010, you can click on a link at the end of the article for a detailed accounting of what happened. In retrospect it is almost comical. It really worked out well for us as we’ve been forced to go it alone…which has made us a much more effective organization.
In retrospect I am also glad they rejected us as we would have had to quit if they had approved this 2nd Amendment nonsense while we were part of the group. It would have been rather unseemly to get back in and quit 2 months later.
Here is the article.
http://www.roanoketeaparty.com/2012/12/the-2nd-amendment-and-the-state-tea-party-federation-part-2-wielding-the-axe-ive-been-grinding/
Thanks for the clarification Chip. Was disappointed to find that the VTPF VTPP and VTPPF are all one in the same. Had hopes one of them was the real deal.
A lot of the groups just don’t know what the federation is about. It is quite sad but maybe this will be a wakeup call. According to the Hampton Roads Tea Party site, it was just sloppy language.