2010-05-15
My 'Interests' Don't Belong To Groups
Sorry, you've got another long post to read.
One of the leaders of a TEA Party group I've spoken for on two occasions has, without using my name, accused me of not having the best interests of her group in mind when I spoke for them. Most people who follow this site probably know who I'm talking about. But because she was kind enough not to use my name, I won't use the name of the half-crazed accuser. However, I want to take a moment to (again) restate my true interests are in light of this attack.
The interests I have at heart and in mind are not, and never have been, defined by a group. Groups are what they are, mere social constructs that people with similar needs, desires, or other common attribute naturally gravitate towards in order to feel as though they are "not alone" and often times trying to bring about social, economic, or political change; change that best suits the needs of that group. Serving only the interests of the group, as was expected of me by this woman, has horrific consequences. Serving the group is what has led to such social evils as racism and bigotry and political evils including Nazism and Communism.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't belong to groups. As I said, it's human nature to come together into groups. After all, I'm a Republican and the Republican Party is a group. I was in the Air Force and the US Military is a group. Heck, if you consider yourself an American, countries and states are formalized, internationally recognized groups. However, because we belong to groups doesn't mean that we serve the interests of any one of these groups before all else.
Most of you know that I've fought the Republican Party when its leaders supported rapid government expansion, amnesty, and RINO candidates like Arlen Specter and Charlie Crist... neither of which are Republicans now. Likewise, I'm a proud American; but I don't approve of the path our government has led us down, even though they've led us down it (more often than not) constitutionally. When Governor Mike Huckabee went to Israel to behave like the Dixie Chicks and, as an encore, argue for the genocide of Palestinian Christians and Muslims; I spoke up right away despite the fact that I was one of the HuckPAC Volunteer Coordinators for my state.
My loyalty is to God and, because God is all-knowing and the Creator of all things, my first and most sacred interest is the pursuit of truth, because that is the pursuit of God. Along the way, I hope to make the world a better place by using and sharing what I've learned and realized. Granted, I'm not God and thus fallible, so I'm going to make mistakes. When I do, I typically come out and admit them because not doing so would be the same as having spread untruths.
I originally spoke at this woman's request because I believed in the cause of the group. That if we could make a difference, it would be a positive difference for the millions of people affected. When the group began making poor decisions and acting foolishly, I felt the need to defend the cause and speak to the truth as I saw (and continue to see) it.
I'm by no means shocked that the leader and some of the most extremist radicals in the group are now attacking me. It's really nothing new. Because the group is where they have found safety, their first response to someone criticizing their group is to eliminate and marginalize the threat. That's nothing new for me. First some folks loyal to the Republican Establishment came after me for opposing the NRSC and John McCain... then they realized I was right. Then the loyal Huckabee fanatics attacked me for speaking out against Huckabee and HuckPAC... then they realized I stood on the issues now the same as where I stood on the issues during the 2007/2008 campaign and we're generally on good terms again.
I fully expect the same to happen here. Granted, I've been told that there are still folks at the NRSC (including Senator Cornyn) who know my name and have me on their list. Granted, I didn't get a Christmas card from the Huckabee family last year. But these are the people who own, operate, and control the groups and their members. They are the ones loyal to the group before the cause. The members, generally, recognize that the cause is more important than the group. So while the leader of this TEA Party group and the libertarians brainwashing her are going to continue spreading lies and insults about me, I have every reason to expect the vast majority of its membership that knows who I am to realize that the leaders of this group are serving themselves and not the cause; and that I'm still a supporter of the cause. Only, a supporter who rejects 9/11 conspiracy theories and idiotic, unprofessional, embarrassing, and even illegal tactics.
PUBLIC SPEECHES IN THE WORKS THIS SUMMER:
I have several speaking requests over the next few months from across the country. Usually, I'd begin advertising the ones I'm confirmed for now, but I was upfront with the organizers and talent recruits about the feuds I'm having with nut jobs and, in order to prevent these kooks from SPAMing the organizers (similar to how they try to SPAM the comments sections of blogs), we agreed it would be best to hold off the announcements until one or two days before the event.
What's really sad is that the nutty leaders in this group would be so quick to waste their time attacking me and waste the organizers of other groups' time by SPAMing their inboxes than actually support the cause they say they believe in. When I criticized this group's tactics and behavior, nonsense like this is included. Their obsession with attacking others and myself have made the group so pathetically ineffective and so insanely undesirable to be a part of.
States I'll be speaking in include Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Tennessee for sure. I'm also going to try to make it to Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota (possibly even Minnesota if the timing works out). I've had to turn down both invites from Illinois due to schedule conflicts, and there's a pending invitation in Georgia for a non-TEA Party group that I have a tremendous amount of respect for. A post about this group is actually in the works, I'm just waiting for the right time to publish it. The date is still pending, so I don't know if I'll be able to head down there or not.
