Pirate's Cove

Apparently, there was a little kerfuffle yesterday regarding GOProud, a new Conservative homosexual group, being a sponsor of CPAC. Some social Conservatives, led by anti-gay Matt Barber and the Liberty Counsel, want them excluded, or they will boycott CPAC. As Gabriel Malor writes, let them! CPAC responded

CPAC is a coalition of nearly 100 conservative groups, some of which may disagree with one another on a handful of issues. But, at the end of the day, we all agree on core conservative principles. As you may know, GOProud was founded by a former member of the Log Cabin Republicans who left the group because he thought they were doing a disservice to their constituency by not adhering to conservative and Republican principles. GOProud’s website states “GOProud is committed to a traditional conservative agenda that emphasizes limited government, individual liberty, free markets and a confident foreign policy. GOProud promotes our traditional conservative agenda by influencing politics and policy at the federal level.”

After talking with their leadership and reviewing their website, I am satisfied that they do not represent a “radical leftist agenda,” as some have stated, and should not be rejected as a CPAC cosponsor.

Gabriel points out that GOProud’s legislative priorities look pretty darned Conservative. I’d have to agree.

The question is, what, exactly, is the American Conservative agenda? I’ve discussed in the past, and what it comes down to are a few basic issues, when we use the Democracy list

• Government stays out of our economic affairs as much as possible (Economic Core)
• Government stays out of our personal affairs as much as possible (Moral Core)
• Government provides open politics (Political Core)

Boiled down, that is known as Classical Liberalism, which became known as neo-Conservatism in the USA, then Conservatism. What we practice here in the States is vastly different from the way European Conservatives practice.

After those three biggies, there are more specific issues, such as limited and small government, limited taxation, a strong national defense, and State’s Rights, along with a few others, one of which is individual liberty. Essentially, if it doesn’t harm someone else, why should I care? Yes, some folks have issues with gays and lesbians. They are entitled to their opinion, whether it is based on religion, or hate, or whatever. But, this is America, the land of the free, or, at least, it is supposed to be. If people want to be gay, let them!

Social Conservatives, in my mind, lean a little bit too much to the Classical Conservative model, which is based on the government getting involved heavily in the Moral Core (individual rights). The other part of the Conservative Model is the government heavily limiting the franchise, which the Social Cons are not pushing. All these Social Con agenda points are more niche points, subsections of what American Conservatives believe.

Bryan Fischer is director of issue analysis for the American Family Association and host of the radio program Focal Point with Bryan Fischer. He says CPAC chairman David Keene and CPAC organizers have a serious problem on their hands.

“The bottom line is that homosexuality is not a conservative value,” Fischer states emphatically. “There are any number of co-sponsoring organizations that I believe are going to have a real problem with the fact that they are giving such a prominent place to an organization which is such an active proponent of gay rights.”

Why? Why is it “not a conservative value?” Being gay or straight have nothing to do with the base beliefs of American Conservatism. Freedom is. One doesn’t have to approve of being gay. One doesn’t have to like guns to be a Conservative, either. One does have to believe in Freedom of the Individual, though, to be a conservative.

I don’t agree with GOProud’s views on gay marriage and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (though I do believe in expanding access to domestic partner benefits, as befitting a free society), but, I see no reason to boycott CPAC for including them. Conservatism is not supposed to be a religious movement. It’s a governance movement. We don’t all agree on everything. I know Conservatives who could care less about illegal aliens and amnesty. I know ones who believe in AGW. Do we really want to drive gays, who mostly have the same basic beliefs about government as we do, to vote for Democrats simply because we may disagree with someone’s lifestyle choices?

As B. Daniel Blatt at Gay Patriot writes: Reminds me of something attributed to the Gipper, “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.”

And, yes, I do have Gay Patriot on my feedreader, and have for a long time. Opinions matter to me, not sexual orientation.