Virginia Tea Party Convention Part 2

I have made my way back from Richmond and I am feeling very energized by the two day convention.  It was a great deal of fun to have such a amazing conference so close to election day to keep all of us so energized.  Not that we are not already, but these two days gave us some very practical advice.

One of the breakout sessions was about conservatism in the black community.  One of the speakers is very involved in the Richmond Tea Party and has come into her own about her belief system in the conservative movement.  She and three others did an amazing job explaining to the people who may be a little frustrated about how we do outreach to a community that has many ties to conservatism, but just may not be aware of what we stand for.  One of the examples that really hit home for me was the use of Hollywood generally and how Tyler Perry is considered an outsider in the Hollywood community.  One of the reasons is that Perry shows the black family as it really exists; they pray and are very involved in the churches in their communities. 

This is something that I was only aware of in a more peripheral sense, but they really made that hit home for me.  Now, I don't what Perry's politics are; he may very well be more liberal leaning, but the point was that it shows the social conservatism that exists within the families in the black community.  This is the way that the tea party can make inroads into the community to get our message out to them.  A perfect example of what I am talking about is the band that played for the convention party.  I flat asked the band members if we "tea party" people were what they expected.  One of the singers told me no, and he honestly didn't expect to see us up and dancing.  He had heard the constant left leaning meme that we are old white people.  They saw for themselves that we are just people and we, like everyone else, likes to unwind and have a good time at a party.  The band was very talented and did a great deal of 70's funk music and it was a great time. We let our hair down and danced the night away. 

Another great part of the convention was the forum that we had with Sen. Rick Santorum. , Sen. George Allen (you may remember him; he made the Maccaca comment and lost his senate seat), Congressman Steve King, and Virginia's Tea Party Rock star AG Ken Cuccinelli.  Cuccinelli has labeled himself a "tea party groupie", he understands that the many in the tea party don't want to align themselves to closely to politicians.  So he doesn't consider himself a member, he just loves us as much as we love him.  If you are unaware, Cuccinelli was the first one to file suit against Obamacare.  Virginia has the advantage of a law in place that the mandate to purchase health care is illegal in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  He gave us the update on the suit; all the filings are complete and arguments will be happening next month.  This is certain to get to the supreme court and he does believe that it is fast-tracked as there is no testimony needed. 

I am in need of a good night sleep so I will give the final round up tomorrow along with the videos I made.