Well, if you are a Tea Partier, the next scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill won’t happen in the athletic department. It will happen in the race for student body president. A gay, undocumented Latino student is running for the office.
Think about it. The University is already a socialist institution, run by a bunch of pointy-headed academic types who teach heresies like evolution and offer classes on Marxism. Now, a queer foreign illegal wants to take over the school and the whole thing’s written up in that socialist propaganda rag, The New York Times. There’s a dangerous conspiracy in there somewhere.
Emilio Vincente grew up in Siler City after coming to this country from Guatemala with his mother when he was only six years old. He did well in school, stayed out of trouble and got a full scholarship to attend UNC-CH. Now, he’s running for student body president.
His life has not been easy. His parents returned to Guatemala after his father had an accident that left him paralyzed. He’s the epitome of someone who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps and worked hard to better himself and his condition.
Real patriots should be celebrating him. If anybody embodies the spirit of the people who settled and made this country great, it’s Emilio. He’s beat the odds through hard work and determination.
But for Tea Partiers, his candidacy inflames all of their most paranoid fantasies. Brown-skinned foreigners are invading our country, sucking up all our tax-dollars and the gays are taking over the nation. I fully expect an army of tricorne hats to descend on the University to canvas for a “real American”–you know, somebody who is white and straight and whose family has been here since the Ark landed at Plymouth Rock.
For my part, I say “Go, Emilio, go!” I’m pulling for him. I don’t care if he wins the race, I just want to see him succeed in the Land of Opportunity.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
I thank everyone for reading and commenting. I hope you all come back to read and comment some more.
Who cares about this? It is UNC, you know.
It’s seems the author misunderstands the term “patriot”. He should check a dictionary. This may be a clue to why is confused on other issues as well.
Regarding bigotry, the teabaggers doth protest too much, methinks…
All this nonsense about the Tea Party – who know that one thing is certain – the University system is heading full speed for an implosion. The willingness of people to go into debt to be subjected to Marxist tripe (the “heresy” you refer to, revealingly) and emerging unemployable – that will not continue.
The real story his is that apparently the job of the student body president is to support the administration’s malevolent attack on an honest, non-political, academic researcher examining student athletes’ academic progress. Since the kid is apparently a leftist, (if he was a tea partier, you’d throw him overboard in a second) it oughta work out just fine – the ones who used to “reject authority” submit to liberal university administrations like little lambs.
This is representative of scholarship at UNC-CH? Time for a course in persuasive writing.
Wow if all of these tea party members really feel this way they better get new spokesmen to get their opinions represented.
Ellen, I do believe the ‘spokesmen’ you have been listening to are either Republican extremists or Democrat extremists talking crap ‘about’ us. Granted, every party has a few nutcase flakes: Dems have Sharpton and Pelosi, Repubs have Boehner and Grimm, Libertarians had Ron Paul for years, we have Beck. There are probably a few sound bites floating around from fringe elements and if your only source is NPR or MSM you have probably heard them ad-nauseam. I would like to encourage you to attend a tea party event, listen to the real spokesmen, and then judge for yourself; I think you may find you have more in common with the participants present than you currently realize. In the meantime, more accurate, less biased opinions are represented in outlets such as http://www.drudgereport.com/ and http://pjmedia.com/.
Ellen, stop watching MSNBC. The representatives you speak of are chosen by left-wing extremists, NOT the tea-party.
You’re right, clearly the tea party has no issues with gay people or their civil rights.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gay-tea-party-founder-if-we-redefine-marriage-we-re-going-redefine-children
http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Tea_Party_Civil_Rights.htm
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/virginia-politics/gop-s-gilbert-tea-party-criticize-herring-s-gay-marriage/article_49dda710-83fc-5fe5-8293-005191ed3c0f.html
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/tea-party-leader-gay-marriage-is-a-full-fledged-assault-on-liberty-and-freedom/politics/2013/12/17/80412#.Uuln5vlMX0Q
http://www.teaparty911.com/blog/a-national-mission-for-the-tea-party-movement/
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/07/tea-party-hero-ben-carson-marriage-equality-jeopardizes-everything-else-in-the-bible/
So, let’s see you are saying that all tea party members “have a problem” with gay people and their “civil rights” based on the following:
A gay tea party guy is opposed to gay marriage. Soooo, I guess you think he is a homophobe who wants his own “civil rights” taken away?
Ben Carson makes a statement against gay marriage because he is a very religious man and he believes that it will negate the rest of the bible. Since when is Ben Carson the tea party?
Judson Phillips who sees religious freedom under attack because gay activists will soon insist that religious organizations will have to perform same sex marriages.
One blogger suggesting to make a national campaign for a federal marriage definition.
Some guy who thinks an AG of a state should defend laws that people in the state voted on.
The best link you gave was http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Tea_Party_Civil_Rights.htm which I don’t really think you read much beyond the titles. It says:
Although the Tea Party includes a significant portion of libertarians who think differently, Tea Partiers are more likely than Americans in general to oppose legal recognition of gay marriage or civil unions. About 2/3 of all Americans favor one or another of those forms of recognition, but less than half of Tea Party supporters do–and 40% of them advocate “no legal recognition” of any kind.
The last line sums it up. Most tea party people think that government should not be in the business of deciding whether or not people can get married.
As with most of the issues that have become so politicized today, there is so much more to the issue, but it gets painted as “if you don’t believe as we do, you are a [fill in blank with racist, bigot…]. Tea partiers believe in the constitution and in the constitution, the bill of rights spells out the “civil rights” that Americans should all be allowed. Marriage is not on that list. Anything that takes away one person’s right to grant something for another person is not an inalienable right. So, for instance, free healthcare is not a right because a doctor has to provide the service and that takes away the right of the doctor if he doesn’t want to give his services away for free. That is also why marriage is not a right. When someone’s religious beliefs are that marrying two men is a sin and that person is forced to in some way endorse that marriage, that takes away the freedom of that individual.
And a lot of Muslims, in the name of their faith, have carried out terrorist acts.
Yet, I somehow doubt that you would paint all Muslims as terrorists, or would you?
Again, hypocrisy of the left.
‘ “real American”–you know, somebody who is white and straight and whose family has been here since the Ark landed at Plymouth Rock’ that is the best line I have seen in a long time! Thank you for profiling this hard-working young man! If he wins this race or not, he has already shown that he is a true American success story!! Bravo!
Tea Party Patriot here: We are about less law, less regulation, lower taxes, accountability for monies spent by government, and state’s rights. Neither myself, nor any of the folks I know from the party, care about sexual orientation, race or religion. We are concerned with economic and business principles. This article is the first I’ve heard of this young man, however if he’s a hard worker then he may well be a closet Tea Party Independent!
I would like to invite Mr. Mills to attend one of our events with an open mind, disregarding any lies he has heard about us. His bio indicates he was a social worker at one time – he should understand the ethical irresponsibility of gross generalizations. He does not speak for me.
Agreed, 100%. Well said.
And your definition of “racist” is anybody who opposes progressive policies I would wager.
This article succinctly points out the hypocrisy of the left: they are open-minded and non-judgmental when it comes to sexuality, race, or immigration, but when it comes to fellow Americans with opposing political views, they are as hateful as it gets.
In fact, there is no substance to this article, whatsoever. It is just an excuse for Thomas Mills to parade his perception of the Tea Party, namely, a bunch of racists, non-whites, Christians, who are completely opposed to progress unless it is done by someone like them. How idiotic.
Why don’t you let the tea-partiers speak for themselves? I am a proud Republican and I couldn’t care less about this guys sexual orientation, skin color, socioeconomic background, or anything else that doesn’t have to do with his ability to hold his desired position in office. I would be first in line to vote for him, if I felt that he’d get the job done.
There are so many problems with people like you that I have no idea where to begin. Are you voting for him because you think he can do a good job? Or because a vote for him is a way to stick it to people you stereotype and hate? If it’s the former, then why waste our time telling us how you think someone else will react, instead of telling us why he’s the best candidate for the position?
If it’s the latter, then you’re absolutely no different from these tea-partiers, who vote based on gender, race, religion, etc, rather than merit/experience.
I am a tea partier. I do not “vote based on gender, race, religion, etc” and neither do any other tea party independents. Where did you hear this blatant lie?
Janice, I think you missed my point – I was alluding to John Mills’ perception of Tea Partiers, not my own.
Well said. Just another slam the tea party propaganda article attempting to paint small government advocates as racist homophobes. The views of tea partiers on social issues is actually a very wide range. The issues that make them tea party supporters are fiscal and freedom related, not social.
As for immigration, every tea partier that I know loves immigrants who go through the process legally. Those who oppose amnesty for people who have broken our laws, do so for valid reasons of national security, economic stability and the rule of law. You wouldn’t leave your house unlocked and let anyone and everyone come live with you. While some of those people may move in because they are escaping a bad situation and want to pursue a better life, there will always be some who come to steal from you and take advantage of you and potentially hurt you physically. On top of that, those people cost you money as you feed them and allow them to participate in all household activities. Finally, they demand to be declared a legal member of your family with all the benefits that are associated with that.
I think it depends on whether Emilio honors adherance to the US Constitution, but I guess he does not, right? I personally don’t care if he gets elected or not, but TEA folks are MUCH more mainstream than you UNC skulls of mush may realize …just sayin…oh, and strive to be smarter than any criminal democrackkk wants you to BE !
Unaffiliated? Suuure you are! Your #GOP #TP hate gives you away!
remember ‘BJ’.. INtolerance is a leftwing principle…
You must be kidding.