(1) A vote to repeal Obamacare.

(2) A vote to defund Corporate for Public Broadcasting (parent agency of NPR)

In the wake of the 2010 elections, the various gay groups in our nation’s capital, in particular the largest, HRC, can choose to continue as they have and serve as gay versions of the various left-wing advocacy groups or, to shift course and act as non-partisan advocates on behalf of the diverse community of gay and lesbian individuals.  Their current strategy made sense in a Washington where Democrats dominated (as does the partisan strategy of their California counterpart, “Equality California”).

And, to be sure, if you believe big-government to be the means to “solve” the problems facing the gay community, it is entirely honorable to set up shop as a left-wing advocacy group.  The important thing is to be upfront about it.

That said, it’s hard to see how a man of Joe Solmonese’s political pedigree can have any influence in a Washington where John Boehner is now the most powerful legislator.  An ability in the current climate to appeal to Democrats will not help move legislation repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT) or recognizing, for the purposes of federal law, same-sex unions.

This is why I’m so gung-ho about GOProud.  They are familiar with the arguments we need make in order to influence a more conservative Congress.

All that said, the 2010 elections should be a wake-up call to the gay groups inside the Beltway that their strategic alliance with the Democratic Party has failed.  It is hard to tell what the future is.  Some Republicans may be willing to move forward on gay issues.  Others may find that by avoiding such issues, they can toss a bone to social conservatives.

Whatever the case, gay groups will have to adopt a new strategy or become gay cheerleaders for the Democratic agenda.  Steadfast, to be sure, in pursuit of their principles, but ineffective in achieving legislative success.

A promo video for Steven Malanga’s book Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer which gets one of the biggest problem facing state governments.

Do wonder about the paucity of news media coverage on the influence of public employee unions on elections, particularly at the state level.

From Glenn Reynolds: Liberal Columnist Urges “Violence” And “Revolution.”

NB:  Tweaked the title.

Log Cabin still doesn’t get it.  In an e-mail sent out last week (full text below the jump), they attempt a new kind of fusion, welding core Republican principles to the gay organization’s elusive quest for equality.  Not once in their e-mail do they mention the animating ahead behind GOP victories in 2010 (and 1994 and 1980 & 1984 as well as 1860 & 1864):  liberty.   Heck, they even call their 501 (c)(3) the Liberty Education Forum.

Well, Chris Barron of GOProud does now how to talk Republican and is unafraid to discuss gay issues in a manner not pre-approved by HRC, NGLTF and Barney Frank.  And it was GOProud who promoted the stat that 31% of gay people voted Republican last week.

Unlike Log Cabin in 1995, they didn’t wait until six months after the House approved the Contract with America to endorse the party’s reforming agenda.  While they have not endorsed the GOP’s “Pledge to America,” they have made clear (as Chris did on CNN), that they support its underlying principles.

I would argue that because ideas similar to those in that pledge defined the GOP’s fall campaign, the party did so well, well, did so well east of the California Coastal Ranges.  The party, by and large, ignored gay issues and captured a majority of the popular vote — not to mention one-third of the gay vote.

Because GOProud’s Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia know how to talk Republican — and have done so in public fora — they should find doors in Republican offices opening more readily to them.  If the leaders of HRC and NGLTF want access to the offices of the majority leaders on the House side of the Capitol, they’d do well to learn how to talk to Chris and Jimmy. (more…)

One reason I was dumbfounded a majority of my fellow Californians could vote to elect Jerry Brown governor, twenty-eight years after overwhelmingly rejecting his Senate bid (at the close of his last tenure as the state’s chief executive).  He was quite eccentric when first he led the (then-)Golden State.  He didn’t earn the nickname Moonbeam for nothing.

But, he didn’t earn the sobriquet for being a team-player either.  As he told the New York Times, “Moonbeam also stands for not being the insider. . . . But standing apart and marching to my own drummer. And I’ve done that.”  Boy has he.

As our reader Bryan, drawing on his own memories, reminds us even though Brown faced a Democratic legislature in the 1970s, the Democrat did not rubber stamp their bills:  he “vetoed the state employees’ request for increased wages and benefits in his second term, and, when the Legislature approved and sent it back to him, he vetoed the bill again.”  Maybe he’ll show a similar resistance to the eagerness of the legislature to hike state employees’ wages this time around.

The last thing we need now is a governor who marches in a lock-step with an unpopular legislature beholden to public employee unions.

Jerry Brown has shown a certain independence in the past, a willingness to part company with the ideology of his party when it served the interest of the state he governed in the 1970s and the city he helmed (Oakland) in the 2000s.  That said, he didn’t really show much independence from his party’s ideology on the campaign trail this fall.

Perhaps, he’ll show his independence when he returns to office in January.

We can only hope.