As an evangelical who works closely with the tea party movement, I feel the need to comment on today’s Politico article, Tea Parties Stir Evangelicals’ Fears. First of all, I’m not afraid of the tea party movement. In fact, I embrace most of them (save those with crazy conspiracy theories) because I feel that if the movement becomes long term and sustainable, it can bring about great change in this country.

There’s no other way to say this except I feel that a certain amount of ignorance was displayed by some quoted in the article, but again, I blame that more on limited interaction with tea partiers. Many of the tea partiers are religious. Many of them are socially conservative and very much pro-life and for traditional marriage, but the tea partiers cannot be neatly packaged into a little box: they are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Liberterians. Many are pro-life, but some are pro-choice. Many are for traditional marriage. Some aren’t. Some are a little like “crazy uncles” and I’ve told them as much. But the one central point of agreement for all involved: limited government. They to a person will agree that government has gone well beyond its proper limits. I know this because American Majority did 151 trainings in 26 different states last year and interacted with thousands of them and I’m always fascinated to hear their concerns and why they are involved. I also have the privilege of interacting with hundreds of local tea party leaders and 9.12 leaders, many of whom would agree with the sentiments I just expressed.

People ask me, who makes no bones about how I feel on being very pro-life and very much for traditional marriage, why American Majority leads and is focused purely on the ideas of free enterprise, limited government, and individual freedom. I’ll tell you why: because I believe that the most important freedom is not religious or political. It is economic. If you don’t have economic freedom, you are a ward of the state. As a ward of the state, you are neither religiously or politically free. If America continues down the path of statism, which I fear we are on, we will cease to be a free people. The fight right now is to stop the onslaught of statism and return government back to its proper role. That’s what the tea party movement is about, and that’s why evangelicals should embrace them because many times they are embracing fellow evangelicals and embracing allies in the fight to push back an ever invasive government that will eventually, if unchecked, destroy life and marriage.