DontGo (also commonly spelled in numerous other ways such as Don't Go, DontGO, and Don'tGO) is a free market political activist non-profit group founded by American conservative Patrick Ruffini, who had previously created the blog The Next Right, and libertarian Eric Odom, an internet marketer living in Chicago, Illinois. [1]
The group started during the August 2008 offshore oil drilling debate in the House of Representatives, their members strongly favored further drilling and supported the Republican revolt on the issue. Founders Odom and Ruffini intended for their website to work as a clearinghouse of information for the Republicans. [1] [2]
Critics of the group accused it of taking contributions from oil companies. Eric Odom strongly disputes the charges, saying that he's "still waiting on those magical checks". [3]
Eric Odom has stated that "Our agenda is to declare war on incumbency and long term power. [2] The group's mission statement on its website labels it "for anyone who supports free markets, low-taxes, low-regulation and personal freedoms." [4] Three national conservative groups, DontGo, FreedomWorks, and Americans for Prosperity led the tea party movement in April, 2009, according to The Atlantic magazine, which referred to DontGo as a "tech savvy" "online rapid response team". [2]
The group is instrumental in co-coordinating the Nationwide Chicago Tea Party, which led to the Tax Day Tea Party protests. It claims to have worked with 700 separate demonstrations. Odom, a Bob Barr supporter with libertarian leanings, opposes too much Republican involvement with their protests. Notably, he turned down a request from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to speak at the group's Chicago protest. [2] After the snub, the Republican National Committee released a statement saying that "They're just having a little fun." [5]
Ronald Ernest Paul is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well as for Texas's 14th congressional district from 1997 to 2013. On three occasions, he sought the presidency of the United States: as the Libertarian Party nominee in 1988 and as a candidate for the Republican Party in 2008 and 2012.
Grover Glenn Norquist is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge signed by lawmakers who agree to oppose increases in marginal income tax rates for individuals and businesses, and net reductions or eliminations of deductions and credits without a matching reduced tax rate. Prior to the November 2012 election, the pledge was signed by 95% of all Republican members of Congress and all but one of the candidates running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Michael Stephen Steele is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator who served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007 and as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2009 until 2011; he was the first African-American to hold either office.
In American politics, a Libertarian Republican is a politician or Republican Party member who has advocated libertarian policies while typically voting for and being involved with the Republican Party.
The Republican Party in the United States includes several factions, or wings. During the 19th century, Republican factions included the Half-Breeds, who supported civil service reform; the Radical Republicans, who advocated the immediate and total abolition of slavery, and later advocated civil rights for freed slaves during the Reconstruction era; and the Stalwarts, who supported machine politics.
FreedomWorks was a conservative and libertarian advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. FreedomWorks trained volunteers and assisted in campaigns. It was widely associated with the Tea Party movement. The Koch brothers were once a source of the organization's funding. FreedomWorks shut down in May 2024.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States affiliated with brothers Charles Koch and the late David Koch. As the Koch family's primary political advocacy group, it has been viewed as one of the most influential American conservative organizations.
Let Freedom Ring, Inc. is an American conservative advocacy organization.
The Tea Party protests were a series of protests throughout the United States that began in early 2009. The protests were part of the larger political Tea Party movement. Most Tea Party activities have since been focused on opposing efforts of the Obama administration, and on recruiting, nominating, and supporting candidates for state and national elections. The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, whose principal aim was to protest taxation without representation. Tea Party protests evoked images, slogans and themes from the American Revolution, such as tri-corner hats and yellow Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flags. The letters T-E-A have been used by some protesters to form the backronym "Taxed Enough Already".
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. The movement formed in opposition to the policies of Democratic President Barack Obama and was a major factor in the 2010 wave election in which Republicans gained 63 House seats and took control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Taxpayer March on Washington was a Tea Party protest march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol held on September 12, 2009, in Washington, D.C. The event coincided with similar protests organized in various cities across the nation. The protesters rallied against what they consider big government, the dismantling of free market capitalism, abortion, and President Barack Obama's proposals on health care reform, taxation, and federal spending, among other issues.
The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candidates running for state and federal offices. It was founded as a project of the political action committee Our Country Deserves Better PAC by Republican party members Howard Kaloogian and Sal Russo.
Patrick Ruffini is a Republican Party pollster and political strategist in the United States. He founded Engage, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based political media firm, and now runs the political research and intelligence firm, Echelon Insights.
William Joseph Walsh is an American politician, talk radio host, former social worker, and former 2020 Republican presidential candidate who served one term in the United States House of Representatives representing Illinois's 8th congressional district.
The Tea Party Caucus (TPC) was a congressional caucus of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives, consisting of its most conservative members. It was founded in July 2010 by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in coordination with the Tea Party movement the year following the movement's 2009 creation. Bachmann served as the Caucus's first chair.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 6, 2012, alongside the 2012 United States presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Charles G. and David H. Koch (1940–2019), sometimes referred to as the Koch brothers, have become famous for their financial and political influence in United States politics with a libertarian, more specifically, right-libertarian or American-style libertarian political stance. From around 2004 to 2019, with "foresight and perseverance", the brothers organized like-minded wealthy libertarian-oriented conservatives, spent hundreds of millions of dollars of their own money to build an "integrated" and "stealth" network of think tanks, foundations, "grassroots" movements, academic programs, advocacy and legal groups to "destroy the prevalent statist paradigm" and reshape public opinion to favor minimal government. As of mid 2018, the media has been encouraged to refer to the "Koch network" rather than the "Koch brothers".
This timeline of modern American conservatism lists important events, developments and occurrences that have affected conservatism in the United States. With the decline of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party after 1960, the movement is most closely associated with the Republican Party (GOP). Economic conservatives favor less government regulation, lower taxes and weaker labor unions while social conservatives focus on moral issues and neoconservatives focus on democracy worldwide. Conservatives generally distrust the United Nations and Europe and apart from the libertarian wing favor a strong military and give enthusiastic support to Israel.
Amy Kremer is an American political activist known for her roles in the Tea Party movement and as a supporter of Donald Trump. She became involved in the Tea Party movement in 2009 and campaigned as part of the Tea Party Express until 2014. During the 2016 presidential election she was a co-founder of two political action committees supporting Trump's campaign, and following Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election she supported attempts to overturn the election result. In 2017 she unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district as a Republican.
The Tea Party movement, founded in 2009, is an American political movement that advocates strict adherence to the United States Constitution, reducing U.S. government spending and taxes, and reduction of the U.S. national debt and federal budget deficit.