Posted on 09/06/2002 8:17:16 AM PDT by BADJOE
History teaches some very good lessons. They are hard to learn but our forefathers did a great job.
From the beginning of time man has overthrown one form of centralized government only to re-establish another one in its place. Our forefathers understood this far better than anyone ever had. They said governments are the eternal enemy of free men. They said that in order for man to remain free it would take a bloody revolution every other generation, unless you bound down (bastard) government with the chains of the constitution.
On another site this week a poster asked if anyone else hated government as much as he did. I replied to him
"Hell !! I thought you were not a good American if you didn't love our country and hate our government.
At least that is how I have always felt about it"
I think our forefathers had the same attitude that I have now. And I think it is inherent in the average Americans attitude to distrust and have disdain for any government, including ours. One of the hardest conclusions I had to arrive at as a young man, after having been a product of the public school system, was that our government was not on our side. As James Forrestahl, former secretary of the Navy, who suffered a mysterious death, once said about our State Department's foreign policy, " Stupidity is never a mark of consistancy. If they were merely stupid, they would occasionally make a mistake in our favor".
Newt Gringrich put it in a humourous manner when talking about the attitude of Europeans. He related the following story. If you go to Europe and drive on the Autobahn, you feel pretty good cruising down the highway at 100 mph when some some German passes you doing 140 mph. Now he said if the Bundestag passed the 55mph speed limit law, every German would dutifully obey that law, untill the next election. They would vote the 55 mph crowd out of office and the no speed limit crowd in. In America Newt said "A speed limit sign is a benchmark of opportunity.
It is obvious that Yankees and Euros have entirely different attitudes about government's edicts. There are darn few Americans who do not break the speed limit laws everyday.
Now we come to the Free Republic. Once a free wheeling, joyful site for news and discussion of politics, economics, philosophy, ethics and morals. I could not understand the transformation that has taken place in the last six months. Camaraderie, the sense of family, and cooperation seems to have disappeared. Are the Freepers exhibiting the same disdain for the new FR as Americans have for our government?
We have a winnah!
Congrats on 1500.
Shhhhh !!! If the other Bushbots find out, they'll all have their hands out. I think it's exclusively for the clique.
ROFLMAO!
I'm Still a Happy Freeper.
10. Ten Ann Coulter threads a day are not too much!
9. I love viewing FR through a spray of coffee on my screen.
8. I'm being paid to waste time at work!
7. I sing kareoke to Doug_From_Uplands songs at the neighborhood liberal bar.
6. I have a sinus infection and the regular irrigation I get from reading FR while drinking keeps it under control.
5. FR is James Bond and I'm his gal and in liberal bashing "Nobody Does It Better".
4. I love reading duplicate threads, just in case anyone posts an Ann Coulter or Anna Kornikova picture.
3. I get enough anti-global warming ammunition to leave my Green Peace friends gasping like whales impaled on a old growth redwood during a brush fire. The water for fire fighting is, of course, used to breed snail darters.
2. The day isn't really complete for me unless I've read 200-300 posts on predestination or Creation vs Evolution.
And the number one reason I'm still a happy Freeper:
1. Two words . . .
Thanks pard,
willide
The sad part about it is that kids have an excuse. :*)
..and some of the 'camps' disgust me...but overall it's a pretty nice place to 'argue'..(tho' some couldn't argue a point if their life depended on it...they just turn it into a 'slam fest')
But I have met lots of really good people from here...at Jarbidge...at Klamath Falls...etc.
It's worth the time.....
redrock
very, very funny stuff!
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