Posted on 03/27/2018 1:00:28 PM PDT by The Citizen Soldier
My journey with Free Republic began in late 1998. It was near the end of the Clinton Presidency, and there seemed to be a new wave of hope and a sense of renewed patriotism as we gathered to defeat Al Gore and elect George W. Bush. But, on the whole, we lacked a platform, a vehicle, whereby we could gather together and speak with a common voice.
Jim Robinson provided that platform, utterly unique at the time, a place for conservative voices to sing out, to proclaim their views, to unite, and to encourage one another that we were not battling alone.
I would meet FRiends when I traveled to Washington D.C. in January 2001 to attend the inauguration of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States. I’ll never forget the joy and the celebration of that day; a new day, a new hope, a new opportunity.
Along the way I lost my Free Republic password, and there was no way to recover it. And so I started anew as The Citizen Soldier on November 26, 2002. Over the past twenty years, Free Republic has been my go to site to confirm conservative stories, to read thoughtful and insightful conservative comment, and generally “lurk.” Actually, evidenced by my relatively few posts over the years, I would categorize myself as a life-time lurker at Free Republic.
In 2016, in the run-up to the election of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States, I began to detect the seeds of dissension and disharmony at Free Republic, ala the “Never Trump” crowd that emerged. Less and less, I frequented the site because it seemed that every thread was a mini-battle, not with liberals and socialists—I would have welcomed that—but with ourselves; conservatives and libertarians taking off the gloves, continually entering the battle royal.
Oh, I participated now and then, but I tired of fighting our own side, and found new online homes where I could find more consistent support for our new President. Through it all, Free Republic has remained bookmarked and like a magnet it has continually drawn me back. I lurk again and again. But lately it has all become too much. Every move our President makes is scrutinized and criticized, often with the reminder, “I’ve always been a never-Trumper,” either voiced or implied. The thought of a Hillary Clinton Presidency, and the CERTAIN destruction of our great nation that would have brought, makes me cringe to this day, now into the second year of the Donald Trump's Presidency. But I feel like a voice in the wilderness, as the criticism of Donald Trump and his administration escalates week by week.
I’m not leaving. I’m 70 years old now, and I’ve moved from California to Arizona to enjoy the “sunshine years” of my life. Recently my 46 year-old son visited and before he left he said, “Dad, please don’t ever stop fighting.” And I won’t. But, my dear FRiends, Free Republic must recapture the spirit of independence and conservatism.
As a Christian, I end my comments with a paraphrase from Bob George’s, “Classic Christianity.”
“The answer is not simply calling someone wrong or proving yourself right. The real issue is what answer can we give to those who desperately need to hear the message of conservatism?”
As an evangelical Christian I know that God holds up our government leaders as cards that we are being dealt in a dark broken world.
I also know it is more effective against the enemy to fight at the front of the battle than it is to snipe from the rear where you could wound those fighting on the front.
At the rear of the battle is where the future battle plans are made.
There is nothing wrong with disagreements and forming consensus there, but at the front, we need to be united.
Will the United Stated of America still be funding Planned Parenthood after President Trump’s Administration?
I’ve had Libertarians tell me borders are stupid and they hate defense spending. Many of them.
Welcome to Arizona (from a fellow California escapee)!
Libertarians have a problem with just about all federal spending, which is why I am not a libertarian. That said, how much military spending is enough? It is not just libertarians who believe that we could probably substantially reduce military spending if we did not have military bases in 130 countries (?) and a whole host of undeclared, unconstitutional wars. We have that military presence in part to prop up the globalism that you blame on libertarians.
But you claim that libertarians, who have ZERO influence in fedgov, are pulling the R party away from nationalism? The Dems and GOPe are the ones fighting Trump, and they are not libertarian.
On the other hand, libertarians do provide crucial leadership in the Freedom caucus against the swamp. Or would you rather have more spending and globalism?
Not every Libertarian is an atheist, it's just that everyone of them that I have met is an athiest.
There are a whole bunch of religious people in the leadership of the anarcho-capitalist movement: Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. Ludwig von Mises was Jewish. If you read anything at lewrockwell.com, you will find that most there are pro-Trump, anti-Hillary and anti-Bush to varying degrees. The Beltway libertarians (Koch-tarians) are not truly libertarian at all, in the same way that Bushes are not conservative. About half of the libertarians online are Christian, that I am aware of. The opposition to tariffs among libertarians is primarily concerned with taxation and not trade. I would like to see tariffs replace the income tax personally. But I would also cut the federal budget to the bone...
See, it's the great people like you who keep me coming back to Free Republic.
I too have said/written many things for which, with the benefit of hindsight, I would also have said differently--or perhaps, not at all.
My post was to draw attention to this site and to keep us focused on what's truly important.
I'll quote the now famous Q; "Where we go one, we go all."
I'll be around, and in part, it is because of people just like you.
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