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?”
Posters are few, accusers are legion.
FR has changed a lot since 98.
So have many things.
Yes, 2008 was awful on Free Republic. I stopped donating at that time because it was so awful. I cut way back looking at the site for quite a while. But now I am back and a monthly donor again. I like Free Republic, but I also don’t like some of the nastiness.
Some posters are paid disruptors from the other side. They pretend to be conservative but are not. Several of checked the posting history of a couple posters and found they’re accts were active 24/7. And I mean every hour 24 hours a day. You could see the different writing styles
What’s happened is nothing new. There have been “purity” vs. “not pure enough” circular firing squads on FR for a long time, reflecting the same internecine conflicts played out elsewhere. I submit this type of conflict is what led to the destruction of any meaningful opposition to the far left that dominates California, for example.
Oh, I can.
I won't name screen names, but there were at least 5 that were very vocal and I know of at least three that are still lurking.
Their reason for the anti-Trump rantings centered around a radical Christian position toward Mr. Trump, usually citing his alleged dalliances, remarks and generally (in their opinion) un-Christian actions.
Jim Rob is a Godly man as far as I know, he's expressed his Christianity, yet has remained fairly tolerant of the radical ones in several postings and remarks, but a few of those I speak of even pushed him over the edge and I recall at least two that he banned that had been here for longer than me...and I've been around since latter 2000 and lurked for two years prior.
Those kind will always be with us, believing they have some sort of special dispensation to batter the rest of us with their unreasonable and rigid dictates on who is or is not the most righteous.
Did you know Fred C. Koch, the father of the Koch Brothers, was a founding member of the Birch Society? The Birch comment shouldn’t have been made in that context. Most Birchers, whether implicit or explicit, don’t try to hide it.
I agree. I can’t remember the last never-Trumper post I’ve seen on Freerepublic.
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Really? There were thousands of them. Just last week,
When Trump signed that Omnibus spending bill - the hatred, vitriol and Never Trump anger was on full display.
Yeah, but it’s not just the primaries. As soon as POTUS does something a given FReeper doesn’t like, it’s OVER... over, over, over! And, to win back the sunshine patriot, POTUS must prove himself to the said poster. We saw a ton of that just last week. It’s disgusting. It does get tiresome to see so many feckless posters. And they are NOT all newbies.
And the attacks began as soon as facts were posted that were contrary to their given meme ! They baited more than one good freeper into “fights” using only emotions and no facts
Lotta ‘sunshine patriots’, FRiend .. always have been, always will be.
You gotta develop a sort of mental mute button and skim past the white flag wavers and hair burners.
Many claim ‘principle’ for what can often be better attributed to ego.
Good suggestion from ‘mama’.
Can do that if they would just leave people expressing other views along. BUT they don’t. TRained attack dogs paid for by?
I see.
Since the JBS has been essentially extinct for the last 50 years, I guess that’s why there are no JBS posts here at FR.
IF there was still a JBS, I might be interested in it. But what do I know? I’m 59 years old and the JBS was way before my time.
I only knew about it from that song... “I’m a faithful follower of Brother John Birch...”
https://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/daniels-charlie/uneasy-rider-10929.html
As for Buchanan? Yep. I like him. Don’t always agree, but he is my idea of a true conservative.
ThanQ
I believe I was what one might consider a “Never Trumper” in words. In deed however, I voted for him and am glad for it. I remember saying he was not a conservative, and that may still be true. He is a nationalist though, and now I see that a brash nationalist was badly needed. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. It took me a while to believe he could actually win. I doubt I’m alone in that sentiment. When he did, it was politically the biggest upset I’d ever seen, an so thoroughly satisfying. I know I wrote things that questioned the conservatism of others, on this forum. For that I am sorry. Crow- it tastes like Chicken!
I remember years ago when the doj was sending people over to cause trouble. Democrats don’t know how to leave people alone.
LOL, I pop in there a couple of times a day just to see what they are up to. You wouldn’t believe the fake news. They will take an actual article, twist the headline, and make it whatever they want it to be if it suits their agenda.
Seriously though, they are certifiably insane. It’s scary.
Pretty please, could you add me to your ping list?
Thank you.
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