Posted on 02/26/2007 5:11:33 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Edited on 02/26/2007 5:36:44 AM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]
Defending conservative principles has long been a hallmark of the Republican party as opposed to the Democrat party which promotes the progressive liberal ideology. Millions of conservative Americans have long trusted the Republican party to uphold the principles of individual rights, traditional family values, moral government and our traditional conservative American heritage.
Millions of conservatives have devoted large parts of their lives and fortunes over the last several decades to the longstanding conservative ideas and principles held cycle after cycle as mainstays of the Republican party platform.
We depend upon the Republican party to defend and preserve our cherished individual rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom of religion, the right to free speech, the right to keep and bear arms, the rights to private property and due process, and the right to local government and control, ie, states rights.
In addition we depend upon the Republican party to be diligent in the security and defense of our nation and of our national sovereignty and our national borders. We depend on the Republican party to fight for constitutionally limited government, conservative fiscal policies, and to keep taxes down.
We also depend upon our party to fight for our traditional family values system and to fight off the liberal progressive attempts to use big government as a tool to deprive us of our rights and to degrade our moral society.
Our Founding Fathers created a system of government that was designed to defend the Republic and our individual rights and to keep itself in check. Over the last century, more and more of the designed in checks and balances have been eroded away and government has grown larger and larger and more and more powerful and corrupt.
The 16th and 17th amendments shifted the balance of power away from the states and we the people and handed it over to the federal government. And the income tax gave the government a tool to not only feed their voracious appetite for other people's money, but also to hold us at bay under threat of prison. And more recently, it's morphed into a tool to use for social engineering.
Then along comes The Great Depression and the Democrats seize the opportunity to seize control over our economic freedoms and implement vast government bureaucracies to regulate and control our industries, farms and businesses.
And the Supreme Court seizes the power away from we the people and our elected representatives to become the final arbiter and dispenser of what used to be our constitutional rights and freedoms.
During the last fifty years, we've all but lost our religious freedoms and local control over societal issues.
Thirty four years ago we lost the right to defend innocent life in the womb.
Within the last couple of decades we've nearly lost all of the right to keep and bear arms without government infringement.
We've all but lost the right to maintain local control over our school systems.
Our rights to free speech, free assembly, and to petition the government have been all but abridged away. McCain-Feingold is but one more nail in that coffin.
Even our rights to private property have taken huge hits. The Kelo decision ensures that the government holds the real title to your property regardless of whose name is actually on the document.
And all during this time we've depended upon the Republican party to defend these rights as the government encroachment marches steadily on.
Oh, we've managed to win one here and there, and slow them down a bit, but the encroachment continues over time and our rights are eroded away.
It's even seemed to accelerate recently. Republicans making deals with the liberals and giving up freedoms and huge amounts of our tax dollars. Seems our fights for free speech, freedom of religion, property rights, local control, sound fiscal policy, national sovereignty, even the right to national defense is falling by the wayside as the Republicans grow weaker and the Democrats stronger.
And now the stage is being set to place the loss of our rights onto warp speed. The Republican party seems hell bent on nominating a man who will not defend our most basic rights to life and liberty.
I say that after all that has transpired, after so many of our rights and liberties have been taken away recently, in many cases by Republicans, and after we seem to have lost all control over budgeting and spending, and losses of local control and private property rights and even national defense, national security and national sovereignty, and now they want to take away our most basic right to life and liberty?
Then what else besides our dignity do we have to lose? If this is not a betrayal of trust then I don't know what is.
I guess the last line of defense will have to be, "I will not sell my soul to the highest bidder or for the lust for power or even for security. I place my trust in God"
Color me shocked.
I've been on the verge of cutting up my voter registration card and sending to the RNC for a while now. I think it's about time for a third party, a real conservative party.
Next thing you know, Rudy supporters will be called treasonous liberals. Oh, wait. That already happened.
Won't happen. Too many skeletons in too many closets.
Time to hide under the bed covers. s/
What are your recommendations for turning this trend around?
It is shame to see candidates who even dare to come close to the values expressed above e labeled "un-electable".
Third parties in the 20th century did not help conservative causes. In 1912, Roosevelt ran as well as Taft (on the "Bull Moose" ticket), and let Woodrow Wilson in; the legacy of which lives on in the United Nations (Wilson's "League of Nations" was the cradle in which that idiotic idea gestated). In 1992, Perot ran as well as Bush Senior and let Clinton in - the process of driving a stake through the heart of that particular legacy remains.
Regards, Ivan
LOL. Since Rudy what did in NYC has been called one of the greatest fiscal,urban and governmental achievements of the 20th century, this full blown hysteria on FR is really cracking me up.
I'll be back later for those who need links to the statement above. But a hint: One of them was Newt.
No other single issue causes me more grief and rage than this one. I do my best to relate this unconstitutional injustice to others, and most respond with either disbelief or indifference.
L
Jim, have you ever considered running for President? I honestly believe that if there were even one candidate who was willing to use that as the opening of every speech he made on the campaign trail, we would have a conservative movement that would be unstoppable.
That was our first mistake.
L
We need "grass roots" invigoration to attract principled conservatives into running in primary contests. The Republican party apparatus needs to read your post and get re-acquainted with the ideas and principles Republicans are supposed to stand for.
That's the only thing that gets me through the day and the daily headlines.
"I place my trust in God"
They're after that one too...
"And now the stage is being set to place the loss of our rights onto warp speed. The Republican party seems hell bent on nominating a man who will not defend our most basic rights to life and liberty."
Sorry if I'm a bit slow -- still working on the first cup of coffee --- but do you care to name the man to whom you refer? Or am I supposed to just understand? Or do you refer to the whole sorry field (in which case, I concur completely). At this point, I don't see how you can single out just one.
The bigger question is what to do about the problem. It's fine and dandy for us to spout off on FR. In fact, it lets off a lot of steam that might be converted into political power . . .
IF we just knew how to use it.
Personally, I have little faith that the my-way-or-the-highway one-issue FReepers can band together for the higher good. The problems to be addressed, as you have so eloquently outlined, are numberous.
Perhaps the thread will become a practical starting point for our loud common voice to be heard.
If we, the people, have no sand, it is very difficult to draw a line in the sand. It has become time to separate the adherents of John Locke from those of Rousseau. It is time again for men of conscience to pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, to the cause of liberty.
We must either take back the Republican Party, or it will compromise itself into the ashbin of history.
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