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?
Hehe, I can waste time and bandwidth on a 2,000 post plus thread with the best of 'em!
Kinda reminds me of when you're going somewhere, there's always somebody who say: "Be careful! Have fun!"
D@&#$it! Make up my mind!
Excuse me. But can you kindly point me to ANY of the so called "harpies" who have posted threads like this, whinning about not getting their way or being suspended or banned?
Nobody WOULD know about what was going on if Joe hadn't made it an issue.
And YOU think that would be good?????
I guess I was right about you and "thinking".
Here's a few clues for the clueless: Everybody reading this thread wants to know why people get banned for expressing opinions contrary to the current groupthink. Everybody reading this thread wants to know why people get banned for asking simple questions about the operation of the moderators. Everybody reading this thread wants to know why the moderators are acting like preferential idiots to boobs like you. Everybody reading this thread wants to know why the moderators are monitoring posters ON OTHER SITES! And everybody reading this thread wants to know what happens to the money they donate to keep this site operating.
Gee, is any of this really too difficult a concept for you and the other barking cheerleaders?
His unnamed sources are inventions. His "secret" identity is irrelevant.
The people leaving know something stinks. That's why they're leaving.
He provided his bona fides to me a couple of hours ago via freepmail, roscoe. Once again, he has good reason to NOT provide them on the open forum - nor is it proper forum etiquette to demand that he do such - but he was willing to provide his identity to me. You can question his integrity all you want without attempting to refute his arguments. I will say to the open forum that he proven to me who he is and that he is not misrepresenting himself here. The rest of the forum can decide if that is sufficient.
There is a little more to it that that ... and maybe if you sniff around a bit you might figure some of it out
His sources?
Why keep it a secret? Why keep it a secret from the people that give you your operating cash? Do I have to wait until it's posted on six other forums before I can object?
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