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?
OK, it's back.
Didn't she say something about him missing the deadline for CPAC when that was a complete lie?
It could make 500 by 5:00 EST (9/6/02)...midnite at the latest.
FReegards...MUD
JW doesn't need to pander to people that cheap anyway.
That is a very subjective question. Depending on what you want out of your country.
I could argue that several European countries are better run (or at least more truthfully run) than this country. You see, like us, they have a socialistic taxation style and , unlike us, actually deliver socialized services to the populace.
Not my cup of tea...but there is something to be said for giving up half your income and actually having something to show for it.
You give us NO FACTS:
Joe...using YOUR logic with these suppositions sans facts, you do your audience a disservice, don't you?
That's an out and out lie. And you continue to repeat it.
No way. It'll be at 500 no later than 3 PM EST today.
Did you know that one of the leaders of the short-lived Jamestown Rebellion was found actually to have died of body lice and not to have been shot to death? His bites became infected and he died of blood poisoning. His cohorts hid his body from the towns people so that they wouldn't know he had died and they could continue the battle a little longer.
I learned that piece of trivia on a visit to the original Jamestown site. Since the gentleman in question was a newly wed (to the daughter of the Governor, I think) I have been wondering for years what it must have been like for that poor woman to have shared the bridal bed with him! Eeeeeew! Yuck.
I think the Jamestown battle was over taxes; so the more things change, the more they remain the same! Perhaps that is what happened to Osama Bin Laden.
I'm trying to change the subject on this dreadful thread! All you fellas have added so much to this site (and to my life), that I don't want to see you fight with each other! Puhleeze be friends again -- especially this week.:~) big smile
My bad. So JW missed the deadline and you said they didnt. Hmmmmmmm. Who to believe. Keene, one of the founding fathers of the conservative movement, or you.
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