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?
Joe,
One thing I think you are missing here is that FR has been undergoing a transformation for 6 years, not 6 month. I think that all of the things you used to love about FR are still present, but they are harder to see through the clamor and smoke. FR is a meeting place of sorts; Jim provides the venue and occasionally tailors the conversation to suit his tastes. Although we act as though it is a public gathering, it is really an open private gathering. I miss the old days where I felt as though I knew all of the posters and we could argue freely. The point is that now there are over 80,000 registered Freepers and there needs to be some more direction and crowd control. Even with the minimal restrictions, it is still possible to find the things you like in Freerepublic, it just takes a little more effort.
Maybe that other board is the place where you need to do the old simple things you used to do here and FR is the place where you come for other thing? I don’t mean that as a slam, just an observation. I have seen many changes here over the years, and I have also seen Jim’s approach over and over again. Sometimes I felt it was certain people having undue influence over him (and using him in the process) and others I felt were Jim just saying “Hey it’s my house and this is how I want the game played. Never have I felt unwelcome to play, but sometimes I have been perturbed by how the game was going.
FR is and always will be a work in progress. Currently I think that it has become to visible not to have an impact, and because of this its agenda will get stronger. If it is promoting an agenda you can not live with then either step back and observe or try to influence the agenda yourself (this is for everyone). If you can’t get what you want, well we all lose sometimes in life and it is best to be a gracious loser who returns to fight another day.
BADJOE, please Report Abuse and kill this spawn of yours!
I have one bumper sticker on my truck. It says "I love my country, I fear my government."
History also repeats itself...as it is doing on this very thread.
Personally, I don't WANT to know what happened. Personally, I am SICK of hearing/seeing this debate being bantered about at a time when we as a nation are going through what we are going through.
And it especially to hear/see the rhetoric posted in his opening to this thread.
After his last few temper tantrums, the number of posters who were unhappy here, surely were NOT outnumbered by those who are happy here.
Obviously this problem did not get resolved to JOE'S satisfaction. He does have an alternative yanow.
It still is if the Admin can get rid of people wanting to run the site as they wish and attempting to get banned freepers reinstated, undermining Jim and John Robinson and making posts in an attempt to complete a coup. Know what I mean, Vern?
Get a life and stop this bullshit. If it's so bad then move on down the road.
This forum has survived major changes in the past, lawsuits, disruptions among the members, factions that have split off, and who knows what else. These changes will continue in the future as long as there is a Forum.
I dunno Joe, I still see it - at least among groups of FReepers. We pray for each other, support each other, share ideas. Some of the threads get ugly, but we're all brave behind a keyboard, right?
Please define AFer.
And the buzzing you heard beforehand was them putting poor ol gullible Joe up to it. Sad.
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