Posted on 08/26/2002 9:57:23 AM PDT by mercy
Giving priority to what is most important, I have decided to swallow my pride. I had a dustup with a moderator. I lost. Though I think the moderators need a tuneup they ain't so bad really. I depend on them to keep this site from becomming a free for all whacko hate site. I used to push the abuse button quite frequently on my fave undesirables ... anti-semite, haters. I notice they're a bit thin around here lately.
It is most important that Free Republic live and thrive. It is less important that I get things my way around here. Though I do not agree completely with the proposition that it is Jim's site and he can do with it what he damn will pleases ... It's as much our site, collectively, as it is his now. Perhaps Jim does ride herd a bit too hard on this creation he gave birth to. Fact is I don't know. I simply don't have enough information.
But it is a given that FR is the best there is at what it does. If it's only my morning paper and a place to exercise my verbal skills ... it's worth supporting. Now is the time for all level headed thinking FReepers to come to the aid of our wounded friend ... Free Republic.
Seriously if congress was not selling us out at every turn including high level GOP funding Dems campaigns it would not be near a serious of a matter who was seated in the oval office. What's worse is the GOP is sacrificing it's own placing moderates in places where a conservative could likely win. Those Moderates are far more likely to blink or vote with the DEMs on important issues.
What's going on now in DC is the same mess that is going on in Tennessee. A leader the Excutive Branch playing to the liberal tune. That's still not a biggie except for one small problem. Half the party to some misguided sense of loyality stands behind even the worse of worse of policies while the other half fights the leader tooth and nail trying to preserve the party's platform. Sundquist did this to Tennessee and to a certain extent not near as severe it is being done in Washington DC. True Sundquist like Bush serves the people the whole nation but it doesn't mean they have to keep leaving their own base out to dry.
No Gore would not have been a needed POTUS by any means. But what is forgotten is Bush in his own words before us stated he and Gore were not that far apart on {many, most can't remember exact word} issues. That is cause to give any conservative alarm. If the policy is wrong party name doesn't magically make it right. I trust Bush no more than I would Gore and I think that is the way politically he must be treated. I say this based on the mans own words and actions. If he went before this nation and said he and Gore are not that far apart on most issues and was lying then a liar he is. If he said he and Gore were not that far apart on most issues and meant it then he is a truthfull man who's policies must be scrutinized and hand called on issues when needed.
But if the GOP congress was not split and was united this would not be a problem. The idea of electing RINO's for the sake of winning power is still going to give us what we have now. Two different parties under one name with a split platform. The GOP didn't get in power by being the Siamese party fighting against itself. It got in power on it's own merrit on what it actually one time stood for. All the RINO's elected in the next 50 years will not help that situation. It will only do two things split the GOP base and help the DEMs push their agenda by the likes of those who on most any issue will vote DEM.
I think Constitutional Government is still the answer. I feel that supporting those who hold that belief is the answer to our problems. A dozen of this caliber is better than 24 RINO's as they will have the fortitude to stick to their principles and in doing so become a thorn in the flesh of RINOs and Liberals alike for making them do their duty. In a way you are right if Gore had been elected I think it may have been a wake up call that would have put some fire and brimstone into the GOP to make the leadership fight and not worry about power play. The GOP lost it's way when it became pre-occupied with maintaining the offices rather than using them wisely in the time they had appointed to them.
I'll support a good Republican. If ones not aviable I'll support a good Independent. Or as in the case of Bill Frist last re-election if no other choice is aviable I'll not vote for any in that office. The nation will never change it's direction till the Constitutional Crisis in Congress is solved. What is the Constitutional crisis? The same as it was 8 years ago. The Leglislative Branch refusing to hold proper checks & balance on the other two branches. We best get it resolved in case Hillary does get in office. And with the likes of the GOP right now she would be thrilled because they still refuse to fight the DEMs on principle. As it stands now they agree with each other too much. Not a healthy condition for this nation considering the prevailing policies and changes coming on.
I guess my ideas on how to get there are different than many. Just remember it took only 55 to form the Constitution which set the course for this nation not 50 million. It has only taken a handfull of DEMs to push Leglislation down this nations throats {Kennedy, Dashle, Gephart, ect} while the rest in both parties let them do it and called it politics. I want to see the GOP or some blessed party elect some persons who will at least stand up to these Socialist and say Oh No you don't. Our Senate is a waste land void except of a few with a willingness to fight the DEMs and it's sure not Trent Lott.
I'm not speaking for the other third party voters in here. I give my loyality to no party. I'm not Libertarian and like some have said the word Conservative is becoming meaningless. Let's say Constitutional Preservationist close to the CP perhaps but not on all issues. I prefer debating political issues over political personalities. If this sounds like a Bush Bash it was not intended to be such. He is POTUS using his name in that respect is necessary. It was written for the sole purpose to remind us of what was actually said in the last election and why we can not let down our guard. Do we give Carte Blanche for more abuses in 2004? Or do we start making objections known? I promise you this the DEMs sure will let theirs be known even to the GOP canidate. Our vote is the only voice, the only leverage we have to demand Constitutional abidance from those we elect. NITE :>}
I have no doubt the minute you started drinking and spewing your libertarian babble, Tex would have you put in a straight jacket and sent to the 'special' tent. :)
The difference here is that it went beyond political differences and became personal. Anytime anyone takes political differences and turns it into something personal, there is something wrong. I'm a firm believer in letting the past go for the greater good. But I also believe that when you have done wrong, you stand up, apologize, and let your future actions and words help heal past wounds.
Frank, stop insulting my intelligence. Previously you insinuated that anyone who doesn't contribute to FR is "Un-American." Now you try and link the Conservative Cause and Free Republic together, when at the moment nothing could be further from the truth. It doesn't take too much "reading into" your posts to come to those conclusions.
If Free Republic is to return to advancing the Conservative cause, it has a long way to go. It once did serve the cause, but the behavior here over the last 12+ months by the neocons that have infested the place sure indicates to me - and anyone with at least a 33% functioning brain - that FR has wandered so far off the path, that it's not going to return anytime soon.
Now, I've been here for about 4 years and I've never seen it as bad as this.
In the first 60 days of her administration President Hillary Rodham-Clinton would be allowed to implement Hillary-Care with votes of 98-2 in the Senate and 430-5 in the House. Every socialist pipedream ever hatched in the fevered, twisted brains of Sens Feinswine and Leahy would become reality overnight.
Rosie O'Donnell would be appointed to a newly-created Cabinet position, Secretary of Diversity and Tolerence; men would be allowed to marry their goats, and women their horses, to complement the new federal gay-lesbian marriage laws. The Boy Scouts would be declared an outlaw organization and all their property would be confiscated.
Kofi Annan would be made Special Assistant to the President for Implementing Unifed World Government. The Kyoto Protocols and International Criminal Court Treaty would be resurrected, signed, and ratified.
All local zoning and planning decisions would henceforth be made under United Nations aegis (no houses larger than 800 square feet, no lots larger than 2,000 square feet, solar and wind energy only). The new Secretary of the Environment, Ralph Nader, would be given vast new plenary power to confiscate private property to be returned to its "natural" state, and would oversee the building of high fences topped with barbed wire to ensure no human is allowed to wander into and sully this nation's wilderness areas or disturb the wildlife therein. The production of vehicles that cannot achieve at least 60 mph per gallon would be prohibited by law.
Utilizing a mix of punitive and stick-and-carrot taxes and public service messages broadcast 24/7 starring Bambi and Bambi's mother's ghost, the new Secretary of Animal Rights, Pete Singer, would be given the task of weaning the citizenry from its barbarian speciesist carnivorous-eating habits.
And what sort of judge would be appointed to fill very open seat on the federal bench from district court through SCOTUS to affilict us for the next 30 years? If you have to ask, you're beyond hopeless.
On the bright side, as far as libertarians are concerned, the WOD would stand a good chance of being eliminated and replaced with a kinder, gentler, nanny government "victim doper" turnstile-rehab model. Granny Spliffsucker would be allowed to obtain medicinal marijuana for her dermatitis via Medicaid at taxpayer expense from the local KMart Pharmacy. A whole army of "disabled" drug users from ages 16 through 90 would sign on for Medicaid/Medicare and supplemental social security.
In addition to blacks finally receiving full reparations for injustices suffered by ancestors whose names they don't even know, every drug user and drug supplier who was imprisoned, arrested, or fined during the WOD would receive reparations and a full apology and pardon from President Rodham-Clinton in a public address from the Rose Garden--now festooned with varieties of ornamental marijuana plants and brightly colored poppies.
So on balance, from a libertarian perspective, things would be pretty good.
Dammit Jim!! Where's my monitor wipes? Wasted a perfectly good cup of coffee on that one!! LOL
Both of you seem to have ignored the financial needs of this site. Those who have contributed and those who regularly contribute to the ongoing financial requirements of the site definitely have an implied stake and an indirect say in how the site is managed and governed whether anybody acknowledges it or not.
In addition, the site depends on the people who post articles or editorials worthy of reading and discussion. FreeRepublic would quickly cease to exist without both groups, the financial supporters and the article/discussion contributors. And in many instances, the two groups are the same people.
This is a long thread over 900 posts long that I have not yet reviewed, but I hope Freepers will focus on the agenda of FreeRepublic and not the entertainment or quickie news rundown aspects of the site. In recent times the entertainment and quick access to news features have tended to become more and more predominate. What has passed for serious discussion is more and more often becoming chat and self-indulgent entertainment. The insult and flame wars have become problematic because of its entertainment value for the anonymous aggressive beast that lies within us all. These are the distractions that are defeating serious discussions of how to restore our Constitutional Republic. Because of the immense numberical superiority of news articles and the flame war-entertainment discussions that accompany controversial news articles, serious duscussions focused on the primary function of the site are lost and hidden from the view of most Freepers who have difficulty in finding or distinguishing important trees from the rest of the forest.
Election time and dramatically increased numbers of visitors with very heightened interest will soon be upon us. Visits and interest will start rising sharply after Labor Day.
Freepers and visitors who do not believe the United States has serious problems or who do not recognize the substantial loss of our freedom or the losses of our liberties are part of the problem and not part of the solution. They should be ignored, and our lack of acknowledgment of them is the surest form of effective censorship and the surest means of discouraging unwanted behavior. Banning is only somewhat effective, but should be for at least the duration until after the election. Banning by DNS could be more effective than banning by name, since many register under multiple or serial identities.
Many of you are familiar with the dangers of linear thinking. The events of September 11 should have awakened us to the dangers of thinking that we live in a linear world. I want to awaken Jim Robinson and all Freepers to the dangers of linear thinking in politics. Bill Clinton's election in 1992 was a non-linear event. Most people saw the Republican Revolution in the 1994 Congressional election as a non-linear event. Now four election cycles later and with the benefit of the rear-view mirror, it is clear that the 94 election was an aberration that was easily and quickly converted into the continuing linear descent of the United States's progressive growth of government with its attendant expansion of socialism and the steady erosion of individual freedom and responsibility. The United States government and its respective state and local governments are destroying its families and their individual citizens. We must reign in all governments in the United States and we must do it quickly. If you disagree, I suggest that your inability to recognize the magnitude of the problem or the acute severity and the immediate need of its correction makes you a part of the problem.
I believe that Jim Robinson is in danger of becoming a part of the problem. His blind unfaltering allegiance to the Republican Party or to individual Republican elected representatives simply because they are not Democrats means the Republican Party and/or Republican candidates are free to vote or run on any agenda that they believe will win them additional votes to ensure their own election, including the increasingly frequent adoption of the Democratic Party's agenda. In fact, Republicans are so sure of this puppy-dog loyalty from conservatives (who seem to have no-where else to go) that they feel free to take their votes for granted no matter how much of the Democratic agenda they adopt. Since Republican candidates do not have to earn conservative votes, most Republican representatives and candidates feel their best shots at insuring re-election is to adopt specific parts of the Democratic Party's agenda or to embrace it completely. Since 1996, Republicans have progressively behaved more like Democrats and it is the blind allegiance of conservatives as illustrated by Jim Robinson that makes this possible.
The Religius Right stayed home in the 1996 election. It cost us Bill Clinton's re-election. This made the problem worse, because the religious right became afraid to sit out another election. I will be the first to admit that sitting out an election by not voting carries some risks. I submit that there is no risk in the strategy that I am suggesting for the upcoming election unless Republicans ignore the demands made by their constituents. And if the Republicans ignore their constituents, there is little difference between the Democrats who will be elected and the Republicans who were defeated. It will only be two years until the next election. The next crop of Republican candidates will hear the demands of the conservative base and so will every other office holder.
We are very close to the now or never point for the United States. Osama and militant Islam is a distraction. The real threat to the United States is the Democratic Party and the copy-cats in the Republican Party. Focus on the real enemy of freedom, which is the enemy within, the Democrats and their look-alikes in the Republican Party. If you don't like the strategy I am offering, offer your own as an alternative rather than condeming or trying to piece-meal change mine. If we don't find a quick solution to the political problems confronting the United States in the next couple of elections, our last election will occur in 2014, giving us only a few more chances to get it right.
This isn't referring to the violation of rules (and just wrong practices) on Fr by posting personal info of another FR member, is it? Doing so was not political. I guess my sentiments echo MJY's and Texasforever. It seems unlike you to reverse your posting guidelines so abruptly. So, are we allowed to post private info of FR members and get love-fest threads dedicated to us? :)
Woops! My bad! I thought he was only suspended and free to return when the suspension was done. I thought he chose to stay away, maybe due to his inability to make right a wrong he did with Howlin.
[applause]
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