I'll put out some feelers...MUD
"...why would conservatives regularly donate to a website with a Stalinesque reputation for sanitizing their members’ commentary?
"...Many readers of Scallon’s piece will be surprised to learn that the operation of the Free Republic website requires an estimated $240,000 in donations annually from readers. The Freepers donate that kind of money because they really are convinced and excited (read: deluded) that they are "piece of the action." They really believe that their online (and off-line) advocacy and organizing efforts are effecting political change. They like the idea that they are "part of the system" and on the side of a winning majority now that the GOP has re-taken the Senate and Bush sits in the Oval Office. To swipe a phrase from Jesse Jackson, it "keeps hope alive." And hope is the archetypal political opiate, rendering populations docile and leaving them unwilling to decisively act to change their circumstances. The Freepers feel as though they’re connected and influential, but they don’t seem to realize that this is largely an illusion. The GOP’s hierarchy already has its marching orders, independent of the input of the GOP grassroots. The GOP’s top brass merely pretends that it cares about the "regular folk" at Free Republic. The GOP is always glad to take their money and their votes, though, and is equally happy to use Free Republic as a distribution node for official party "talking points."
"Some alert Freepers [Names, Please!!], however, sense that the GOP they work so hard to support is not very responsive to the conservative agenda."
The writer of this drivel is an anti-FReeper pencil-necked GEEK named Paul Fallavollita, and he can be reached at pfallavollita@aol.com
Tell 'em MUD sent ya...LOL!!!