Politics, if nothing else, has always been about discourse. The attitude of discussion here at FR doesn't make any of us less of a conservative because we disagree with policies the President has supported. The Founding Fathers didn't always agree on everything, prompting Benjamin Franklin to observe something to the effect that it is difficult to make 13 clocks all chime at exactly the same time, but we have to try.
To complain about the level of discussion here and the disagreements that arise is reminiscent of HRC's recent screed about not being patriotic because we disagree with the President and this administration, blah, blah, blah.
Discussion doesn't make us Bush-haters or anti-American. To the contrary. If we didn't discuss and disagree and, instead, merely nodded our collective heads at every word and gesture of the President's, would it make us more conservative, or more like the leftists who want to take their "talking points" and America to the 3rd world and beyond?
I submit that the discussion that occurs on this forum benefits us all. I know that I learn from it and I'm sure that others do as well. Reasoned discourse is not an abandonment of conservative ideals. In fact, if anyone has abandoned conservatism, it seems to be more that Bush has abandoned it than those of us at FR. Record deficits, TSA, the Mexican Invasion, Medicare Prescription drug benefit, Campaign Finance Reform, to name but a few, are NOT conservative philosophies.
I have voted for W twice as President and twice as governor of Texas. I also moved and voted for Jeb twice as Gov. of FL, and voted for their father to be President - TWICE!! I also disagree with many of Bush's positions. Does that make me less of a conservative?
And, yet, I have vehement disagreements with many of Bush's policies. He has a bully pulpit and won't use it to explain and push for SS reform. He created the DHS and, yet, refuses to order the most important thing that the DHS should be doing - controlling our borders. These are not trivial issues, but are issues that need to be on the table for discussion.
In the long run, disagreeing with Bush doesn't make us Bush-haters or anti-American. The level of discourse on this forum, as heated as it sometimes gets, means that we are passionate about these topics and we care about our country. We don't debate just because JimRob has the bandwidth, we debate because these issues are important to us. We all may not always appreciate what the other has to say, but it is important to get these opinions and ideas out in the open where we can all share in the discussion.
Free Republic has become the Rush Limbaugh of blogs. Sure there are others, but none that offer such a diverse audience and variety and caliber of facts, opinions and knowledge. If JimRob shuts down discourse among those who visit here, does that maintain the ideals of conservative politics, or stifle free speech in the spirit of Air America and certain other blogs where the free exchange and expression of ideas and opinion are restricted? FR is the blog that it is, in part, because we have discussions that are passionate and sincere.
Changing that would devastate the very philosophy upon which this forum was founded. We aren't anti-conservative, anti-Bush or anti-American. Just the opposite. We are people who are passionate about our country and our conservative values and the best way to preserve all of them.
Including mom's apple pie.
Those are some great comments, thanks!
Talk about passion, I remember the photo of Nelson Rockefeller at the podium giving the finger to the Goldwater delegates at the 1964 convention. This is nothing new.
But, at the risk at starting something with someone who reads the following comments, the one thing that is different today is the number of traditional Democrats who were driven out of the Party when the New Left took over and it became the Rat Party. Those 1960s liberals are now Republicans, I believe.