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?
Which party pray tell do you think I have been fighting in my state for the past 8 years on this very issue? You and others are missing the point myself and others are screaming aabout yet some can't seem to hear. Tell me if Don Sundquist was eligable for a third term and won the primary should I vote for him because he is a Republican? Well should I? Have you seen his track record? The DEMs love him. Good grief in 1998 they ran the party joke to make certain he stayed in office. Nothing like a nice Republican Socialist to do your dirty chores for you.
So what did Sundquiost the RINO do for the Tennessee GOP anyway? I'll tell you what he did and it's posted in many a thread in this forum. He split the party. He abandoned Conservatives. I'll tell you what had not a few DEMs had more conservative backbone than many of our state Republicans we would have a state income tax right now thanks to Don Sundquist-R.
You are not going to get results you want electing RINO's to office. Not now not ever it simply isd not going to happen that is truth. You just get problems like Sundquist which is two to fight against your party and the other.
Now follow this a moment further. I wish Sundquist had lost his very first election and a Dem got in office. Yes I said that and yes I mean it. But why?
Simply because Sundquist split the party in half giving leverage to the DEMs by GOP fools following his que simply out of a warped sense of party loyality to the jerk. Had he lost? The GOP would have been united to a common enenmy and been a lot more of a factor stopping the DEM agenda. It's sad how people can not see this for what it is. It is sometimes better to loose standing your ground than to win and the victory prize be given to your enemy.
What am I saying then? I would rather see the GOP loose fighting for a solid cause than to win fighting for the cause of the other side. A minority United is stronger than a majority divided. Especially when the numbers are as close as they are now. We don't need control of both houses first. We need a sense of cause first and right now the liberals cause is running first place in both parties mandates. If it takes a loss to bring the GOP back to 1994 thinking so be it. When it comes right down to it it's not the Committee seats that matter. What matters is what is passed or failed by vote in congress.
I can't buy into this direction being pushed. I think in the long run it's worse than the DEms winning a term. The GOP is out of control and is not intersted in what you, I, or any other conservative thinks. Electing more who think the same IN THE PARTY gets you what? You're voting yourself and your voice out of the GOP get it? I reckon some will wake up when they see a Liberal Kennedy on the GOP ticket. Then again some will see it as a form of victory as if they changed their views to suit ours.
It's quite obvious many in here do not share this idea or thought so with this post I will leave it at that for this thread.
Seeing as how the people have finally evicted the evil party from the White House, I see a bit of a crease and would like to take advantage of that. I believe that the political climate has shifted a bit and that if we had a less liberal court we might be able to roll back some of the unconstitutional socialist excesses that have been enacted over the last few decades.
In particular, I believe that there is a fair chance of replacing some of the liberal activist judiciary, and even some of the Supreme Court Justices with conservatives, if we can maintain Bush in the White House and give him a Republican majority to confirm his appointees. This has potential of undoing much of the wrong, and possibly even reversing Roe vs Wade itself.
I agree with all you have said, but the above portion is the heart of it. What is a third party going to do about the current state of the judiciary? and presuming they are ever successful, WHEN would we see the effect in the judiciary? how much bad law can continue to be made in the interim?
But you are not the only one. And don't you forget it!
I want to say, "I love you!" but that seems a little silly, and besides, your Mrs. might be watching!
Let me say then that I respect, admire, and seek to emulate you more and more.
So in other words the Republican party can only consist of conservatives and not have a moderate wing, or (God Forbid) a left wing in your opinion? Although I am pretty to the right, I realize that my party consists of varying views, and that some people are conservative in some areas, and more moderate in others.
And visa versa.
I didn't want to get back in here but this deserves an answer you and others need to think long and hard on.
THE LEFT WING IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OR RATHER IT WAS TILL 1996! WHY INVITE THEM OR FOR THAT MATTER TOLORATE THEM IN THE GOP? IT WAS NOT THEIR POLICIES THAT GOT THE GOP IN POWER IT WAS CONSERVATIVE VALUES! REMEMBER? WHY PRAY TELL BRING THE GOP & YOURSELF DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL? That is exactally what is being endorsed here. /rant over!
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