Posted on 11/07/2005 6:26:24 AM PST by HopefulPatriot
Free Republic's Roots
Founded in 1996 by Jim Robinson, what is FreeRepublic about?
What is our mission? Free Republic is dedicated to reversing the trend of unconstitutional government expansion and is advocating a complete restoration of our constitutional republic. Listed below are some of the issues we feel strongly about...
A return to a strictly Constitutional form of federal government will automatically repeal and abolish all unconstitutional federal involvement in states issues such as: crime, health, education, welfare and the environment...This will also require that social programs such as Social Security, welfare and Medicare be repealed. ~~ Jim Robinson, March 1999
Statement by the founder of Free Republic:
In our continuing fight for freedom, for America and our constitution and against totalitarianism, socialism, tyranny, terrorism, etc., Free Republic stands firmly on the side of right, i.e., the conservative side...We oppose all forms of liberalism, socialism... Posted on 03/22/2004 6:22:17 PM PST by Jim Robinson
Free Republic's Next Triumph
The excerpts above were taken from existing or former webpages posted by Jim Robinson. Having been a member of FreeRepublic before the 1996 election, the mission statement once included the impeachment of Bill Clinton as one of FreeRepublic's goals, a goal the House Managers credited FreeRepublic with achieving. Now, after ten years of false starts and misfires, the second and third goals as stated in FreeRepublic's Mission Statement above, 2reversing the trend of unconstitutional government expansion and 3complete restoration of our constitutional republic, are finally within reach. Over the next several weeks, various Freepers will be posting the thinking and the mechanics behind this effort.
Those of you who have been Freepers long enough know that FreeRepublic played a pivotal role in generating the momentum and emotion that led to a successful vote in the House to Impeach then President Bill Clinton. Reversing the trend of unconstitutional government expansion and bringing about the complete restoration of our constitutional republic could depend on how effective Freepers and FreeRepublic prove to be in generating the kind of momentum and emotion that FreeRepublic produced during impeachment.
Jim Robinson and the members of FreeRepublic are owed an immense debt of gratitude by Freedom loving Americans. You are all Patriots in the true sense of the word. We thank you; we Salute you. And now we ask for your help in undertaking the most important part of FreeRepublic's acknowledged mission.
Our Challenge To You:
If you don't believe or cannot accept the idea that this plan can and will work, the burden of proof is on you to either improve it or put forward a replacement that is better. FreeRepublic has a long overdue mission to complete. In spite of some readily apparent Republican and conservative gains, it can be argued that we are not measurably closer to the objective than when FreeRepublic was founded. Those who would take issue with this claim should stop and consider that the unconstitutional entitlements are poised to grow exponentially over the next two decades. Get out your ping lists, start reviewing your address books and email lists, and start thinking about the people with whom you want to share this series as it unfolds or with whom you want to share it after it is complete and you are convinced.
Our Pledge to You:
And for the support of this mission, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, We, as members of We the people pledge to the members of FreeRepublic and mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
I love Freerepublic but the state I live in is not impotent. It is a tyrannical state in which citizens are treated as serfs.
At this point in time, I would much rather the feds had more power than the hideous bureaucracy of NYS.
You continue your attack on the messenger, but this time add your "critical analysis" of the message in a subsequent reply.
"Bull. Sheer, unadulterated bull."
Had you actually bothered to read the material regarding the financing, you would have seen that it was based on considerable data and a large body of critical analysis. You cited no faults in the data base and cited no errors in the analysis. You simply pronounced it, "Bull. Sheer, unadulterated bull" without any clue as to content or analysis. This was precisely the same type of analysis that allowed people to believe the earth was flat.
"I'm supposed to change my mind based on a joke that makes a point.."
The point of the joke was that shooting your mouth off when you haven't thought through and analyzed the material you are critiquing is rash and could be embarrassing to you.
"I don't get it--" You will not get any argument from me.
I'm going to ask that you give us the benefit of the doubt. If you find that unreasonable, perhaps you will be willing to give us enough rope to hang ourselves? I am going to invite you to follow our series. We want you to pick apart the data that we are going to present. Forming a plan requires that the data that forms the foundation of the plan be accurate. Please point out our errors.
Next, I am going to tell you that we have analyzed the data and drawn some conclusions base on our analysis. Again, any good plan requires that the analysis on which it is based, be accurate. Find and point out to us our analytical errors.
We have done some 'what if' scenarios. If this has happened, what will come next or if we do this, what will they do. The goal is to restore the Constitution. If that is the goal, then our 'what if' scenarios must to the greatest extent possible correctly anticipate the reactions that are going to occur, "if this happens." Please do all that you can to improve our scenario analysis.
And lastly, please try to remain focused on the goal and objective. This effort is directed purely at restoring the Constitution. Everything is fair game that advances the ball. We are going to make some stupid statements. We may make some ad hominum attacks; anger has a way of clouding judgment. We expect you to correct our stupid statements and our inadvertent errors. You have our collective apologies if we become angry and revert to bad behavior.
I want to close by reminding everyone who reads these threads that we are attempting to do something that has not been done in almost one hundred years. We want to role back government and force it to live within the constraints of the Constitution as it was written and intended to be interpreted by the people who wrote and ratified it. If Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich or the Republican Party had solved this problem, there would be no need for this discussion. If we had every piece of the puzzle solved, we would not need this discussion because we would be out there, doing that. We are going to show you some ideas that are absolutely novel, that you have never seen before. We think that an important piece of the puzzle to understand is the significance of an event that has not occurred, but we believe logic dictates that this event should have happened. Understanding why it didn't happen will be an important part of understanding how to advance the ball toward restoring the Constitution. If you have an interest in restoring the Constitution, whether you take The Pledge or not, please let us add you to our ping list and follow our discussion. We invite your comments and your critical analysis of our data or our conclusions. FreeRepublic played a critical role in impeaching a President. That will pale in significance if FreeRepublic can complete its remaining mission.
Please try to stay focused on the mission and the message. The messengers are completely irrelevant in formulation the plan to achieve the mission. And if We are right, a major focus of our planning should be focused on finding and recruiting the messengers who will be responsible for actually achieving the mission. Please bear with us.
Do not feel that you are alone or that other states are not just as tyrannical as yours. Back in the eighties and early nineties, Democrats used their control of Congress to pass a suggested "Uniform Commercial Code" and "Model Cities Program". This provided federal carrots and sticks to states and cities that adopted sufficient quantities of these drafted "codes" effectively trapping almost all of We the people inside layers of boxes that include Federal laws and regulations, state laws and regulations and local government codes and regulations. This provided Democrats with a measure of security that We would be boxed in by our own Constitution under state and local law, even if a conservative Court threw out some of the federal provisions. We suffered and immense loss of freedom through those programs. Getting the Federal bear off our backs still must be the first step toward recovering many of our lost freedoms. Once the bear is caged, we can turn our attention to state and local governments, but I must warn you, unless we use the Great Debate to learn how to change the hearts and minds of the American people, changing state and local governments will take longer and may entail simply waiting for competition to teach state and local governments what works and what doesn't.
The Founders thought each state would be in competition with every other state. The "free market" in government would discipline states and show them which techniques lead to progress and which ones take their states backward. There are a lot of variables here and I don't want to get to far into the future. For the time being, we will do well to focus on reining in the Fed. Let's see if we can learn to walk before trying to tackle the state capitals.
This is the kind of dialog we encourage. We are looking for the solution to a problem that no conservative has been able to solve. This is precisely the mission of this forum. And the give and take discussion of how We can go about putting government back in its Constitutional cage is what we are trying to achieve. Bob J follows through by offering something that he thinks must be a part of any program to restore the Constitution:
"Here is where you make your mistake. Your plan assume RINO's get elected because that is the only candidate presented to voters and the solution is to help real conservatives win the primary."
My response:
We have carefully considered that very problem. You raise issues that must be addressed. Read the section on the Great Debate and the section on the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. For those who want to read ahead so that you can be prepared for what we intend to post in the future (we are willing to give Judith Anne the opportunity to ambush us), here is a link that will take you to the next article in the series. Please understand that the future articles are drafts and still undergoing revisions such that when actually posted to FreeRepublic some changes could occur. As Judith Anne noted we had put a link to the next article at the bottom of the post. We will resume that practice in future articles and add a link to the previous article as it appeared on Free Republic.
Bob J continues: "We have had forty years of propaganda and lies.."
My response:
Actually, it is closer to a hundred years. Woodrow Wilson's election will actually mark the beginning of the end of the United States if some effort to turn things around is not successful. One of the things that most Americans are going to have a great deal of difficulty in understanding is that life as we know it in the United States can actually go on for another decade at most. When you do the math, our balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements are insolvent now if others were to stop lending us the cash needed to make current accounts cash flow. If creditors were to stop renewing maturing bonds, even without new lending, it is very debatable whether we could survive the downgrading of the credit rating of US treasuries that could result.
Think of the awful magnitude of that statement. What was once considered to be the world's only risk free investment for more than a century, is now in danger of being downgraded for credit risk by both Moody's and Standard and Poors. And if the Chinese communists or the Japanese stopped rolling over maturing bonds, the credit downgrade would almost be a foregone conclusion. All of the people who believe that PBG corp, SS and Medicare are going to pay their full benefits with purchasing power equivalent to today's values are going to be completely wrong. It is not mathematically possible. The United States government is going to default in some way; the question is whether they will stiff beneficiaries with non payment or pay the benefits, but pay them with a worthless currency. Both carry immense risk. Devaluing the currency, the least painful politically here in the US and the preferred means of default by all governments in history carries the credit risk posed by foreign bond holders demanding payment.
Every democracy in history ends in bankruptcy or hyperinflation after the public learns to vote itself benefits. The US is much closer to the brink than anybody can imagine. Before each of you flame the quotes in this or the paragraph above, be aware that we are going to provide the data and the analysis that under gird these statements and we want to give you ample opportunity to find your own data or analysis that will refute these hypotheses. I'm also going to ask that you extend me the courtesy of delaying your attacks on these statements until we get to that stage of our presentation. Please take the opportunity to use that time to sharpen your swords to the greatest possible extent. In the mean time, we would like to stay focused on the big picture of restoring the Constitution and not get lost at this moment in the details of why we need to restore the Constitution.
We really can get through this mess if we can develop the will, have the debate, and get the American people back to reality.
Remember our challenge and then please consider whether you are willing to take The Pledge
Platitudes and oververbose obfuscation do not mask your failings.
Your sales method is poor--and is not backed up by any names, addresses, or personal integrity. You are all unknowns, and you are using the names of people who are well known but who have either no interest in you and your project or any interest in endorsing your efforts, or who are deceased.
I'll definitely follow the series, you can count on it.
And please--learn to be concise if you want your replies read.
What a great post!
Thank you, and welcome to FR.
Thanks for the ping, w33!
Thank you. I hope you will let us add your name to our "Ping for the Constitution" list so that you can join in and follow our discussions.
Whether it is tentative interest or a veiled threat, we welcome you and your input. My training in medical writing and science required that no detail be omitted. The concept was that you never knew what small detail might trigger a major recognition in a reader, the aaha phenomenon. My wife has nagged me about my verboseness for more than forty years. I keep trying, but...
All you have asked of anybody is to signify agreement with your stated political priniciples (principles that embody the spirit of Constitutionally based conservatism) and people have responded as if there were strange noises in the attic.
All you need to do now is ask people to admit that they like chocolate, sex and beer and you will be officially designated a minion of satan.
It sure makes it harder to rally the troops in an effort to dig our way out of the hole.
Ping your friends and ask them to take The Pledge.
I have no feelings of inadequacy and no friends.
Hmmmm, is there a pattern there? And, if so, whose pattern is it? ;^p
Seriesly though, if I had anyone to ping I would.
Your comment started me thinking about the contrasts in our country before Woodrow Wilson set the stage for socialism starting in 1912 and what our country is like now since socialism has become the dominant segment of government, accounting for more than 60% of total spending and poised to grow exponentially in less than a decade.
It occurred to me that the Founders would find our "Pledge of Allegiance" repugnant. The Founders pledged their lives, their sacred honor, and their fortunes to freedom and the empowerment of the individual, a philosophy completely at odds with today's "Amerika". What follows are some excerpts from a Google search of "pledge of allegiance":
The Pledge of Allegiance
A Short History
Copyright 1992 by Dr. John W. Baer
Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).
Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all.
The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his Baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.
In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'
See also www.PledgeQandA.com: "Socialism" is usually defined as "government ownership and control of the means of production" (the means of production are often defined as "land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship"). Many people broaden this definition to include "government redistribution of income and/or wealth."
Does this conjure up visions of Karl Marx or little parading Nazi youths in your mind? Perhaps you should consider taking our Pledge before its too late.
However, I shall not take your pledge at post 4 - my life is already pledged to Jesus Christ alone, He is my sacred honor - I have none of my own, nor do want any.
Also I am not pleased with the emphasis at post 134 on the socialist roots of the authors of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The meaning and power is in the words not the history of it.
Christmas and Easter both can be traced to pagan roots – but that is not remembered when the assembly gathers to honor what Christ has done for us. Again, the meaning is in what we derive from the moment – not the origin of the custom.
Because the political revelation is already raising alarms in my Spirit, please remove my name from your ping list.
Thanks for the ping old friend,
Bump for later
Neat graphic, Fidd. Worth more than a thousand words.
I hereby pledge.
We have a two-party system. One or the other will always be carrying the ball. The Republicans won the toss and elected to receive. Both our offense and defense either needs to be re-trained or replaced. Nobody is winning. All we are doing is running up and down the field and giving the ball back with just inches to go without even attempting a field goal.
Why?
Because nobody wants to win. They just want to play the game or watch it and for the game to never end. Bread and circuses. Beer and football. The game itself has become a way of life and the reason for living.
Meanwhile, the stadium is getting filled up with empty beer cans and empty uniforms suits.
HP, I believe your plan will work. But it looks like you are putting all your eggs in one basket. Have you researched other ways to finance candidates?
Apart from financing candidates, I've suggested on this forum several times that all the pro-constitution third-parties should join the ranks of the Republicans and replace the RNC. Let them fight it out in the smokey back rooms or on the dueling fields and purify the leadership.
A little pre-game scrimmage with some new blood would go a long way. This game has to be won once and for all, and quickly. This country has other enemies to worry about -- more overt than the democrat party.
And you are right about the dangers of making this a personality contest, of course. Performance is everything.
I'd really like to get back to my sailing and have the assurance that my country will be the same country when I return to port that it was when I left. I really hate all this pre-occupation with having to worry about our sales clerks and employees robbing the store when I'm away.
(I'm sure all of our military shares the same sentiment).
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