Posted on 04/05/2007 8:46:45 PM PDT by Pistolshot
I came here in 1998 looking for conservative, logical, thoughtful conversation and debate on the things that matter to us the most. I was a Reagan Republican. One of those who had watched in horror as our embassy staff in Tehran was taken by fanatics. The answer should have been overwhelming force, but it was Carter, that limp-wristed, cant-we-just talk-this-out, weakling who had made the military a shambles, and stripped it of its soul because of VietNam. I knew from the beginning that there was no room in this world for weakness and that was the beginning of my road to conservatism.
Now here we are, in the beginnings of a campaign to deny the Democrats not only the White House, but the two houses of Congress. It is extremely early in this race, the leading candidates that have announced are far from acceptable to a large majority of us. Yet, day after day on this site we have the Rudy machine, the McCain people, Mitts people, and every other supported candidate backer posting missives about their guy. Some are repeated vitriol that has no debatable content, and only begs to be ignored. Some of it is the adage of Dont like it, too bad. He will be our candidate. In the past Ive seen posters here who were thoughtful, logical, literally passionate about impeaching Clinton, but with a HUGE degree of civility.
What is taking place here, and I am guilty of it too, so dont think I am pointing fingers here, is the destruction of what is good about this site. WE ARE CONSERVATIVES, first and foremost. We have our passions that lead us to the candidates we have running. Debate is the give and take of ideas to reach a consensus about a direction. A direction we should all look at for the country, not because of the he can beat Hillary dogma, but because the candidate we choose is THE one to carry what our hopes and dreams are for this great nation. I have seen posters here demean others, insult integrities, bash people they DONT EVEN KNOW ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, and generally look like some of the slime that lurks on DU.
We are supposed to be better than that. Its time we stop acting like we cannot debate without insult, stop treating each other as if our opinions dont matter or our vote. Its time that Jim starts looking around and suspending or closing some accounts for this type of behavior until it gets under control.
We are not DU here. The candidate we vote to carry the platform will be the one who reaches out to the most diverse among us. If that doesnt happen for your candidate, Im sorry. But to stoop to some of the tactics Ive seen here based on a persons opinion or religion is despicable and speaks poorly for all of us.
Now we got rich left winged blowhards making everyone else feel guilty for being the biggest contributors to global warming.
No, I don’t WANT to reply to you. Live with it.
But they’ll blame us.
I’m glad you did. I hate it when a joke fails thanks to Tripod.
Is that a threat?
:-)
So what? Bush gets blamed for everything under the sun, but you don’t see him complaining.
You have no direct response, you only become abusive.
Your reaction validates my point.
Except for this statement, I agree with you 100%.
Civility is sorely lacking around here these days. BUT, you cannot place the burden on Jimrob for our own actions! Jimrob and the Mods have a full time job keeping it all together as it is.
Instead we must ask ourselves, What can we do to make it better? We are the ones responsible for the hostilities, because we are the ones being hostile. The blame falls squarely on our shoulders.
Liberty demands the greatest of self-restraint and individual responsibility.
Hateful times too.
You're welcome,
spellcheck moderator
:)
I’m not being abusive; I’m simply stating a fact: I’m not going to play a stupid game with somebody who can’t see the difference between an R or a D.
I draw my distinctions at liberal and conservative.
I don't vote Republican. I vote conservative.
While that is certainly wise counsel, and bears heeding by all of us, liberty, to survive, also demands that men and women have the courage to speak up for what's right, no matter the personal cost, no matter the conflict that it might cause. The truth and righteousness are more important than mere peace.
Sometimes there really isn't any.
-—So what? Bush gets blamed for everything under the sun, but you dont see him complaining.-—
So, we should just shut up?
True.
I moderated on another site for about a year and finally burned out and retired from it. It is an incredible pain in the rump to have to shift through a seven or eight page thread and sniff out all the nasty stuff.
As with everything else, self moderation is the best policy for all involved.
Yep. And sometimes the candidate even admits it:
"Most of Clinton's policies are very similar to most of mine." - Rudy Giuliani
Thanks Chuck. I hate it when that happens. ;)
I never said that.
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