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, can’t-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, Mitt’s 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 ‘Don’t like it, too bad. He will be our candidate.’ In the past I’ve 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 don’t 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 DON’T 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. It’s time we stop acting like we cannot debate without insult, stop treating each other as if our opinions don’t matter or our vote. It’s 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 doesn’t happen for your candidate, I’m sorry. But to stoop to some of the tactics I’ve seen here based on a persons opinion or religion is despicable and speaks poorly for all of us.
You see, DC, if you dare disagree with EV, you're criticizing ALL conservatives and conservatism.
See how that works.
Heheh! Nah, I asked the moderators to have it taken down. It had degenerated into a screaming match and had become counterproductive to the original intent of the thread.
Actually, abortion lost its #1 premier issue position on 9-11-01. We are now in a fight for Western Civilization, which includes freedom of religion.
After that war is won, if it’s won, we can reassess what Western Civilization is, if we’re a pro-abortion or pro-life society, condone homosexual marriage, etc. But without that basic freedom, the rest is meaningless.
I don’t think I’d be abandoning my principles by supporting someone for POTUS whose personal beliefs on those social issues might be different from mine, so long as s/he would continue the fight to preserve the freedoms granted us in the Bill of Rights and various amendments to the Constitution. That fight would include appointing to SCOTUS justices who can read and interpret rather than rewrite the Constitution.
The relatively new decision to allow spam and calling freepers treasonous liberals because they like a Republican (Rudy) who management doesn’t like has set a new tone for the forum, all of it low.
We’ll see how long it takes for the quarterly fundraising.
Of course, this is the forum that largely wanted Alan Keyes to be the presidential nominee in 2000 :-)
Talk about "one issue voters"! Aside from "Rudy was there on 9/11" and the empty assumption that this qualifies him to be Commander-in-Chief, you Rudyites HAVE NO OTHER ISSUE. As far as I can tell, Rudy's only "contribution" after 9/11 to the WOT was duping Bush into nominating Kerik and luckily Kerik's criminal past was exposed before he created what would have been Bush's biggest PR crisis ever.
Now, it would be one thing if Rudy was the only GOP candidate who is willing to fight the WOT, but HE'S NOT.
What about the 10% of FReepers who are pushing the MOST LIBERAL Republican to ever seek the presidency and who cheer his leftist social agenda.
There are times that we need to be reminded that "Life" is not an "issue." It is a right. It is a God-given right. It is a right enshrined in Holy Scripture. That right is the paramount of all rights, and from it all the others derive.
To back away from that right IS to back away from God. The bible says that "The Wicked shall be cast into hell..."
Hell will NOT be brought to earth by those who steadfastly support Life. It will be brought by those who weakly compromise with the message of murder and death. They are Jimmy Carter's and Neville Chamberlains of the spirit; weak-willed and weak-kneed sad people who have no conviction that is not negotiable in hope that terrorists of the spirit will not ultimately bring death on others in their community.
We will stand against them in this Spiritual Iraq known as a presidential campaign or we will fight them in our own homes. We will do a Nancy Pelosi pull-out of the spirit, and we will enact a House of Representatives "defunding" of the greatest Right enshrined in the holiest of places in our culture, or we will effect what is in reality a coward's retreat, and the result will be a cowering, shriveled worm of a soul that knows no direction and interprets good and evil as passing fancies of personal desires.
I will not vote for a pro-murder, pro-abortion candidate.
This is where I have taken my stand, and I will not be moved.
If God be for us, who can stand against us!
See #347.
Life is not an issue.
It is a Right. One doesn’t negotiate rights, and especially not the ultimate of rights.
Amen!
And especially this week, we NEED to remember that He came "that we may have life and have it more abundantly."
“FREEPERS!!! WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US??”
I’m sorry, it was the burritos.
3000 Adults were murdered on 9/11/01 by people who have no respect for life.
3000 children are murdered every day in this country by people who have no respect for life.
Without that basic freedom [LIFE], the rest is meaningless.
So we are faced with a choice this election as we are with every election:
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV)
When we pull the lever in the primaries let us remember that. Or lives and the lives of our posterity depend on it.
If we abandon our core principles out of the fear that somehow God will not protect us, but some flesh and blood leader who has no basic respect for the life of the most innocent among us will somehow protect us better than God Almighty, then we have chosen to abandon God and as a result we simply cannot expect that God will continue to protect us.
Trust God and Choose life, that you might live.
The choice is yours. God has given YOU that choice. It is an awesome responsibility. In whom will you place your trust. Man or God?
My "feelings" are not what matters....the truth is paramount.
You should have seen the same thing on a smaller scale with the California recall election.
And don't even get me started on "all Terri, all the time" with the Schiavo case.
In short, don't worry about it -- people are far more likely to be abrasive and passionate on a relatively anonymous medium, such as a message board, than they are face-to-face.
Very Well Said!
Wonderfully written!
I wonder how many people have ever truly considered that carnage equal to 9/11 is carried out EVERY SINGLE DAY in abortuaries across America. And that worldwide abortion claims about 100 lives EVERY SINGLE MINUTE.
It must suck to be you.
It must suck to be you.
It must suck to be you.
Poor form. Bad manners.
I'm not putting the country in this position. I have one vote. You have one vote. I will not vote for someone who condones the murder of innocent children.
I think the War on Terror is the most important issue of our time, more important than anything else.
Quite frankly it isn't. Nearly 50 milion Americans have been murdered in abortion mills in this country in the last 30 or so years. That is more than the population of California, Nevada and Utah combined. No terrorist organization could possibly kill that many Americans even with nuclear weapons.
I can't live with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton commanding our troops.
If the republicans put up a pro-abortion standard bearer, then you'd better get used to it. Pro-Abortion people are loyal to the democrats. Rudy will not garner more than a handful. He cannot win.
The very thought of it repulses and frightens me.
Fear God (1 Peter 2:17)
For this reason, I will do whatever I can to see a Republican in the White House in 2008. I'm very, very sorry that you won't.
I will do all within my power to see that a pro-life Republican will be elected in 2008. I will not lift a finger to see a pro-abortion candidate in the White House. I will not have that stain on my hands.
You'll probably "die" on that "hill", and slaughter the rest of us alongside you, satisfied with yourself that you stood firm.
I have one vote. It is my sacred duty not to cast it in the direction of those who would continue this slaughter of unborn. I am prepared to accept the consequences of my principled stand. I am not prepared to accept the alternative.
Will God be merciful to the merciless?
And I will do whatever I can to see a CONSERVATIVE in the White House in 2008. I'm very, very sorry that you won't.
Excepting the Second Amendment, if you're a Rudy man.
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