Posted on 12/30/2010 7:05:50 AM PST by exit82
Today is my 12th anniversary as a Freeper.
I came across Free Republic in the summer of 1998 as a lurker, troubled by an increasingly lawless President Clinton, and what was happening to our country. I lurked for about four months, reading every day and being amazed at the group of talented and knowledgeable people on this site.
When Jim Robinson put out the call for people to come to Washington, DC to attend the March for Justice Rally on October 30, 1998, I came from NJ on my own, not knowing a soul there, because someone was finally calling for the impeachment of President Clinton. Four thousand plus people from all over the country showed up that Saturday. That call was about the first Internet call for a political gathering--the equivalent then of a flash mob meeting today, albeit much slower in execution.
This is my 19th thread and my 16,000th post. Many have far more than me of both--good thing, too. In 12 years of posting, I have come across the finest group of Americans I have ever known-- a community of kindred spirits--alike in our love for America, its founding documents, and its exceptionalism, and as different from each other as we are in our individual points of view.
So to all of my fellow Freepers who helped to educate me and to whom I have conversed over these 12 years, I say thank you. To Jim Robinson and to John Robinson, I say thank you for allowing me the privilege of being a Freeper, and for providing a home on the Internet where conservatives can gather. I am not a model Freeper, so to those with whom I have disagreed, or have been short with, I ask your forgiveness.
I wrote a vanity titled "We Have Found The Enemy, and The Enemy Is Us" on February 2, 2008 at a time when it became apparent that the Republican primary was going to be decided in favor of John McCain. That disheartened me, but I think I am most proud of what I said that day of all my posts. More of it came true than I would have dreamed.
But more importantly, it contained a warning for the future of what we , as conservatives who love this country, would face not only later in 2008, but in the future years as well.
A turning point in history has been reached by America. I think we all feel that. The new Congress, with its Republican-led House, and a lessened Democrat majority in the Senate, will begin its work on January 5, 2011. This will either be the high water mark of progressivism and socialist thought in America or it will be the high water mark of conservatism and a return to limited Federal government. It could go either way. We all sense it. A country as big as ours cannot turn on a dime. A historical shifting point, like the one we are living in today, is realized over time, maybe over years. The years of 2011 and 2012 will be even more critical than 2010, even though without the historic rejection of Democrat policies that took place in November, 2010, the future that could be realized could not even occur.
Election Day 2010 proved, in my opinion, that an Angel still rides in this whirlwind. The idea that is America, and the freedom bequeathed to us by our parents, the WW2 generation, does still exist in the hearts of our countrymen. However, it must be fought for and protected by each of us.
And we must teach our children and grandchildren that great legacy we have received and of which we are now the guardians for future generations. It is our time to sacrifice for freedom.
In 12 years so much has occurred, and Free Republic has played a role, that I cannot recount it all here. Some of it is recounted in the vanity that follows. History was influenced because of us, and the future will be also.
I want to wish you all and your families, and posterity, a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year in 2011. May God bless us, every one.
Weren't we all? I know for sure that I was.
Thanks, RB! Happy New Year to you!
Howdy Bigun.
I don’t post so much now. Been totally disgusted with the past 2 years.
However, people have been asking me about landrights issues, so maybe it’s time to re-engage.
Still full of piss and vinegar tho’.
Congrats on your anniversary. Just a couple more months for me to get to 12 yrs.
I then joined after a great thread by BKO, inspired me to join. (Barbra K. Olson, who now smiles down on us all!)
Onward FReepers! To decades more!
p.s. Thanks again to all of you that supported my son-in-law, Jesse Kelly, in AZ CD-8.
Explorer89, thanks for mentioning MrConfettiMan. Joe was a wonderful Freeper. It was a real loss to us when he passed, after a valiant battle with a brain tumor. A very fine man.
That’s one downside of being here a dozen years. Thoise good folks on the Freeper Remembrance Wall are people you talked with and enjoyed.
TJ—I went throught the teenage years once—that was enough!
BTW, your tagline makes me smile, because I can’t figure it out! Tell me what it means.
So much history, so many people, in such a short time. Ash, the Hurtgen forest, the pitiful good by’s of those offended, Our Republic and Constitution continually under attack from domestic enemas, our out of control government and Free Republic marches on.
Thanks for the write-up. From one “old Freeper” to another ... congratulations and Happy New Year (and here’s to many more).
VRWC—how are you! You Texans are great folks!
Can you believe that—a few short months and you’ll be here 13 years. Wow.
Happy New Year!
LOL! I would have been sorely disappointed if that were not true Pod!
I don't post nearly as much as I once did either. Like it or not this place HAS changed over the years.
Great to "see" you again!
We have all come a long way! On the day I learned about FR, I was watching Dan Rather dictate and interpret the election on See B.S. Let us not forget where we have taken Conservatism since then!
There are two "Prov"s on FR as well, Prov1322 and Prov3456, and I have met both of them (one male and one female) as well; so you and I will just have to meet one of these days.
I have you beat by a few months too. Aug 1998 but actually I had another screen name from before that. Had I known that sigh up dates were recorded I might have kept it. I wonder if you can find a discarded sign up date.
Thanks, I still miss him. We used to drink our coffee together in the mornings and bitch about politics before our day began. I got to see his “Fire the Liar” sign first!
FR has been an "island of sanity" from which I still cannot break my dependence. And why would I want to anyway?
The other day FR was down and I thought "what if FR went down for good" (because of net neutrality, Jim Robinson just getting sick of us and leaving, etc.) and I got cold sweats.
The value FR has had for me is hard to put into words.
astiunde, how cool was that. Buckhead took down Dan Rather and CBS NEws while they were deliberately trying to influence a Presidential election.
That was one major way Free Republic affected history. Imagine if that horseface old Commie, John Kerry, won in 2004! ((((Shudder)))
Many of us were aware of her. Few could have predicted that she would provide the ray of hope for conservatism in the context of the 2008 elections, which is the topic of the essay.
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