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Statement by the founder of Free Republic
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| Jim Robinson
Posted on 03/22/2004 6:22:17 PM PST by Jim Robinson
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To: Richard Kimball; Jim Robinson; hookman; spatzie
Thanks for this post. I've found Free Republic to be not only informative, but also very open to differing viewpoints, so long as they don't violate the posting rules, and even the posting rules are very flexible. This forum is so good because FR has developed a terrific balance of wide open debate without allowing Dadaists to degrade the forums by posting nonsense and throwing bombs for the express purpose of destroying debate.
Like any creation from the mind of man, this place is imperfect, and as with any gathering of Americans with varying experiences, there are differing opinions about how those experiences, good or bad, should influence our future policy as a people and as a nation...and what backup plans we should have in place in the event of the failure or misfire of any of the hopefully ambitious ones. This place is not so vain about itself that it can't spot warts and flaws and correct them; instead of coverup, improvement and repair rules around here. Once a national trait, we may see the pendulum swing back that way again...and in part, perhaps, because we've set the example.
But my grandfather's dictionary defined politics as a plan or structure designed to influence future events; and so if some, maybe most, public officials often get a bad rap nowadays, those who remember the body politic and heed the thoughts it offers generally do a little better. I personally know of at least one fairly prominent congressman who's not a freeper, but who surfs here regularly. I'm very pleased to admit that he contacted me with some requests for information about a technical matter of concern to him, and I did my best to fill him in. I'm sure there've been many other and better examples of the same sort of thing happen.
So Jim Rob created a garden; and like any of its kind, it has its weeds, and sometimes crows come to peck at the blossoms. That which grows here is a particularly hardy plant, poisonous to those who try to devour it and thorny should they try to uproot it. It's better that those who would attempt such actions try it here than where more delicate folwers bloom that might more easily be eradicated. We won't be.
And if Jim Rob were to be run over by a bus tomorrow, he'd be missed and mourned by those here, of course, but the garden he planted would bloom on, offering flora both decorative and nourishing...as well as self-propagating, and expanding. That is not at all the only legacy he'd leave behind, of course, but it's certainly a major one. And it's even more than at least one former President of the United States, the 42nd one, can claim.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
341
posted on
03/22/2004 8:50:52 PM PST
by
archy
(Concrete shoes, cyanide, TNT! Done dirt cheap! Neckties, contracts, high voltage...Done dirt cheap!)
To: sasportas
Do you freepers ever get together? Check out the "Support our Troops" rallies and the "Protest Rallies" freeps/threads that we do frequently here.
We need the support for the War on Liberal ignorant/insolence.
342
posted on
03/22/2004 8:52:02 PM PST
by
PSYCHO-FREEP
(Careful! Your TAGS are the mirror of your SOUL!)
To: Jim Robinson; Neil E. Wright
Thanks for hosing down the deck. Hope we can stay afloat at least through the election. Lotsa periscopes popping up in these here waters. Heh.
To: Jim Robinson
The concept of a pre-emptive strike presumes that the other guy was going to strike you. We now know that Saddam Hussein had neither the weapons nor the intent to strike the United States of America.
While billions of dollars were spent on attacking, invading, occupying, and then rebuilding Iraq, al-Qaeda continues to build itself as a terrorist network.
I'm glad you believe in the principle of pre-emptive strike. So do I. But the Iraq War was not a pre-emptive strike. It was a mistake.
To: Jim Robinson
Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak, and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks. (Ben Johnson)
Jim Robinson is a wise man.
345
posted on
03/22/2004 9:00:35 PM PST
by
WVNan
To: Texas Termite
Hello TT and crew!
346
posted on
03/22/2004 9:01:31 PM PST
by
Diva Betsy Ross
(Every heart beats true for the red ,white and blue!)
To: Jim Robinson
Dangit Jim....
There you go again... beating around the bush..
All that sugar-coating
Just open up and tell us how you really feel...
Go ahead... say it plainly.... clearly...(/sarcasm off>
God bless you for giving us this place to share, pray and commit ourselves again to the freedoms this great nation represent.
May the Lord watch over you and yours as you lead on!
Regards
347
posted on
03/22/2004 9:01:43 PM PST
by
Wings-n-Wind
(The answers are out there; Wisdom is found by asking the right questions)
To: Jim Robinson
Thank you Jim.
One of the many reasons that I love FR is that you are a leader with a backbone. I also appreciated that you are mature enough to make decisions that aren't always going to be popular, and that you can take the heat when a few people fuss over those decisions.
To: Jim Robinson
BRAVO - MR. FOUNDER
I am extremely proud to stand on the corner with you . Keep it rolling.
(Now if we could just get Shiela to leave the flowers alone!!) :>)
349
posted on
03/22/2004 9:02:14 PM PST
by
chadsworth
(AND THE DEMOCRATS have found their leader -Senator Gomer Kerry)
To: Jim Robinson
Thanks so much, Mr. Robinson. I only wish I had found this site in time for the 2000 election.
I, too, USUALLY wish the trolls would stay on DiminutiveUnderparts--they are so much fun to kick around, though....
And I don't care what you have said in the past, I still think there are a lot of JimRobBots here on FR. ;o)
350
posted on
03/22/2004 9:03:41 PM PST
by
lorrainer
("I don't do nuance." -- GW Bush)
To: Jim Robinson
Thank you and God bless you for this clear and definitive statement.
To: Jim Robinson
Keep up the good work. I LOVE FREEREPUBLIC!
352
posted on
03/22/2004 9:06:11 PM PST
by
bellas_sister
(The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men - Plato)
To: sasportas
Welcome to FR. :-)
To: Qwinn
Liberalism: Morons Socialism: Bigger morons
Fascism: Evil morons
Common thread: taking property someone else earned.
354
posted on
03/22/2004 9:07:32 PM PST
by
alrea
(Democrats, Europeans, your taxes and the U.N. can stop obesity and create jobs.)
To: Jim Robinson
Mr. Robinson,
This is easily one of the most inspiring things I have ever read. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America!
To: Jim Robinson
I was watching cartoons on Nickelodeon with my kids before they went to bed earlier, when a "Rock the Vote" ad went on...in the middle of Spongebob Squarepants.
Some idiot kid makes a statement to the fact that the government gets to decide "when my big brother goes to war", "how much money my grandmother gets from Social Security", and "who he can marry", but he gets to chose who they are by voting.
I was outraged!
My oldest son (8 years old) asked me what had upset me, and I said "that commercial" I said..."you mean the chose or lose one Daddy?"
This is bull$hit, that they should throw that crap at elementary school kids watching cartoons.
It's war Jim, and if we're not all standing on the same battlefield when it hits the fan, we will lose.
Matters of policy can be debated after we ensure ourselves that there will be someone in the White House who will listen to us...and John F'ing Kerry is not that man.
God Bless our nation, our troops, and our Commander in Chief.
Now, let's get busy!
356
posted on
03/22/2004 9:10:09 PM PST
by
Luis Gonzalez
(Unless the world is made safe for Democracy, Democracy won't be safe in the world.)
To: Jim Robinson; Howlin
Amen.
357
posted on
03/22/2004 9:11:35 PM PST
by
Tamzee
( It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. - J. Swift)
To: Luis Gonzalez
Kicking an ass in the ass LOL Better start doing my leg lifts!
358
posted on
03/22/2004 9:12:36 PM PST
by
cyborg
(sheretz mekori notef mugla's dead score one for civilization!)
To: Jim Robinson; Admin Moderator; Sir Gawain
I am going to have to report you man. I'm sorry, but your vanities are getting out of hand.
359
posted on
03/22/2004 9:12:55 PM PST
by
Texaggie79
(Did I just say that?)
To: Jim Robinson
Jim,
Thanks for such a clear and refreshing statement. You have graciously shared your web site with us all these years. You get to call the shots on who you let in. When you declare your values so clearly those of like mind will congregate here. This has been my cyber home for the last six years. It is a place where I feel at home and among friends. Keep up the good work.
Mr Sol
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