The Neoconservative Persuasion

Weekly Standard ^ | 2003 | Irving Kristol

[Darlin']

Well, ok, I guess he isn't but at least he told the truth. LOL

[Barlowmaker]

Nobody is THAT brazen! ;-)

[Indie]

This gives the opportunity to real anti-semites to claim that Dubya has been taken over by the Jewish neocons and to invade Iraq was not in U.S. interests. And the rest of the world claims that Israel runs U.S. foreign policy because of the predominant iterest of neocons in the Bush administration. If you don't believe it, just read some foreign newspapers. some of the other "conservative" forums.

[inflation]

Not when it takes 30-80 seconds for Freerepublic to respond to my posts. ;->

[inflation]

This is in East Texas. It isn't overpriced labor nor is it union labor. And your Ukranian labor would have to be paid overtime which the illegals do not get.

If the playing field was level it would be different. But you and I both know it isn't and that isn't right and isn't what the USA is susposed to be about.

[Veracious Poet]

"The business of America is business." - Calvin Coolidge.

"It's not personal. It's just business." - Don Vito Corleone

"Property is theft." - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

"Members of Congress need to step outside the cluttered field for a moment and ask themselves: what is the proper function of a tax code in a democratic society? If the role of the tax code is to regulate human behavior, to encourage some forms of industry over others, to punish bad habits, and to redistribute wealth, then they should just keep tinkering. But if they believe -- as they should -- that the purpose of the tax code is to simply raise revenue, then it's clearly time to consider whether the ludicrously complex, expensive, and burdensome tax code is the best vehicle to accomplish such a straightforward task." - Stephen Moore, director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute

[nopardons]

I don't usually pic nits about spelling errors...GOD knows I make enough of my own,but that wasn't a spelling error;you didn't know the correct word.It's the same kind of thing,as when people here were writing "dwarfs", when the plural is DWARVES" and there is no such word as "anyways"!

Perhaps YOU should get some sleep and rethink accusing,blindly and out of hand,anyone you assume holds position,without KNOWING what position that person has. :-)

How do you know that the person lost his job due to ILLEGAL hires?

When people lost their jobs due to the immigration influxes,previously,no one was talking about whether or not they were legal or illegal;but,they still LOST THEIR JOBS,and THAT was my point! From the earliest days of industrialization,in this country,people were fired and others hired at LOWER SALARIES.Those who went on strike,NEVER were rehired;that was the companies' policy.People have ALWAYS been expendable and the bottom line taken as precedence.Go look into this,maybe the scales will fall from your eyes.

No job? Go get another! No jobs in your area? MOVE!Yes,it's as simple as that.Before all of the government saftey-nets,people did whatever it took to feed and house and clothe themselves and their families.

Your friend's job loss has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the topic of this thread. Why have you high-jacked it?

[Torie]

Let me "help" you some more:

Thank you for correcting my spelling, but I would like to point out that leading off with a spelling correction isn't a way to make yourself look more intelle[i]gent. It makes you look like a person who would rather point out minor mistakes of the other[ ]side rather than debate the points they are [it is] making.

He lost his jobs because of ILLEGAL labor. He didn't lose his job because it was no longer needed. The only reason we have illegal labor in this country is because people will not enfore the laws against it.

Perhaps you should get some sleep and re[-]think your support of those that break our nation[']s laws.

[Tailgunner Joe]

So then you would have supported Steve Forbes' idea of a flat tax, right?

[cgk]

I came to the "party" late, but I happen to agree with nearly everything you wrote.

[John Lenin]

To sum it up, neo-cons believe that defending democracy and individual freedom goes beyond our borders, which I have to agree with because when we get to the point where the majority of the world does not believe in individual freedom and democracy we will not have any allies to call on.

[Veracious Poet]

Absol-freakin-lutely!

Anything would be better than that nightmare of a millennium that the IRS code presently is.

Too bad it will never be close to a reality in our lifetimes.

[ClancyJ]

We are in a war and war usually means there are deaths of soldiers - very sad but true. To hold each and every death as a strike against our President is ridiculous and shows what weak creatures we have become.

Also, in a war there are millions of ideas on how the war should be run - millions of armchair generals who bloviate about how their way would have been better. Yet, there is only one man and his group of military that are making these decisions and seeing all of the pros and cons of every action.

[Tailgunner Joe]

Do you think Steve Forbes would be more comfortable in the salons of Wall Street or a barbecue on Main Street?

[Veracious Poet]

Hmmm...I don't know Steve Forbes personally, so I couldn't say.

But as for me, I've been in both and either one would be OK in my book.

[Tamzee]

Bravo to your post 18... every single word.

[asmith92008]

I believe that if liberals disappeared and we lived in a world full of conservatives and libertarian, we would still face a number of problems. There would still be an open borders movement. The Wall Street Journal makes a yearly libertarian call for open borders. In addition, various libertarian groups, such as Cato, find common cause with liberals on a promiscuous view of personal liberty or, to be more accurate, licentiousness.

But we live in the real world with liberals. Yet that does not mean conservatives should try to "out-liberal" them. Instead, we should defeat them on the battlefield of ideas. Be proud in our conservative views and people will be persuaded. A cringing adoption of liberalism only leads to a slower and more painful defeat.

[asmith92008]

by the by, a salon refers to a place where elites gather, such as a restaurant, club or

If they don't hold block parties or neighborhood fairs where you live, I'm sorry for you. It does, however, seem to explain the stridency of your post. Take my advice. Calm down, go get to know your neighbors. It'll take the edge off.

As to class warfare, well to me that's the conservative equivalent of shouting "racist" whenever you run out of arguments. Or do you honestly think that everything business does ends benefiting the regular folks?

CostCo gets politicians to eminent domain a church's land because those pesky holy rollers won't get with the program and sell. Is it class warfare to say that the business is wrong?

China demands Boeing share its jet technology in order to gain access to its cheap labor pool. Is it class warfare to expect the company's shareholders forsake that profit in order that a communist nation not get sensitive information? Or does free trade triumph over logic?

The national chamber of commerce supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, a policy that depresses American wages and could ultimately lead to the disintegration of an American identity (read Samuel Huntington's new book Who Are We? He called the Islamic threat to the West nearly a decade ago. Really scary if he;s' right again.). Does opposing amnesty count as class warfare?

Let's face it. The elites of both parties sometimes have vested interests that are not aligned with the best interests of the country. Pointing that out doesn't;t make me a "class warrior."

[asmith92008]

Great argument. Since we also regulate their disposal of chemical waste, we also shouldn't cry foul when they dump a load in your backyard. And since a lot of regulatory enforcement depends on whistle blowers, we should turn a blind eye when they whack those rats.

Do you think that if the minimum wage did not exist, employers still wouldn't want to flood America with economic refugees in order to depress wages?

Alan Keyes put it very nicely when he warned that the Republicans are in danger of becoming the party of greed, just as the Democrats are the party of lust.

[nopardons]

Nope,that is NOT at all the meaning of the word "salon"!

If you were well versed in history,you would know that "salon" is used with regard to one's home,where a gathering of people mingle.It's actually an old term,several centuries old,and European in origin.

It was women,who were or wanted to be socially upwardly mobile,who opened their parlours (living rooms to you),usually on a weekly basis,to "intellectuals",prominent artists of all stripes,for stimulating conversation.

Gertrude Stein i s but one person well known for her great "salons" and a late comer to it.

THESE GATHERINGS WERE NEVER HELD IN A RESTAURANT OR CLUB!

They don't hold block parties nor neighborhood fairs where I live. They hold such in MANHATTAN,though,where I used to live,and in CHICAGO,where I also used to live;but in rural Conn.,we don't have "block parties." My little town,which was incorporated in 1711,does have parades though,on Memorial Day and Labor Day,as well as a lovely Christmas tree lighting,on the old sheep's meadow. :-)

I know my neighbors...but not as well as I knew my neighbors,when we lived in a MAJOR city...here,there's far more land between us.You do have a rather strange idea of what things are like,in anyplace other than where YOU live.LOL

Anti-business? Why am I not surprised? And FYI...businesses are NOT in business to "benefit" the " regular folks". There's that silly MARXISM again.

Your posts incriminate you.I don't have to raise a finger.