Time to part company

myself | 4/1/05 | hchutch

[hchutch]

Six months ago, Free Republic was riding high, and I was proud to be a part of it. It was coming off having blown the cover off of Dan Rather’s use of forged memos against the President. The President was well on his way to winning re-election. It was a great time to be a Freeper.

However, things have changed. It started with the justifiable removal of ALIPAC. I supported that move by Jim Robinson, but the ugliness directed towards Alberto Gonzales. He was accused of everything under the sun, and Senator Mel Martinez was viciously attacked for speaking Spanish on the Senate floor. The tone and outright viciousness (terms like FROBL and traitor were fired off at anyone who did not toe the line established by Michelle Malkin and Tom Tancredo) on immigration threads had concerned me, but I had concluded it was an isolated incident. After ALIPAC was removed from FR, I had hoped the tone there would improve. But it only got worse. I was point-blank called a traitor because my views on immigration differ from those of Michelle Malkin’s groupies. On immigration threads, questioning the questionable is not allowed. One must accept the unacceptable and allow folks to defend the indefensible. Never mind that VDARE, American Renaissance, and other sites are racist or have no problem hanging out with those that are racists (I’m just going to call a spade a spade here).

There were folks who had the long knives out for Senator Rick Santorum, one of the strongest pro-life members of the United States Senate. Why? Because he endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey. It was stunning to see these long knives out for a conservative. And all it would accomplish would be his replacement by a Democrat. How in the world replacing Rick Santorum with a Democrat would aid conservatism is beyond me, but it was demanded because Santorum endorsed Specter. The long knives were out, and I suppose it was a sign of what was to come.

The whole Terri Schiavo case has changed everything for me. A mob mentality took over the first few days after the order to pull the tube was given. Anyone who did not toe the line was attacked. I saw a dedicated active-duty member of our armed forces called a “Maine liberal” for simply asking why troops in harm’s way did not get the same sort of “all-nighter” attention that Terri Schiavo got. It was a reasonable question – we have 40-year-old P-3s still out there. We have a war on terrorism still going on, in case folks have not noticed. We have to get Social Security fixed. I say this as a person who believes that at best, Michael Schiavo’s relationship with a woman (and having two kids with her) meant he had a conflict of interest – and that he had decided that Terri was inconvenient. I cannot take his word alone that Terri would have wanted this. I also believe that George Felos is a supporter of euthanasia, and that he is using this case for his own ends. Those folks give me the creeps, and I think that Jim Robinson was on the right side of this issue. However, I also got a very bad feeling when the Schindlers embraced the likes of Randall Terry and Bo Gritz. I had to wonder what has happened to the conservative movement when the threads were allowed to spiral so out of control. The concept of euthanasia is repulsive and disgusting, but it does not excuse allowing the threads to spin out of control.

I have seen the President of the United States, George W. Bush, and the Governor of Florida, John Ellis Bush, take huge political risks in an effort to save Terri’s life. I believe they were doing their best to do the right thing, and that the original law passed in 2003 was a reasonable one that was wrongly stuck down by Judge Greer and the Florida Supreme Court. I think that the Republican Party has taken a huge risk to give Terri a chance at life, and I am disgusted with those who seek a pretext that will justify leaving the GOP in the lurch. I’m sick of the way the Terri threads spun out of control, and the vicious attacks launched at reasonable people who came to a different conclusions about the situation or who pointed out facts that certain people found inconvenient. This is not what I signed on here for.

I believe in a strong national defense, cutting taxes, and in general trying to keep government involvement as minimal as possible (there are times when the best one can do is to limit government involvement in a situation). I am pro-life (with exceptions for rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother) and pro-Second Amendment. However, I do NOT want the federal government to be involved in any culture war. “Culture” was never mentioned in the constitution, thus I believe it is left to the States or TO THE PEOPLE (see the Tenth Amendment). I do NOT think immigration is a problem, but I believe some mistakes were made along the way (like eliminating the bracero program). I also think that the President of the United States has proposed a sensible plan that will go a long way towards solving the problems on our border with Mexico and do much to alleviate the problems surrounding illegal immigration. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me and Free Republic to part company, because Free Republic has left this limited-government neoconservative. In the process of Free Republic leaving me, I now find that I fear the social conservatives as much as I fear the loony left. As a result of coming to this conclusion, I ask that my account be deleted and all posts I have made, save for this opus and the ping to my friends be removed.

I do this with regret, since I will miss some of those who I have met here, but I feel no other choice. So long.

[Rebelbase]

"on a day when we feel like we're on a deathwatch that's gone on for a month, "

Good God. Give us your opus too, please.

I mean it. I want to see this place get cleaned out of all the emotional basketcases.

Give me your replies, I'm outta here for the night.
A lucky lady gets to dine with me this evening.

[Concentrate]

The Bush brothers did not do all they could to preserve life with respect to Terri Schiavo. You wrote that they took a political risk. They did indeed unfortunately the risk they took was weak and unsuccessful. Luckily, Jeb showed us all we need to know about his abilities with respect to his candidacy for President such that he will not be a candidate. At least one good thing came of Terri's passing.

Yeah, another good thing is that it paves the way for Hillary, who was largely absent from the scene. /sarc

[Howlin]

Jeb's made it clear he has no plans to run for President.

Don't you wish you had a dollar for every single time that's been posted on FR; and STILL they keep saying he's not going to get their vote. *Sigh*

[Michael Goldsberry]

;^)

[arasina]

Don't go postin' no opus of your own, Poohbah. FR needs people who have the ability to use words like 'onanistic' in their proper context.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Dat Mon Beel.....but I never actually posted as such...registered way back...but never posted.

So you had a screen name "way back", after all. Okey dokey.

[Not A Snowbird]

We're putting a rather decent sized waterfall and pond in our backyard, and I'm hoping I won't have geese. I wouldn't mind an occasional duck, but I'm hoping the geese will stay in their nice big pond across the street.

[BlueAngel]

Please don't leave. There are many of us here who agree with what you wrote.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Nope. Seniority doesn't matter. However, I've been around long enough to see clymers try to pull seniority. The reference to the time I've lurked is appropriate here because I remember a bunch of Buchanan Brigadiers writing the same type of nonsense vanities back in '00 when they quit or under a new name after they were booted from FR for flaming W supporters.

Once again, I ask - if seniority doesn't matter (and I don't really care about it one way or another) why are you expending so much energy towards builing up your "Seniority Cred"?

You never did answer that part :)

[onyx]

BUMP.

[Not A Snowbird]

I could retire. :-)

[expatguy]

/bow

That was a beautiful opus. I couldn't do better myself.

If I ever did do an opus (God forbid) I might not be so nice - Im would most likely strap on an explosive rant and take out as many of my fellow FReepers as I could.

Im glad to see that you are not like that.

In any event, hope to see you back soon!

[Dat Mon]

Still waiting on that jacket....Ill give you time to go find it up in the attic...

[rdb3]

I'm stuned by your post. It was Hugh.

Wow! That makes me confused, yet aroused all at the same time.

[RightOnline]

Ohfercryinoutloud.

Peel off the hairshirt, friend. I've been here for seven years and have seen every little tempest on this site. Big deal. They come and go. There are saints and sinners, cool people and a**holes aplenty. So what?

I love this site for what it is, what it represents, and the ability of FReepers to dissect.

Leaving accomplishes squat. No offense, but I get tired of these "gonna miss me?" threads.

[stands2reason]

At least when I leave it will be because of the trolls, not other Freepers.

[Junior_G]

Good one!

[peyton randolph]

You never did answer that part

I have answered. I'm not pushing seniority "cred." You think otherwise, so be it.

[politicket]

Hey-- "throwing names around" is now permitted at FR. It is A-OK to do it.

I've been around FR for a long time, and things are no worse now than they were "back in the old days". In fact, I would offer that they're actually BETTER! There are a lot more posters now, so participating in any debate requires that you know your topic. Anyone just jumping on a thread for name-calling quickly looses credibility and is ignored (or should be).

[tomkat]

Not to butt in, but how come all the chips in that one are mostly on the left?
A sorta sideways smiley chip face thang ...