That makes me confused, yet aroused all at the same time.
Here is the cure. Call it Reverse-Viagra. ;-)
Posted on 04/01/2005 2:39:59 PM PST by 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.
I hope it is just that.
Wow. A cute widdle fweeper jacket. That's so precious... Tell me. What have you done LATELY?
Let me see if I have this right. You don't like people pulling seniority in defense of hchutch, but you're trying to make a big point out of the fact that you were at the original "March for Justice" (uhh...big deal), and I wasn't.
Gee...what's the problem here?
Don't EVER feed them, and they might stay away. At that same apartment complex, we had this huge stone pond with those really big technicolor carp in them. One day, I saw a shadow pass overhead, then saw the crane dive in the pond, then - no more carp.
Now that's what I call an opus!
(Blushing Smiley.)
See?
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
I don't bake 'em, just Google 'em :)
L
I am convinced no one here agrees with me on these positions 100% and yet I'm not leaving.
A few people may have noticed that I haven't posted as much lately."
Of course people have noticed. I certainly have.
"I don't care for the shrillness and insults, either. I think it will give fodder to those who call us extremists for a very long time."
I agree completely with what you've said. Sometimes I've found it kind of odd, because I suppose I'm "middle of the road" in terms of the debate about Terri. I never wanted to argue with people and I always tried to be polite. I suppose that comes across as wishy-washy.
I wanted to save Terri, though I didn't want to subject her to reinserting the feeding tube if she had no hope of not having it taken out again, if any action taken by GW or Jeb would ultimately be pointless.
I also didn't like arguing with people I knew and respected about such things as whether or not GW Bush should send in troops to rescue Terri (a terrible idea, imo). I just generally said, "we'll have to agree to disagree."
It is true that this site is read by the media. Either despite that or because of that, I sincerely hope people will continue to speak from the heart, try accept each other, take a break when they cannot be civil, and then return to the public conversation.
Including you, hchutch.... :)
However, I will tell you before you go why the Schindlers embraced anybody who they thought could or might help them. It is because in their minds they were fighting for their daughters life and when a man is protecting his family there are no rules, there is no process and the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Mr Schindler should not be admonished for that, he should be admired, he was afctually quite restrained.
If it had been my daughter laws would have been broken.
That makes me confused, yet aroused all at the same time.
Here is the cure. Call it Reverse-Viagra. ;-)
I guess you know that makes you a nobody!
"God is staying here, although He chooses strictly to lurk...."
LOL!
God would probably be flamed within minutes.
From all sides. :)
ewwww...what is that?
Where's Jack Thompson? :)
My husband wants to put fish in pond. I think between the birds and raccoons he'd better dig pretty deep.
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