(i wondered 'bout that too but didn't ask, thinkin' it mighta been a family photo or somethin', ya know ?)
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.
FReepmail on its way to you with HTML Bootcamp info
Finally, a reply of reason.
Thank You.
I already commented on the situation over here, but I'll check this thread out later.
Mrs. CD and I are getting ready to eat.
"But I'd dog Him mercilessly about the platypus. I mean really, what the hell is that thing all about, anyway? He must have outsourced the designing job or something."
LOL, literally! There must have been a bug in the program God was using or something. At the risk of offending the Bill Gates supporters, perhaps He was using Microsoft? ;)
Okay, guess I'd better log off & get my kids to bath and bed. Take care, everyone. :)
If it can't, or if it becomes a forum completely dominated ...by the issues of the religious right and the xenophobes, then your decision seems perfectly reasonable to me, and I expect a lot more of the long time well-respected posters to follow your lead.
$$$$$
Sadly, very true. I always value ideas posted by both of you, but am very uncomfortable on so many threads recently that I worry for the 'reputation' of FR as it gains an ever higher visibility in the world of conservative activism.
Not really. He just sounds like all of the other people who hate the people I like. : ) No one who is genuinely new would take it upon themselves to tell a good, long-time Freeper that no one cares he's leaving, imo - and I still don't think anybody lurks for seven years, despite claims to the contrary. ; )
I disagree with you very much, apparently, on Terri and her husband and his judicial allies who have now achieved the death of an innocent woman. Nonetheless, I do not doubt that you are as principled in your advocacy on that issue as on immigration and others.
As strongly as you and I have argued in favor of immigrants and as strongly as we may disagree on Terri, we will be a poorer website if either a) we take our differences personally or b) being on a minority side drives us from the ongoing discussion here.
We have each been in a small minority on immigration. Some opponents on that issue are sometimes very nasty. Sometimes I am very nasty to them. You are somewhat more kind and considerate to them.
On the issue of Terri, some of us are VERRRRRRRRRRY upset at the judicial power grab and the fact that the social left is going after the disabled now as they went after the babies thirty years ago. The solution to the ongoing raids against Western Civilization by our "out-of-control" judiciary is the castration of that judiciary until it learns to behave.
Thirty years ago, I belonged to groups like Young Americans for Freedom, Young Republicans and College Republicans, all of which had regular regional or national get togetehrs at which ideas were debated more vigorously than ideas are debated here in the sense that ad hominem attacks were not rare. It was our internal way of disciplining our movement ideologically. If your argument failed at one meeting, you brought more likeminded people to the next. Movement opposition to the military draft and to abortion were forged in that crucible.
I see little evidence that such a crucible has existed in the last two decades. FR is as close as it comes nowadays. We do not have the advantage of knowing many of each other face to face. Manners may suffer as a result. The strong assertion of ideological differences may easily be mistaken for personal hatred. That ought not to be.
I attack here and I am certainly attacked as enthusiastically. It is just not personal. All that is personal is the positive values of camaraderie and agreement when it occurs (much more often than not.
You have been a worthy and valued ally and, much more rarely, a worthy and valued opponent. If you insist on withdrawing, what can any of us do? I certainly hope you will reconsider.
Exactly right! I mean, this forum could never survive without Lucianne Goldberg and her crew. Or what about CaL and the Keyes bunch? And let's not forget the Buchanan brigades! Oh yes, the loss of "long time well-respected posters" will quickly be the death-knell of Free Republic.
Or not.
Ecclesiastes 1.2: "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."
(i wondered 'bout that too but didn't ask, thinkin' it mighta been a family photo or somethin', ya know ?)
But your is okay, right, Miss "I Have A FreeRepublic Jacket"? I can't tell you how impressive that is.
Really. I can't.
(yw, hope it helps)
Have you ever heard the song "What if God smoked Cannabis"? It addresses the platypus. ;-)
"YOU are one of the nutty fanatics on this board, you and every other bridge burning, pitchfork toting get Bush because he doesn't tow every single conservative line
idiot!"
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I offer you exhibit A.
The nastiness of tone that has popped up occasionally is, after all, largely the subject of this thread. I don't believe I have ever actively criticized our president on this board. I think you've made quite a big assumption. I this is just the sort of knee-jerk reaction that might be causing some to leave. Seriously, calm down and re-read your post. You've called me "nutty" and an "idiot" without the least knowledge of who I am or what I am about. Sure, I'm not going to jump ship over it, but don't you think it's a bit unnecessary?
And "fanatic"? Really, now that's the most interesting, because I've always thought of myself as a political free-thinker, although fairly conservative.
Look through this thread to see if I've criticized the president. I'm just an adherer to the old addage (loosely quoted), "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll fight for your right to say it." I think this is what America is about. May rational heads prevail.
Well, ok, maybe I don't. I have a "Chief Disuptor" one ;0)
That's even more intimidating than a FreeRepublic jacket. I'll stand down.
You've been here six months and you don't get the Opus?
Maybe that's part of the problem.
Folks not bothering to figure out that there is/was a distinct culture about Free Republic.
The day this place insists that everyone be on the same page on every issue is the day I walk away.
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