Posted on 12/19/2005 4:45:31 PM PST by ReignOfError
I'm going to post something that I know will not be popular. I intend to make it civil and respectful, and hope that most of the replies (all would be too much to ask) maintain that tone.
If you believe everything you read on Free Republic, most Americans are dedicated to the destruction of America. Start with the 48+% who voted for John Kerry last November, then toss in the RINOs and those who enthusiastically voted for them, the folks who are solidly conservative with single-issue exceptions like abortion, immigration or the War, anyone who works for a media outlet with more than five employees (though FNC and the WSJ are grudgingly accepted as “less anti-American”), and you quickly get up to about 55-60% of Americans who, to one constituency or another on FR, are mortal enemies.
(I understand and accept that there are some FReepers for whom immigration or abortion shrinks all other issues to insignificance. Can we, this once, take that as read?)
I think a little perspective check is in order.
The vast majority of Americans love this country, to the degree that they think about it much on a daily basis. More immediately, they love their families, and they love being able to go make a living and come home to their kids. When pressed, they will tell you that they love living in a country where they have the opportunity and the freedom to do those things. Yes, even the ones who belong to labor unions, and yes, even the ones who work for the New York Times.
Some of those people have views of what is best for America that vary from yours. Some vary radically, some subtly. My personal hand-waving guess is that about 70% of Americans live in the center 25% of the traditional left-right spectrum (which is such an ill-defined concept that it's barely useful even as a rough illustration, but it's the best I could come up with off the cuff). These are not wild-eyed splinter cells. They're your neighbors, and the parents of your kids' classmates. They are people to be reached, not written off, and accusing people of treason and sedition is not much of a conversation starter.
A lot of folks, particularly young ones, are simply politically naïve. War is evil; that is an easy concept for the simplest mind to grasp. It is sometimes a necessary evil; that concept takes more sophistication and education to wrap your mind around. It is simple to feel compassion for the poor, but more complicated to find permanent solutions that help them help themselves and write off those who can but choose not to. It is simple to say that I don't want people peering in my windows, but a more complicated question when a truckload of Amonium Nitrate unloads in my neighbor's garage.
Another perspective check: No American political party will destroy America in the next several years, and none will save it in the next several years. I know it's emotionally satisfying to believe you're living in the End Times, or manning the parapets at Masada, but life isn't that dramatic. We are not on the verge of winning nor of losing the War on Terror, and we aren't going to end it at a stroke with a neutron bomb in Teheran.
We are looking at a struggle on the scale of the Cold War, at least. And as in that struggle, we have to hold the line, nail down the radical leaders when we can, isolate them when we must, and slowly win over the al Qaeda recruiting pool-- the Muslims who, like most of us, just want to raise their families and get on with their lives -- that ours is the better way. The Cold War ended when Eastern Europeans were convinced, not eradicated. It was arms that kept us from losing, but ideas that won.
Take a moment before disagreeing with that -- I know it's popular to vent about the complete eradication of Islam, but if Muslims cannot be brought into line with the rest of the world, if Islam is wholly incompatible with modern democracy, then the Iraq war is and was from its beginning a pointless enterprise. Ditto Afghanistan. If Muslims cannot be civilized, then what are we doing?
Perspective check #3: No matter what the ACLU does, the government is not going to outlaw Christmas. The churches and retailers are in common cause on that one. The occasion of Christ's birth is not any less sacred because a pimply-faced Wal-Mart clerk fails to utter its name while handing me my change, or because someone renames a tree, or because a manger scene is bumped from the courthouse square to the church lawn a block away.
Yes, Public school administrators say and do some incredibly silly things, because they are usually people who have no legal education and feel that they are called upon to interpret the law. In that circumstance, it's easier to come up with a dumb rule like “no mention of God” than to make the effort and set the rules accordingly. That is why zero tolerance rules in general are so popular in schools – it's easier than thinking.
Perspective check #4: The Republic will not crumble if some @$$hole burns a flag. Or a Mexican flag, or a rainbow flag, or an Iraqi flag. Yes, it's offensive, but isn't it pretty well established that there is no right to not be offended?
Mucking around with the Constitution to protect the flag is like compromising a car's engine to make the stereo sound better. I know it's done, and some folks enjoy it, but it forgets what cars are for.
All right. I think I've stirred enough s--- for one evening. I'm game for reasoned discussion, but I outgrew name-calling and flamewars a long time ago.
buh bye...
I'm sorry, you were trolling for....?
Which is probably the most controversial thing I could say about it, in your view, perhaps. ;) Have a good one.
Yep. Posts and runs.
Maybe you're right. But then again, maybe you aren't.
I shaved my legs for this?
We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity -- Ann Coulter
Sweet!
We can lose it in short order if we cut and run from Iraq.
Oops ... I fell asleep.
Not running.
One out of three so far.
I repeat the question: If Muslims cannot be civilized, what are our troops doing in Iraq and Afghanistan?
I certainly agree that the war on Radical Islam has to be won in the hearts and minds of 1.2 billion Muslims. Islam needs its Reformation, just as Christianity needed it.
On the other paw, you have been here long enough to know that there is a remarkable diversity of opinion on Free Republic and I believe that the brush you paint with is over broad.
Regards,
OK, stop right there, we need to take a look at those legs.
Interestingly, your post that there's nothing controversial falls amid a raft of them accusing me of trolling or worse.
I was tempted to toss in an IBTZ on my own post, but I take it that's poor form.
Preventing 9/11/2006
Faulty math: The groups listed below are all included in the 48+% of those who voted for John Kerry. You specifically list the media. It is well known that most of the media is/are democrats. They are included in the above 48+% who voted for the traitor John Kerry. So rather than working your way up to 60% of Americans are our mortal enemies, you need to work your way down. Starting off your story line with such faulty thinking does not lend itself well to developing an interesting and cogent debate.
lol !!!
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