"A HOUSE DIVIDED" - Pukin's FReeperversary Rant

It is getting somewhat strange around these parts when not only the President, but yesterday the First Lady was personally attacked by someone claiming to be a ‘Conservative’. Can there be any doubt that there are forces among us looking to drive a wedge between us?

A few weeks ago, this forum’s owner attempted to remind all of us of the big picture, that regardless of any personal animosity towards the President or Republican Party over their adherence to Conservative principles, that they are still a clear choice over the alternative Democrat Party rule. At that time, I assumed that FReeper-sanity had been restored, and that some of the negative rhetoric aimed at those in Washington D.C. would be dialed back.

Free Republic is a political forum with a proud history and vision, responsible for dragging Dan Rather from his post, and providing countless radio-talk shows with their daily talking points. FReepers are unique in their determination and energy towards protecting and defending the goals of our Founding Fathers.

We are also quite a powder keg of emotion and anticipation, expecting our Republican majorities to take advantage of this opportunity to make permanent gains in our Conservative agenda. Some might argue that this opportunity has been squandered, but those persons would be ignorant of history, lacking understanding that change cannot occur overnight in Washington, and that this is the way our Founders designed our Republic.

In frustration, impatience, and ignorance, we have allowed this forum to become a haven for those who do not share our Conservative goals. I do not blame our enemies anymore then I would blame a scorpion for stinging me. If anger and stupidity were one’s nature, I would expect the trolls that infect this forum to be angry and stupid consistently, which also makes them somewhat easy to detect.

The trolls are not the problem, though. The problem is that so many of us are allowing ourselves to be taken in by those who seek only to prevent us from going to the polls in November to keep their stinking hands off our government for another term. There can be no doubt, that no matter how disappointing our current government has been in promoting the Conservative agenda, that the alternative, enabled by our staying home will be MUCH worse.

The way to deal with Republicans who have actively worked against our goals is to defeat them in Primary elections. We do not even have to defeat them all, only enough of them to send the message that we will indeed target them if they work against our agenda. It should be the goal of EVERY conservative to see that Lincoln Chaffee is defeated in November. His seat is one we can afford to lose. Were I a Rhode Island resident, I would vote for the Democrat if only to send a message to Snowe, Hagel, Collins, Graham, and especially that bastard Specter that their primaries just got a lot tougher.

We only need to get one of them, and Chaffee is the one to get. It does not really matter if a Democrat takes his seat; he will be junior and mute as long as we maintain our overall majority in the Senate.

The one thing that bothers me here like nothing else, is the simple disrespect of the President. Am I am Bush-Bot? Damn straight I am. If you want to know why, click on my handle to read Southack’s excellent list of Bush’s accomplishments in office. But if Bush had done almost nothing in office, it would be no excuse for some of the slights and disrespect he has received from some of us on this forum.

Some of the things I have read here this past week match in tone what one can find on our favorite Democrat sewer site. Someone calling himself or herself a FReeper was promoting shooting aliens at the border until they stopped coming. Is that what we are about? Obviously not, and that so-called Conservative has been eliminated from this forum.

I think it is important to remember that you and I have just as much responsibility as George Bush does in changing our culture to better reflect Conservative values. Right now, this very moment, Conservatives have the government they deserve. We put them there. They are not our mommies and daddies sent out to bring home our Conservative bread. That responsibility lies with all of us. These Republicans represent us, they don’t serve us. Our job is to pick the best individual and send him/her to Washington in the hope that their CHARACTER will see them through.

This is why it is such a nutty thing to consider punishing the Republican party, when we should be letting them know that we’ve got their back, but if they cant do the job, we will replace them with ANOTHER Republican, instead of handing the reigns of government to the party of anger, hopelessness and despair. We sometimes like to think that those people we send to Washington are different from us, that they are capable of meeting our every need and desire.

I want every one of you to think about what you would consider to be your perfect mate. Maybe some of you think you have found that person. If you are married and totally in love with another person, that is great. Now I want to ask you to think about the last time that person you love, who is PERFECT for you, completely pissed you off. Remember, this is your perfect mate, your one true love. Do they do everything you want them to do? Obey your every desire? If you answer yes, I am going to put you on my troll list.

Those people in Washington do not even cut your lawn, yet you expect perfection. Get over it.

I am issuing a challenge to every person who considers him or her to be a Conservative; why don’t we all commit to a return to HONOR? Do we honor our Conservative agenda when we comport ourselves in disgraceful ways? Is it an honorable thing to suggest that our President is a moron, as I read here a few days ago? Is it honorable to attack Laura Bush or any other person representing true Conservative values?

Some of you might argue that George Bush is not representing Conservative values to your liking. I would remind you that the first thing Bush said upon taking office, is that he was going to be President of ALL the people, not just some. You know that if you followed Bush from the beginning that he campaigned of the very immigration platform he is defending right now. Did you vote for him? Yeah?

If you have ever had a steak at a Ruth’s Chris restaurant, you know that sometimes they bring that wonderful steak to your table with a sprig of parsley on it. I hate parsley. Hate it. If I were to treat my steak the way some of us want to treat our President, I would have to throw out the steak, due to that nasty parsley that comes with it. I can deal with the parsley to get the steak, and that is what I am asking FReepers to do.

Expecting perfection from any person, group or team is a recipe for disaster. George W. Bush is my president. You can disagree with him, you can blame him for your problems if that is your desire. If you disrespect his office, his service, his risking his life to be with our troops in Iraq, his steadfast desire to bring a new tone to Washington, or if you just like the way he keeps Democrats so pissed off they lose their minds on a regular basis, I ask you to treat him and his wife with respect and cut the personal attacks. If you call him ‘Shrub’ or ‘Jorge’ consider yourself my enemy.

Right now, our real enemy are the Main Stream Media, the Democrat Party, and all who follow and support them. If you want to jump-ugly on someone, why not start with those leaky bastards and give our side a break?

When did the Conservatives turn into economic protectionists? The modern true Conservative believes that the perfect America has razor wire and guard towers on the Southern border and closed ports on both coasts. They believe that if you are for free markets than you are an evil Globalist. They seem to think that there is nothing to be gained from trading with the other countries or that we cannot compete in the World Market. Nothing can be further from the truth or away from Conservative ideals.

President Reagan believed in the power of Capitalism and was a free trader to his core. Ronald Reagan always said gummit never solves problems, gummit is the problem. He knew that America could trade with any Country in the World and always attempted to maintain a level playing field. He was not always able to do that but he did get many tariffs removed from our trading partners as well as lowering our own to reduce taxes and inflation. He was the originator of NAFTA knowing that Capitalism would defeat Communism on our Continent. He realized that Tarriffs mostly hurt the Country that places these taxes on imports. He didn’t win the Cold War with the A-Bomb, but with the Gut-bomb from McDonalds.

Conservatives are always for a smaller gummit, however the modern Conservative/Libertarian is for a limited govt until their Steer is being algored. They are quick to add layers of bureaucracy to enforce the borders or protect our traditional industries. Just as we saw with the U.A.E. taking over running our port terminals the Conservatives in this Country were not willing to look at the entire package but emotionally tied it to sealing the borders and pretended the Arags were going to compromise our security. These small gummit talkers are willing to ignore an efficient management company to be replaced with another inefficient Port Hog Trough.

The Border Freaks would happily trade any economic advantage of having cheap labor for the emotional high of keeping Mexicans out. They preach how the Mexicans are taking American jobs in the face of the fact that there is full employment in this Country. The economy is running at full speed yet they want to eliminate this cheap commodity that is needed by labor intensive industries. The Protectionists have points about security and law enforcement, yet will veto any suggestions short of Electric Fences, Guard Towers and Mexican round-ups. They will not even allow a discussion of Immigration without expulsion and closed borders. These are the same people who are against NAFTA and the World Economy. When did the Conservative movement get taken over by Central Planners in Economics?

The real irony of this switch is that if you are a laize faire capitalist, then you are some sort of liberal Globalist? Nothing could be further from the truth since this is a complete reversal of the true foundation of the Conservative movement. The movement has been hijacked by the Protectionists who have forgotten what makes this Country great which is pure Capitalism. The basis of capitalism says that there is a perfect market that is controlled by supply and demand. It says that the market will maintain and police itself since information is or will become known and companies will do what’s in their best interest. Market and community forces will make the company act efficiently as well as ethically.

This is the building block of Conservative economics to minimize gummit taxes and regulations from the market. Whenever the politicians get involved there is an inefficiency that develops slowing the wheels of commerce. Conservatism used to lower these barriers to business and let the markets maintain and grow themselves in as open an environment as possible. There are still many Conservatives who don’t know that Business has more forces pulling them other than pure profit. Businesses must also be good stewards in their Communities whether it be locally or Globally which is why ethical companies will succeed over the long run.

The Dubai port management buyout and the Immigration problem are both parts of the same economic problem. Being the 300 lb gorilla in the world economy, we are the Dodge Hemi that powers the world. We are importing millions of containers of goods to feed our endless appetite for cheap goods and services. To bring those containers across the dock those ports realized they needed to become more efficient or the shippers will find ports that can do it cheaper and/or more efficiently. Enter Dubai who is the leader in port management specialization worldwide. They would have reorganized and modernized these ports to make them competitive with other ports on the East Coast. This is how capitalism works by finding the most efficient way of providing a product or service. Now shippers will go to the cheaper ports.

Similarly, illegal immigrants are coming to our Country to find work and feed their families just as humans have done for thousands of years. The same way we change jobs or careers for a few thousand dollars these people are coming here for a few hundred. Labor is a limited commodity just like oil or steel to produce a product that a business owner needs to stay competitive. This means he has to produce that product as efficiently as possible to keep his prices down. If he has a higher price than his competition, he will miss the sales putting him on the streets.

When your main expense is labor then that is where you are going to look to cut. As you add in related expenses such as Workman’s Comp, insurance, vacation and all the regulations, Mexican labor becomes a necessity. So now we have the situation we are in with many Mexican families being permanent residents in this Country thanks to a red hot economy combined with a labor shortage. The isolationists would like to click their heels and make this reality go away, but that is only a pipe dream. Ronald Reagan attempted to deal with this problem when he installed a plan that was far more lenient than President Bush’ with Illegals. Why? Because he understood the competitive economics of Manuel Mexical and his relationship to labor heavy industry. Reagan would have been tarred and feathered by the Modern Conservatives.

It is time to put away our Global Economic fears and address them with the realization that we are the most powerful and strongest economy in the World. We may not have the labor cost advantages but we are far more creative and efficient workforce than any other Country. By making the field level on both sides we can compete with anyone, anywhere. Walls only hurt the people behind them, just look at Japan’s cost of living and ask yourselves if you can afford $4 apples and $20/lb beef with $5/lb rice? That is where the Globalist Fear Mongers want to take us, while Dubai, Manuel Mexical and President Reagan would rather have You control those prices.

Pray for W and Our Heroic Troops

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