Sola, I think a lot of us Thompson fans agree that a Giuliani nomination would be a loser for everyone. I also think if Giuliani gets the Republican nod because "values voters" like yourself (quick to equate Libertarians with Libertines and willing to sacrifice the root concept of "Liberty" to justify imposing their self-righteous vanity on those less "righteous") split the primary vote between Hunter, Thompson, and Romney -- a demonstrated big-government nanny-stater who has shown himself spineless when faced with organized agendas to normalize homosexuality, his moral uprightness and stellar good looks notwithstanding --
... then blame yourselves, not us. Your pride and mulishness will have installed Giuliani, not ours -- because neither are at work in the way we view the role of government with regard to free people.
Pledges and people who demand them annoy me because such pledges can only placate vanities. Past ACTIONS are much more valuable than pledges. I'd love it if Fred was more outspoken against the homosexual agenda, but I also know he would be being inconsistent if he attempted to bring the Federal government to bear on any of it, and that's why I like him.
I KNOW that Romney wasn't outspoken against the homosexual agenda (let alone leftist environmentalism, another important issue in which Thompson has consistently impressed me) back when he was Governor and endorsed a Youth Gay Pride event. I read recently that Fred once voted AGAINST a move to prohibit employers from discriminating by sexual orientation -- in other words, that it's okay for an employer to fire a worker because that worker is too flamboyantly gay. Thompson did something a heck of a lot better than make a pledge -- he acted on his commitment to a core principle that normalizing homosexuality is WRONG. Pledge THAT.
American federal government should not be used to enforce any but the basic and agreed-upon morals -- those forbidding murder, theft, perjury, slavery, breach of contract, abuse. These are problems of real criminality that can truly be addressed by laws.
The trend to normalize homosexuality and to force all taxpayers to fund abortions is NOT a problem of criminality, it's a problem of social values complicated by government coercion in the name of "compassion." You can demand pledges and laws to shake your finger in the noses of the less-righteous until you're blue in the face, and all you'll accomplish is more strife. Instead, we should all be pushing for politicians who advocate the rights of states to deal with these things as their residents deem proper, and things will sort themselves out better than an entire Federal government's brute force. Things better left between God and sinner than between politician and freedom will stay that way.
Thompson is who you should be pulling for, for Pete's sake!
“Thompson is who you should be pulling for, for Pete’s sake!”
I’m neither for or against either Senator Thompson or Governor Huckabee. I am adamantly opposed to Mayor Guiliani and to a lesser degree Governor Romney.
Once again, I will attempt to be clear. If Senator Thompson or his supporters want me to support him, they must move him more to the right on moral issues. While I, in theory, agree that federalism would be an answer to many moral issues. I am realistic enough to see that the principles of federalism haven’t really existed since the Civil War. The majority of justices on federal benches have little regard for them. So, it will take a strong, right leaning, federal government to correct over 150 years of usurpations of the rights of the states or the people before true “federalism” can exist.
It is funny you should mention “slavery” as something the federal government should step in to stop. It was this issue that Lincoln used to destroy the “federalism” you so cherish. I consider abortion to be on a par or worse than slavery. Why shouldn’t I also use the federal government to end it?
You are correct in one statement you made. I most definitely consider Libertarians to be Libertines. Libertarians to me are just a mirror image of the ACLU.