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We Have Found the Enemy--and the Enemy is Us
self | February 2, 2008 | exit82

Posted on 02/02/2008 1:05:56 PM PST by exit82

Today is February 2, 2008.

I am over fifty years old. I am a product of American values, observed and experienced in the 1950s and 1960s, and sorely tried in the Vietnam, Watergate, and Carter years of the 1970s, and again in the Clinton years of the 1990s.

This is the timeframe and events that formed my political worldview. I grew up when we still said a prayer and read Psalm 23 at the beginning of the school day. I remember doing the duck and cover in elementary school, to be safe in the event of a Cold War nuclear attack, even though being only 12 miles from NYC, the odds of surviving such an attack or its aftermath was just about a negative number. I remember the pride in America and its flag; the meaning of independence, especially on the Fourth of July. My father's parents were immigrants and my mother was an immigrant, and the old country was just that--the "old" country. Most of my uncles served in the US Army and Navy during WW2, while my father was a foreman in a defense plant. The prosperity,music, and the social fabric of America in the 1950s and 1960s are still a source of inspiration to me. Because of my parents' background, we always helped anyone in need that came our way. My parents would brook no discrimination, even when at the time it was common to discriminate on the basis of skin color. No, the promise of America was for everyone. Sometimes, only an immigrant can appreciate America's true value, as did my parents.

I remember well the Carter years, with its mind numbing cowardice in the face of dangers from the USSR and Iran, and how it caused us to doubt our greatness. And I remember a man named Ronald Reagan, and how he inspired an entire nation to rendevous with its destiny once again, and in an inconceivable turn of events, won the Cold War and knocked down the Berlin War without firing a single shot. His courage and belief in America inspired policies that freed all of Eastern Europe and kept budding Islamofascism at bay, all the while he was opposed and reviled by the Democrats, the America-haters and the Communists worldwide.

I remember the horror of the Clinton years, when a rapist and abuser of women was the Commander in Chief, aided and abetted by a power hungry woman who hated the military. I remember fighting for his impeachment, only to be betrayed by a Republican Senate that had no courage, or that was compromised by stolen FBI files and failed to discharge its lawful duty to remove a lawbreaking President who brought shame to the Oval Office. I remember recoiling in horror and shame when a six year old boy whose mother drowned in an attempt to bring him to freedom from Cuba was removed from a private home under the force of arms and returned to Fidel Castro.

I remember crying tears of gladness when our current President said the words of his Oath of Office on January 20, 2001, ending my personal nightmare, an eight year long nightmare, of having Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House.

The events of these last seven years are nothing what I expected that cold, clear January morning. The events of September 11, 2001, the invasion of Iraq, the War on Terror, all of them returned me to the patriotic days of my youth. I saw a nation united in purpose for the first time in my adult life, as the nation had been torn since the Vietnam War.

But I saw a Republican President I believed in, and a Republican Party that was my home politically, shift in a slow, determined, unstoppable drift away from its principles, adopting the policies and views of the Democrats, to the point where we now face having as our Presidential candidate, John McCain, an enemy of conservatism, of Republican principles, and of American sovereignty.

As I pondered these things today, February 2, 2008, I have come to a very troubling observation.

We conservatives always had a home in the Republican Party. President Reagan even came here when the Democrat Party became too radical for him in the 1950s. We were the foundation of 12 years of the Reagan Bush era and we fought for the current President to give him eight years, even in the face of a national election being stolen from him.

But when our country was threatened by the prospect of a mass amnesty last May and June, allowing 20 million or more illegal immigrants to become defacto citizens by fiat, we erupted in a display of power that had Washington DC recoiling in terror. We derailed their plan to ensure the Balkanization of America by giving it 20 million more citizens who would not assimilate into the culture, and to ensure a cheap workforce, and to permanently undercut American worker's wages. Together with Global Warming and carbon credits, America could be brought to heel and managed.

We stopped McCain-Kennedy and its cousin, alright. But there was a price to pay for our insolence.

We, the America loving conservatives of the Republican Party, are no longer needed by this party. We are too narrow minded and old school. Flag waving and the supremacy of the American Way are passe. We are not inclusive. We are standing in the way of the elites in Washington DC from making their wet dreams a reality--making America an also-ran, not a super-power. America as a third world country, not as better than anyone else. An America that is afraid to face its Islamic enemies,that worries about what the world thinks about it, strangled in political correctness, surrendering its freedoms on a daily basis in the vain hope for security.

We keepers of the flame of American liberty are now the enemy. When Hillary labelled us the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, we took that has a label of pride. But now the Republican establishment has decreed that we are a conspiracy to be defeated within our own party, as we face the prospect of John McCain being rammed down our throats. John McCain, the Manchurian Candidate, the man who has betrayed every tenet of Republicanism in his quest for power,who has railed against conservatives at every turn, who is bound and determined to grant amnesty to 10% of Mexico's population now within our borders, he is the one being annointed by the elites as our candidate.

His job is not only to become the candidate of choice, but to be the means of the destruction of the power of the conservative base of the Republican Party.

Between McCain, Obama and Hillary, there isn't a dime's worth of difference in their political views. The Republican and Democrat established elites have melded into one entity, and they will win no matter who gets nominated or who wins the general election, especially if McCain is the nominee. All three believe in unlimited amnesty, an open border, cap and trade globaloney, giving rights to Gitmo detainees, and the restriction of free speech and gun rights.

The MSM is their collective cheerleader, actively working to marginalize us as a viable force for the America we visualize.

Many of us will vote Republican in November, only because we cannot, in good conscience, vote for Obama or Clinton. The Republican establishment knows this, and knows because we are principled, we can not do otherwise. Rather than enlist us to help, they are engaged in a policy of containment and neutering, because we stand in the way of their vision of America.

McCain as a candidate will be a disaster. The Republican establishment knows this. But they don't care, because the goal is not to win this election. It is to remove us from the political table, and for them to join with their Democrat brothers in the march toward an America subsevient to global interests. Sovereignty is treated as a quaint, outmoded concept, even by many Republican governors who are pushing the globaloney nonsense that will cripple this nation.

The perfect storm of American politics is converging in a bid to elect one of three horrible candidates, McCain,Obama, or Clinton, to be our next President. The odds are that the Republicans will not only lose with McCain, but they will lose even more of the House and Senate, enough to relegate Republicans to a minority status for decades to come.

Where are the national Republican leaders speaking out against where our party is heading? As one looks over the events of the last 15 years, since the ascension and improbable election of a no good, draft dodging, lying huckster like Bill Clinton to President, we have witnessed a snowballing reversal of American values and fortunes. With Clinton II on the horizon, we face a complete collapse of American values and soveriegnty and freedom with the "CHANGE" that is being promised for the electorate.

That "change" is starting right now for us. By Tuesday midnight, we will know if the fate the elites have decreed for us will become reality, if McCain is our candidate.

In the past few days, the lenses through which I view politics have changed in prescription. I see now that we are the enemy to our own party's leaders, whose leaders have decreed that our nominee will be the anti-conservative, anti-Republican candidate. The other candidates still open to us, Huckster, Romney and Paul each have their own problems with our values.

There are only a few short days to stop the McCain Screwball express. As we fought the impossible fight against McCain and amnesty last year, we have but a few days to influence our fellow conservatives and Republicans not to allow the predetermined outcome to occur.

I offer this screed in an attempt to understand what is going on today, to explain the inexplicable in what is occurring to our party and our chances for success in November against the second ascension of the corrupt Clinton Machine. I wish not to tell my fellow conservative who they should vote for, but I ask them not to vote for McCain.

Others, including the Republican establishment, have decreed for us who are candidate should be. American loving Republicans should reserve the right to make that choice.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: america; conservatism; deathofthewest; mccain; republicanparty
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To: mike-zed

I, too, will vote for Romney, and then I will go home and cry.


61 posted on 02/02/2008 2:28:52 PM PST by Excellence (Bacon Bits Make Great Confetti)
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To: potlatch


62 posted on 02/02/2008 2:29:27 PM PST by devolve (---- - Hey Boone! - My bonus check is late again! -)
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To: exit82
I too am a fiftyish male with the same values and memories as the writer.

During the 60s, many Americans felt disenfranchised, for various reasons, from the political climate and with the state of our country. This group moved to the Western shores of Australia, among other locations. Today, I find myself at the same crossroad.

Try as I might, I can not seem to change the direction of my political party of choice. I can not, in all honesty, vote for McCain because I can not erase the memory of him standing next to Ted Kennedy as they tried to sell Amnesty to, what they considered, a gullible and submissive populace.

I will, at the end of this summer, join my politically discontent predecessors by retiring to the same Western Pacific region.

Many will call such a decision a sell-out and it might be. The Republican party, which I have steadfastly supported, has sold its soul to the highest bidder. It hurts to see this proud country being transformed into a socialist third world country. If ever there was a time to support a true alternative party in this country, it is now. Many people will say supporting a third party will be a wasted vote and give the election to the likes of Hillary or Obama. To this I say so what. The alternative is a candidate who is in lockstep with the most liberal socialist element of the Democratic party, John McCain.

I will always remain loyal and supportive of and to the America I remember, the America of my past.

63 posted on 02/02/2008 2:31:26 PM PST by WesternPacific (I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils!)
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To: devolve

That bottom one goes so fast!
Thank you for bumping me devolve.


64 posted on 02/02/2008 2:33:36 PM PST by potlatch
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To: exit82

Two uncles in the war, Father in a defense plant? Who are you? Me? I’m been around a bit longer than you so it’s really worse for me. We will not pass this way again. The Republic is lost, I fear. We will have a catastrophic “event” and have the choice of security or freedom. The choice has already been made.


65 posted on 02/02/2008 2:36:10 PM PST by vortec94
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To: exit82

Well written.

I do not agree, but it is a very worthy effort.


66 posted on 02/02/2008 2:37:17 PM PST by djf (...and dying in your bed, many years from now, did you donate to FR?)
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To: exit82

Great essay. Unfortunately, it’s too late to stop the car from going off the road now. Stay alert and be ready to jump for your life when the tires start coming off.


67 posted on 02/02/2008 2:50:24 PM PST by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: potlatch

.

Thanks potlatch!

I’ll “reset” the delay on that one


68 posted on 02/02/2008 2:54:22 PM PST by devolve (---- - Hey Boone! - My bonus check is late again! -)
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To: gruna

Oh, I agree that no candidate it perfect and that Romney is the best of those still standing in either party.

I hope McCain doesn’t get the nom but I think he will. Then, we’ll (here in this family and those we know) have to decide what to do.

I think both arguments make some sense:those who say anything to keep hillary/obama out of the WH and those who say never for McCain. At this point, I don’t know how I’ll vote if McCain is the nom.


69 posted on 02/02/2008 3:05:58 PM PST by Twink
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To: exit82
Thanks for an excellent statement that sums up the situation - and the dilemma facing political conservatives today.

There is a reason why so many of us are absolutely opposed to a McCain nomination for president and refuse to vote for him under any circumstances, even if that means a good chance of Hillary Clinton winning the presidency. I bitterly resent having a man like John McCain, who, by his words and deeds sneers at my principles and convictions, like national sovereignty and the right of unhindered political speech during an election cycle, offered up as the Republican candidate for the highest office in the land, making him, if elected president, in theory, the most powerful man on the planet. That is simply unacceptable.

Unlike the stalwart Ann Coulter, who said on national television (Hannity and Colmes) that she would 'campaign for Hillary' if McCain was nominated, I won't go that far. However, I do refuse to vote for McCain, even if that means 'wasting' my vote on some minor-party candidate in the general election in November. However, as Yogi Berra once said: "it ain't over till its over". February 5th is probably our last best chance to 'stop' McCain. That being the case, I'm voting for Mitt Romney. He may be my distant second choice (I was a Fred Thompson supporter) but he isn't John McCain and he has a fair shot if we back him with our primary votes

As with the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill, we can still make a difference and stop the GOP elites from foisting a barely disguised liberal on us that has small chance to win the nation election and whose presidency would hardly differ, except in scope, from what a Marxist like Hillary Clinton or Barack Hussein Obama would do, no matter what he says now.

70 posted on 02/02/2008 3:08:31 PM PST by Jim Scott (Time Heals)
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To: exit82

Excellent read, thank you.
Not just a different time, it was a different world.
Since we don’t have a candidate we might as well ponder how we got here & where we’re going.
Both parties think that America is just an undifferentiated landmass in the northern hemisphere and are clueless to how special it is and how important to the world that it remains that way.
To those who think fred or hunter were the answer but we got screwed, all I can say is Fred & McCain are good friends, hunter endorsed huckabee and romney was endorsed by bush 41.
Where’s bob dole when you need him?
Still, I know lots of good Americans who have great values but get their opinions froom the MSM. Most Americans don’t want to be political, they have lives. Used to be you could get away with that, that is part of what made us great.
Thanks to libs everything is political....food, sex, entertainment, education, religion,etc,etc. Makes it pretty hard to stay up on and seethe big picture.
We’ve been facing an inner threat from communism for almost 70 years and they have made tremendous in-roads. Jimmy carter did more damage in 4 years than Kruschev could have done in a 100 and it looks like we’re going there again.
But Reagan was more than just the anti-carter, he spent 25 years in the wilderness sharpening his ideology, so I’m not sure we can count on that repeating.
The libs always overplay their hand and I think that’s our last best hope. When the coming generation sees for themselves what a crock they were fed about global warming and appeasement, maybe the scales will fall from their eyes.
Or maybe fat people will stage a revolution when they’re banned from restaurants and grocery stores. Start arming fat people now!


71 posted on 02/02/2008 3:12:53 PM PST by Arkady
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To: potlatch

.

“Refresh” & take a look -

Reset delay slower - to 180 now


72 posted on 02/02/2008 3:14:19 PM PST by devolve (---- - Hey Boone! - My bonus check is late again! -)
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To: devolve

Yes, that is much better, before it was whizzing!!


73 posted on 02/02/2008 3:18:05 PM PST by potlatch
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To: Twink

I’d rather have an enemy in front of me than an enemy behind me.


74 posted on 02/02/2008 3:21:27 PM PST by gruna
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To: potlatch

.

LOL!

There’s no “whizzing” on FR threads!


75 posted on 02/02/2008 3:22:49 PM PST by devolve (---- - Hey Boone! - My bonus check is late again! -)
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To: devolve

I guess I think of things ‘whizzing by’, don’t know other meanings of it..


76 posted on 02/02/2008 3:26:19 PM PST by potlatch
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To: exit82
I see now that we are the enemy to our own party's leaders...

This has been clear for some time, yet most did not want to believe the evidence before their eyes. Your post was well thought out and well reasoned. Very nicely done. The emergence of the Kadema Party in Israel is a model for what is going on with the leadership in the pubbie party. At least IMHO. Also IMHO Tuesday will not decide this. We have been out maneuvered, out thought, and out fought. Look at what was done to Tom Delay. The gang of 14. McCain Finegold, et. al. And we were taken by surprise that our own people betrayed us and we were rolled. I hope we hook em good Tuesday. I think we will and I am looking forward to the results.

77 posted on 02/02/2008 3:47:53 PM PST by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668 (Liberals Aren't Patriots))
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To: exit82

I am 52 years old, and I thank you for stating my innermost feeling far better than I could have myself.

I can only think that it is simply not the same country that it was back then.

Back then, our parents were the age that we are now. Since then they have passed from the scene by either passing away or have been retired for a couple of decades, and all the snot-nose kids from the 60’s have grown up and have been running things for a while now.

Not to mention there are more people now (300 million vs perhaps 150 million or so back then), World War Two was still relatively recent history, and our industrial capacity, standard of living and potential for economic growth was at it’s height.

Now we have an economy that has been changed by “global economy”, lower overall wages and lowered standard of living but with higher costs and more taxes and more rules and regulations that cost us.

We have a large part of the populace that prefers security over freedom, so we have Socialism and the “iron fist in a velvet glove” of the “protective” and over-controlling ever present nanny state.

I do think things go in cycles. I believe that we are heading on a downward slope. A future generation may find freedom, but only after this Socialist period has run its course...


78 posted on 02/02/2008 4:02:05 PM PST by Screaming_Gerbil (Let's Roll...)
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To: exit82
McCain as a candidate will be a disaster. The Republican establishment knows this. But they don't care, because the goal is not to win this election. It is to remove us from the political table, and for them to join with their Democrat brothers in the march toward an America subsevient to global interests. Sovereignty is treated as a quaint, outmoded concept, even by many Republican governors who are pushing the globaloney nonsense that will cripple this nation.

We will see. I think Hillary knows this, Obama doesn't know this (yet) and both will be obvious, out of the closet One Worlders. I think McCain is a literal Manchurian Candidate, (what happened in the Hanoi Hilton?) ushered into office as an insurance policy if the Puppetmasters underestimated the percentage of independents/conservatives left in the country. Either way, they win.

79 posted on 02/02/2008 4:22:39 PM PST by Captainpaintball
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To: SatinDoll
We’ve let our public schools teach this for 30-years, rather than love of this country. We are reaping that bounty now.

And there it is, the original sin. It sounds so poisonous to point out this is a tenant of the Communist Manifesto, take over the schools. But that is what happened.

80 posted on 02/02/2008 4:24:26 PM PST by SandwicheGuy (*The butter acts as a lubricant and speeds up the CPU*)
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