Posted on 09/11/2008 10:57:32 PM PDT by joanie-f
Most conservatives decry the ‘bread and circuses’ atmosphere of modern politics, principally because the consistent focus on meaningless pursuits takes the citizens’ focus away from the important issues … even crises … that must be considered, and faced, if we are to remain a free society.
Our Founders continually warned that liberty, and the republican form of government that is best suited to ensure it, can only be maintained through an informed citizenry.
Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, are necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties.
Many of us consider the ‘bread and circuses’ nature of modern American society to be most frequently exhibited in our adulation of the Hollywood crowd, professional sports figures, and reality programming, the accumulation of creature comforts, the me-oriented nature of the citizenry, the need to ‘be entertained’, etc. … with an incremental de-emphasis on genuine heroes, the importance of personal character and responsibility, and a sense of civic duty ... which includes being educated about our history, and concerned about our future as a free society.
I completely agree that all of the above trends have increased in intensity over the past fifty years, and that, if they continue to gain momentum, our very lives, liberties and sovereignty as a nation are in grave danger.
A sub-level of this toxic trend has become glaringly apparent over the past few weeks of the election campaign.
Our republic is facing potentially deadly crises the likes of which there is no historical precedent:
... and on and on, ad infinitum ...
One would think that, with one of the (if not the) most crucial presidential elections in the history of our republic approaching in fewer than eight weeks, the crises mentioned above would be foremost on the minds of every American who intends to step into the voting booth on November 4th. And, even more importantly, one would think that the American media (the self-appointed purveyors of information and education) would be hard at work seeking, and reporting, the candidates’ opinions on, and proposed solutions to, all of the above.
Yet what do we predominantly see and hear in all of our media outlets? What are we being subliminally told is of utmost importance in this crucial election?
Many of my conservative friends, all of whom are true patriots, have voiced the opinion over the past few days that they are glad Barack Obama and the left are ‘getting a taste of their own medicine’ via the production of the new RNC ad that plays off of Obama’s lipstick/pig gaffe, and they are pleased with all of the attention his gaffe, whether innocent or purposeful, is receiving.
I could not possibly disagree more vehemently.
By producing such an ad, and even debating Obama’s intent – indeed, by even giving credence to this story – conservatives are accomplishing three fatal outcomes:
(1) they are legitimizing the bread and circus atmosphere in this election process
(2) they are stealing a worthless page out of the left’s playbook
(3) they are spending major campaign funds on nonsense advertising that would be better spent educating the public about issues of critical importance to our republic
On my list of 'Things I Want the Voting Public to Know about Barack Obama That the Media Aren't Reporting', there are 8,563 items ahead of the fact that he may (or may not) have referred to his opponent as a pig.
I think the McCain campaign, and the RNC, should be telling us about those 8,563 things in their campaign ads, and leave the lipstick remark to those who believe it has some importance in the grand scheme of things. The fact that they have wasted the donations of loyal Republicans on such nonsense is infuriating to me.
The media, academia, and the political left profit from such abject stupidity. It allows them to fill the airwaves with such drivel, and to scrupulously avoid discussion of Barack Obama’s dark, longstanding connections to anti-American zealots and his agenda to impose his Marxist/black separatist ideology on a populace that has been programmed to be preoccupied with ‘looking the other way’.
Half of the American electorate is ready to put such a man in the White House. And I believe that ninety percent of that group possesses no real knowledge of his infamous background or his ultra-left-leaning agenda.
Why have so many of our countrymen fallen into such an ignorant stupor? Because, for fifty years, we have allowed the leftists in the media, our institutions of ‘higher education’, and Hollywood to incrementally turn our focus away from the enemy within ... and toward tattletale pranks and kindergarten pursuits.
I don't give a rat's patoot what derogatory label one candidate may affix to another. What I do care about is whether that candidate intends to dismantle the noble foundations upon which my country was built.
And the media be damned.
We're going to pay a terrible price for allowing ourselves to be so pliant in the hands of those who most certainly do not have our best interests at heart.
~ joanie
That’s easy. John McCain is beyond the pale.
An abortion position that negates America’s most fundamental premise, the premise that the Declaration says is the very reason for the existence of human government.
Opposition to attempts to protect marriage and the natural family.
Support for the global warming scam, which is nothing more nor less than a colossal international power grab.
Leadership in destroying our national sovereignty by opening our borders wide to tens of millions of illegal aliens and rewarding them for their invasion by giving them US citizenship.
The leader in gutting the First Amendment right to free political speech, using George Soros’ money to do it.
That’s John McCain, just for starters.
If he’s in any way acceptable, no matter how much he and others are now covering for the man, then there really aren’t any standards left. Nothing is beyond the pale.
Is it better to buy into a retirement plan not having any idea what it’s going to provide for you or should you examine it and ask friends for their opinion?
These people are politicians not golden angels. I want to know as much about them as I possibly can learn.
I know she’s attractive, dresses well and speaks very well. A quick thinker, I think she’s honest. She hunts and isn’t afraid of guns. Supports General Aviation and Special Needs children. Eats meat. Now where in there are you going to get any idea of how she would vote if we needed a tie breaker to get rid of the UN or close the borders for six months?
Discussions like this bring those answers closer to the surface.
One last comment before I have to go for now:
I would ask every reader to note that the McCain supporters have now invariably made Barack Obama their standard. Not America’s principles. Not right. Not the Constitution.
They are failing to follow George Washington’s counsel to us all:
“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.”
Absolutely correct.. The left wants not only national power temporarilly but world power eventually.. Global power is what Marxism or Ssocialism is all about.. Always has been.. the only country left against it is the United States.. many democrats AND republicans are for globalism.. NOW..
Article. IV.Section. 2.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.
Section. 4.
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.
-------------
Article. VI.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
---------------------
Amendment V
...nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; ...
AMENDMENT XIV
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Those are what seem to me to be relevant passages regarding the authority of the U.S. Constitution over state laws and constitutions. Bolding is mine of course.
>I know enough that we must think about the questions before we cast our votes.<
Those are the questions that the RNC and DNC doesn’t want discussed anywhere, especially not on an open forum.
Establish the principles with whom? I know what I believe, which is what the Church teaches--and also the basic principles in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
But, sorry, it doesn't matter what you or I believe, unless it can be put into practice. That means persuading others, and it means electing others. Otherwise, you will find yourself arguing with the likes of David Souter or Barack Obama, and they'll pay no attention to you at all.
I can readily predict that even with Republican majorities in both houses and a Republican president, The RTL Act will never reach the floor of the Senate, and it will be the Republicans that shoot it down.
...Just as they shot down Hunter's fence, and just like they are currently shooting down the off-shore drilling that the Conservatives in the House have stuck their necks out for...
Placing your faith in the Republican leadership is utter doom, and McCain is just the next Bakerite in ascendancy- Funny how that always works out, isn't it?
Then I will cede the point. I will stand fast however, on the idea that you place far too much faith in a single person with no contacts inside the system. They will eat her alive with no one to watch her back. That is what is missing. and will be the difference between AK and DC... Friends on the inside, and the power to do what she needs to. Neither will be at her disposal as VP.
Time will tell... If we find her in the company of Hunter, Tancredo, and the like, once she hits DC, I will be a HAPPY guy... If she is welded to McCain and his cronies...
I think that is our most critical job as Freepers- To hold our own to the truth, and to make certain that they are kept to a high standard. Without that high standard, we are no better than our opposition, and the OP's words apply in triplicate.
Oh, yes, indeed I have.
So true.. I have been worried about that..
She'd be smart to hook up with Gingrich.. as a friend..
He knows everybody.. also Ann Coulter.. and Rush Limbaugh..
She will be in dangerous waters.. she'll need a bigger boat.. shes in the Hildebeasts waters..
(Jaws theme)..
One of my first thoughts about this pick was that DC would swallow her up and maybe corrupt her even. The more I learn of her the less I worry about that.
“she’s already shown that she shares his views concerning the false federalism that alienates unalienable rights.”
So does Justice Scalia, and he is pro-life.
But I do NOT believe that it’s acceptable to kill babies in some states, and not other states, but sometimes even pro-life people, like Scalia, seem to think it’s constitutional. Again, I disagree.
However, the fact that John McCain picked Sarah Palin, and the fact that he sees how people responded to his pro-life pick, I feel that McCain will pick pro-life judges.
Can you imagine what kind of judges Obama would pick, when he thinks it’s acceptable to allow BORN babies to die on a shelf after a botched abortion?
Sarah Palin walked the walk, by having a child with Down Syndrome
“You’re making a pro-”choice” argument, not a pro-life one. Not killing your child is not praiseworthy. Where have we sunk to when not killing your child is considered to be proof that you’re pro-life?”
I’d say you’re playing word games here, Eternal Vigilance.
Too many live in Egypt on Denial.
“Arguments over degrees of evil just don’t cut it.”
As Father Pavone, of Priests for Life said, sometimes we need to limit evil.
You could say all of us are a little bit “evil,” because we have all sinned.
McCain, RNC Advertise Intent to Spend ‘Millions More’ on Stem Cell Research
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John McCain’s Republican presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee released a radio ad yesterday advertising McCain’s intention to join with his “Congressional allies” in spending millions in additional tax dollars on stem cell research.
The language of the ad makes no distinction between research on adult stem cells or research on stem cells taken from human embryos that are destroyed in the process.
*snip*
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.