Replies

“Standing on your core values and convictions and having no quarter for compromise can not be viewed as being weak to win a war.”

This is fun, and too easy. Read my posts. I’m not arguing for moving left, as one poster just accused me of saying, or of compromising any core values or convictions.

I am simply saying that the most effective tack is to engage RINOs in the marketplace of ideas.

I advocate Reaganesque optimism, City on a Hill, and all that.

With all due respect, Jim Robinson is making a mistake here. There are soooo many people lurking on this site who are not conservatives. They are RINOs, they are newbies, they are even Democrats who are curious.

Blasting every contrarian poster is counterproductive. Posting emails that say that anyone who fails one conservative litmus test or another can go to hell hurts the cause. This is all a mistake.

The right email would have evangelized. It would have said ... There are many millions of people who we could bring to this site and educate and who are desparate and hungry for a different vision. These are people who may not be fully on board right now. We must be patient. We must be warm and welcoming. We must patiently rebut wrongheaded ideas. We must leverage this site to its greatest effect.

We must abide their ignorance and welcome even the most foolish and uninformed views, because that is how we turn the tide.

If I were Jim Robinson, that’s the email I would have written.

This is a great site. It is way, way, way too insular and cold to outsiders. And I write this as a conservative, as a long time FR member and poster, and in the best spirit of getting results.

There are soooo many people lurking on this site who are not conservatives. They are RINOs, they are newbies, they are even Democrats who are curious.

And most people don't get the chance to hear Conservatives talking to Conservatives. If they did they would feel quite comfortable here, I'm sure.

If we instead spend all of our time debating the virtues of Conservatism then we will be no different and certainly no better than any other site. We will be lukewarm and will be spat out. The visitors deserve to see how true Conservatives discuss the issues among themselves rather than see a "fair and balanced" food fight between Conservatism and liberalism.

" I am simply saying that the most effective tack is to engage RINOs in the marketplace of ideas. "

Yes, you maybe correct in saying that we should engage them in the market place of ideas, but, we should not let their poison effect us.
FreeRepublic is a safe haven for Conservatives to come to after a day or long week of being constantly being bashed for being whom we are, and made to feel that we need to apologize for what we believe in.
FreeRepublic is a place of refuge, a safe harbor, we don't need liberals coming on here and stirring up another storm that we just were trying to get away from.

You seem to miss the most obvious point. Free Republic is for CONSERVATIVES. This is not some sort of "big tent" or a "debating society".

Why do you want us to be just like WAnkerville?

>>>>>I advocate Reaganesque optimism, City on a Hill, and all that.

Oh really? Reagan was the eternal optimist, but he was also a realist. Reagan did a lot of politicking for votes and he did compromise on some issues, but he never surrendered his principles, his core values and beliefs.

"A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers."

"I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way."

Reagan CPAC Speech, Let Them Go Their Way, March 1, 1975.