We should fight the good fight all we can, but you know what? It's like screamin' at a wall. It's like kicking at the pricks. And like Wolfie, sometimes I get a sick satisfaction seeing conservatives squirm on this very issue. For me, it's where the rubber meets the road of conservatism: the federal government is either restricted to certain enumerated powers or it's not. If it is, you have to live with the notion that your personal bugaboo, whether it be drug use, porn, or what have you, is perfectly legal. If it's not, then you have to live with the notion that you're not a conservative, but a statist, i.e., a commie in conservative clothing.
This, every word.
Tactialogic, I'm not attacking you, and apologize if it comes off that way. Just saying that you're pissing in the wind. We The People apparently agree on one thing: we want to be able to tell others how to live their lives and want the government to hold a gun to their heads to get that done. Everybody just has a different idea of what it is they don't want others to do, and can't understand that giving that power to government in one instance gives that power to government in all instances. It's like the old joke: We've already established what we are, now we're just haggling over the details.
Ben Franklin said "A republic, if you can keep it".
You say we can't understand that difference. I say we did at one time and can again, but we have to want to. I want to, and I want other people to. I want to keep that repulic.
Why is that wrong?