I Dare

This may be the post that gets me zotted, and if so, so be it, but it would be a nice sign of respect for free speech, and just plain old maturity if that doesn’t happen. I won’t lose sleep either way though.

All through the Clinton years FR played a key role in helping me really come to appreciate the wisdom of the founding fathers as Clinton violated their principles in so many ways. I found here a large community of wise, informed posters from a diverse background that added depth and clarity to the news of the day. It was here on FR that I found out about the WTC attack. Being Canadian, the second amendment always seemed kind of silly to me, but through FR I learned how wrong that view was and now wish my country had such a right for it’s citizens.

That was then, now more and more it has felt like FR has dwindled into an insular, nearly feral, group of political and religious thought police whose mission is to ferret out anybody who doesn’t fit their orthodoxy and get rid of them, while propagandizing against anything the disagree with. At times it feels more energy is spent attacking those who should be seen as allies rather than the true enemies. I used to spend a fair bit of time here each day, now perhaps a quick look once every few weeks because of this change in climate. I know many have left because of it, many have already posted their concerns about it, and their wise observations and suggestions have fallen on deaf ears.

I do feel I have a small measure of responsibility for the change (but no guilt). When FR started to fail to live up to it’s own rules about not bashing religions (when it came to my religion) we Mormon posters decided that instead of being party to the creation of long threads filled with contention that made it hard for the moderators see the difference in our behavior and theirs, we decided instead to simply post articles putting forward our position and leave the critics to show their true colors. (see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2013341/posts). Not only did the anti-Mormon posters oblige us and demonstrate the level of hate and bigotry in their hearts, but so did the anti-Momons within the leadership of FR. And thus began the decent of FR from a vibrant ad-hoc conservative think tank into an echo chamber of yes men with a loud group of religious bigots leading the way. It is sad to see it come to this, and I hope that the day comes when sanity returns. Something that needs to happen for that day to come is for the majority of people around here to face this reality: If you are not supporting Mitt Romney, you are playing into Obama’s hands. Any hopes of a brokered convention or third party conservative super-candidate are nothing but delusions fueled by a denial of reality. It comes down to either Mitt or Obama, and if you are not supporting Mitt you are helping Obama. Deal with it.

And don’t try to hide behind the idea that Mitt losing will be good in the long term for conservatism. That is putting your partisanship above your patriotism. Obama has done massive damage to the USA, and if you give him another 4 years you may not have a USA left at the end of his term. What good will this theoretical transformation of the GOP then? Truth is that if Mitt loses, no matter how conservative or liberal his campaign and policies are, the media will blame it on him being too right-wing and drive the GOP to the left as much as they can. Also, the good of the country should come first if you want to call yourself a patriot, and having Mitt in the White House will be much better for the USA than having Obama there.

While Mitt is not perfect (nobody is) I find many of the attacks on him so over the top, so full of exaggeration and fear mongering that ignores contrary evidence or any sense of proportion that I can’t help but suspect they hyperbole is just a mask for darker motives. The fact that in many cases these attacks come from those who also display great hostility towards Mormonism says it all. Deny it all you want, it is easy to see. For a satirical look at it, check this video I made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG68yz-mMgE

I am going to make some predictions I would like to make, and I hope this thread stays around so that in years to come you can all look back and see how it turned out:

- every conservative you respect will vote for Mitt, all of them (perhaps a couple excepts, but not many) will even endorse him and perhaps campaign with him

- President Romney will do very well on the economy and on foreign affairs/national security

- President Romney will conduct himself with honor and integrity both in office and in his personal life

- You will hear conservative pundits call him this generation’s Ronald Reagan, or Ronald Reagan’s 3rd term or something along those lines

- If there is an assassination attempt on him, it will either be by the Chineese, or by some religiously motivated nutjob (Islamic or Evangelical)

And for those of you anti-Mormons out there, I have some prediction for you too. And these apply even if Romney is not elected as POTUS:

- Your grandchildren will call Mormons Christians, and look at Mormonism as the third branch of Christianity alongside Catholicism and Protestantism

- All the attacks against Romney that stem from the anti-Mormon garbage you have bought into will result in the attacker either apologizing, or in their loss of credibility. The more anti-Mormon attacks are made in the mainstream media, the worse the attackers will look.

- Your grandchildren will likewise look at such attacks as being as bigoted and wrong, even when they come from you.

- Some of your grandchildren or great-grandchildren will become Mormons, and after you are dead they will have temple ordinances performed for you, and you will be glad at the time that they do.

I dare you to post your own predictions of what a Romney presidency will result in.

I dare FR to leave this thread open and available for comments and to not delete a single comment from it.

I dare FR to start respecting freedom of religion by not playing favorites towards one religious group as is currently done by disallowing Mormon caucus threads, and if that is too big a challenge for you, the do away with the Religion Forum altogether.

I dare you all to give Mormons and Mormonism the respect it deserves to have as the 4th largest denomination in the USA, stalwart defender of traditional values, glowing example of Christian charity at home and around the world, the most conservative people of all religious groups, and staunch defenders of the principles of the constitution and values that built the country. No matter how much you disagree with us on religious matters, we are and should be treated as valuable conservative allies. Until FR does that, all they do is shoot themselves in the foot.

Really, it doesn't matter which candidate I name -- because you won't do anything until I do your work for you and 'get him in the lead'

"You" is all the folks who think you can somehow miraculously get a candidate out in front of the GOP candidate within the next four months. You can't possibly believe that is within the realm of possibility, even if you had the *fervent* encouragement, support and eager, all-in assistance of every freeper past & present. If you believe that is possible, you are deluded and irrational. Even if *I* were to devote myself 24/7 until Nov 6th, we would come up lacking. We (conservatives) are outnumbered. We need to change that, but it will take longer than the next 4 months to get it done. It will likely take a few generations. So to be clear, I'm in agreement with you about what we'd like to see happen, but I disagree that it can be done in the next four months.

Most urgent priority: Vote Obama out of office by giving maximum advantage to the candidate with the best odds of doing it. If you don't think that's the GOP candidate, then tell me who else leads among likely voters.

Now, presuming you possess functioning sense of logic and reason: barring some completely unexpected miracle or leading candidate melt-down on live tv, there are only two viable candidates: The Dem candidate and the GOP candidate. There is no chance for a write-in. There is no chance for a third-party candidate. You know that as well as I do. I don't like it, but that is the reality everyone has to live in.

We could ask, "Do we want a constitutional-conservative elected as President in 2012? Of course we do. The question then becomes, "How do we do that, given we don't have a candidate we (conservatives) can all agree on *AND* given that the GOP has a candidate way out in front among likely voters?" The question is ridiculous on it's face at this point, four months before the election. We already had our chance in the primaries and blew it, primarily (I think) because we lacked a unifying conservative candidate. Even if we had the numbers this time, we (conservatives) would have still messed it up by squabbling over minutia and would have been split a dozen different ways. We proved that over and over and over during the primaries.

So, the only question remaining at this point, four months before the election, is: "Do you want Obama to win or lose?"

Going out on a limb and presuming you want Obama to lose, what do you think a reasonable and prudent course of action would be to vote Obama out (because that's the only way it's going to happen):

Option 1: Sing the blues about the crap candidate we've been stuck with by all the moderates, centrists, RINOs, independants and right-leaning dems? Throw a fit and not vote? Vote for (or write-in) some non-viable candidate? Or my favorite lame-brain plan: do something to try to "Teach the GOP a lesson" (like they give a rat's butt what we think)? or some other protest action...

Option 2: Use the remaining four months to try and drag down the current leader because we don't like him and were out-voted in the primaries by non-conservatives and replace him with some long shot candidate using the outnumbered forces of Free Republic / conservatives / Tea-Partiers? Good luck with that. If we *COULD* do that, Romney would not be the leading candidate right now and we wouldn't be having this discussion. You can't even get the F.R. crowd to agree on who that candidate would be. Ergo, "pipe-dream".

Option 3: Vote for whatever candidate leads against Obama among likely voters?

I'm going for Option 3. You do whatever you like. I lack the capability (or even the desire at this point) to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. I only defend my choice as the most rational, logical and *feasible* course of action. And yes, you could not be more wrong about me, but if it helps you feel better by accusing me of being a GOP puppet or whatever, more power to you. Like I've clearly stated consistently, over and over, I am only beholden to whoever stands the best chance of defeating Obama, whoever that is. Getting Obama out of office is my sole focus at this point. After that is done, the fight continues in whatever direction you like. But if Obama wins, by the time he's done ignoring congress, stacking SCOTUS with lib-progs, czaring/regulating to skirt the legislative process, etc. etc. etc... I'm not sure what all will be left that would be worth fighting for in *MY* remaining lifetime. It would probably be a battle for my great or great-great grandchildren after Obama's lifetime SCOTUS appointments retired/died.

- Your grandchildren will call Mormons Christians, and look at Mormonism as the third branch of Christianity alongside Catholicism and Protestantism”

Cue Who's Sorry Now?

The

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS

OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

SECTION 71

Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at Hiram, Ohio, December 1, 1831. HC 1: 238–239. The Prophet had continued to translate the Bible with Sidney Rigdon as his scribe until this revelation was received, at which time it was temporarily laid aside so as to enable them to fulfill the instruction given herein. The brethren were to go forth to preach in order to allay the unfriendly feelings that had developed against the Church as a result of the publication of some newspaper articles by Ezra Booth, who had apostatized.

1–4, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon are sent forth to proclaim the gospel; 5–11, Enemies of the saints shall be confounded.

1 Behold, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants Joseph Smith, Jun., and Sidney Rigdon, that the time has verily come that it is necessary and expedient in me that you should open your mouths in proclaiming my gospel, the things of the kingdom, expounding the mysteries thereof out of the scriptures, according to that portion of Spirit and power which shall be given unto you, even as I will.

2 Verily I say unto you, proclaim unto the world in the regions round about, and in the church also, for the space of a season, even until it shall be made known unto you.

3 Verily this is a mission for a season, which I give unto you.

4 Wherefore, labor ye in my vineyard. Call upon the inhabitants of the earth, and bear record, and prepare the way for the commandments and revelations which are to come.

5 Now, behold this is wisdom; whoso readeth, let him understand and receive also;

6 For unto him that receiveth it shall be given more abundantly, even power.

7 Wherefore, confound your enemies; call upon them to meet you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as ye are faithful their shame shall be made manifest.

8 Wherefore, let them bring forth their strong reasons against the Lord.

9 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you—there is no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper;

10 And if any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded in mine own due time.

11 Wherefore, keep my commandments; they are true and faithful. Even so. Amen.

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