Posted on 08/18/2014 7:18:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
Among nations peace is a pipe dream. Like the poor, war will always be with us. Sadly, peace is only the quick breath before the plunge. Nation states constantly wage wars of interest, economic skirmishes, philosophical firefights, scrabbling after power, gibbering for prestige, for resources, for territory, to fulfill a dictator’s lusts or a tyrants whim.
Progressives assert that man is essentially good, that all one must do is look for the good in others, the proverbial spark of Divinity that smolders somewhere. A casual perusal of one’s favorite news paper should dispel that fairytale like so many autumn leaves. But, the silly idea persists, shambling inside vacuous skulls, finding a rich playground of unintended consequence and good intention. It is a weed that grows and chokes common sense and coils its tendrils of pacifism, moral and political relativism, until its leaves extinguish even the understanding of experience.
Man is corrupted, as our founding fathers knew so well and articulated so beautifully. This was one of the presuppositions that produced the miracle of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is also the same presupposition that makes it possible to assert American exceptionalism. As a matter of historical fact we, as a nation, have striven for liberty and that makes our cause noble, dare we say better, than other nations which have been founded on lesser principles. A spark of Divinity does not lurk within us but rather the brooding ember of evil. That ember is always ready to metastasize into flame, feeding itself on the seven deadly sins until war and murder rage among men and nations.
Americans may delude themselves into believing that America can just opt out of the ancient struggle but the rest of the world will just snicker into their sleeves and step over our slumbering bodies, having drowsily clambered onto our own pyre. The rest of the world is gleeful to strike the match. America learned that lesson during WWII. We slept and our enemies, emboldened by our passivity, struck Pearl Harbor. Decades have passed and we seem doomed to repeat the Progressivist error—to assume that we may reason with our fellow man’s higher lights; we beat our swords into plowshares while China, Russia, and the rabid Islamo-Nazi hone their glittering blades to a razor’s edge.
President John F. Kennedy, Jr. understood that the flame of liberty is delicate and that we must be preeminent among nations if we wish to preserve it and see it set the world aflame. President Kennedy articulated clearly that only by maintaining an unassailable stature can America preserve its liberty against the constant pressures of hostile regimes. The enemies we face today are no different that the evil empires of the Cold War. Nation states do not seek parity but avariciously scrabble tooth and nail for dominance. That is human history not a fiction spun in a Harvard faculty lounge.
America’s mission to the moon, its presence in space, had everything to do with displaying American greatness and inspiring citizens to strive after excellence. In essence, that’s the American dream to participate, as equal citizens before the law, in a system that rewards merit, courage, risk, achievement. The space program was also about flexing some muscle and humbling the Soviet Bear. Intimidation is an important tool but is useless without a demonstrable capability. The Soviets were first to orbit a man made object and President Kennedy was wise enough to understand that this could not stand. The threat was strategic but almost more importantly psychological.
Americans love a winner. We need winners. Second place is merely first loser. Among nations, second place is death. The mission to the moon wasn’t just an exercise in technological expertise, it was a declaration.
The Obama administration, with it’s collective head bulging with the putrid gas of Progressivism’s blotched corpse, seeks a flaccid parity among nations. President Kennedy urged us to excel and to do those things that were hard because they were hard. JFK knew that the American people were not just up to any challenge but were and are always energized by it. It is the hardness that makes the achievement and the conqueror great. It is the process that builds capability and lifts the man or nation above peers. Achievement is a moral positive; it is a moral imperative for to hide one’s talent in the dirt is to sin against the Creator who bestowed it.
Ours is a lineage of heroes and giants who transversed the terrors of seemly illimitable seas in slosh-bucket ships, bestrode a fierce and wild continent to hew out a civilization, and blasted across the face of the stars to dust their boots with lunar powder. A free people are not meant to join in the dusty, bent-backed line of history’s serfs. Whether we like it or not, the world expects the best from us; it expects leadership from us because America is that shining city on a hill. America glitters because we are bejeweled with truth.
We can be first again, the engine of liberty for the world, but we must first roll up our sleeves and burnish the jewels encrusting our founding documents which Obama and his imps have been busy tarnishing. We can be great again but we must eject the detritus of Progressivism and maybe reach out again for the stars.
Just saying...
Bring back jobs to America.
“Progressives assert that man is essentially good”
This naïve assertion by liberals has gotten millions killed.
1. Cringing Negativism Network do you support free markets and free people?
2. Cringing Negativism Network do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
3. Cringing Negativism Network would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
4. Cringing Negativism Network would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
5. Cringing Negativism Network which President was better for America: Calvin Coolidge or Franklin D. Roosevelt? How about Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan?
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as 'bad luck'.” - Robert Heinlein
We clearly are on opposite sides of American jobs. You want to buy everything imported, mostly from China.
I seem to (currently) be in something of a minority. However America, and to an extent Free Republic, represent free speech and free ideas.
You have now complained several times to the moderator, to which I have not risen.
Yet you continue.
I will state my position one more time, very clearly. Just once, please pay attention:
Hire Americans.
“Progressives assert that man is essentially good”
Right. When one of these clowns spews this I always like to ask: ‘Do you have a lock on your door at home?’
They say: ‘Yes’....
‘Case closed’!
Stop evading the questions. These are simple for any real FReeper to answer. Just answer with single words. No more dodging.
1. Cringing Negativism Network do you support free markets and free people?
2. Cringing Negativism Network do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
3. Cringing Negativism Network would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
4. Cringing Negativism Network would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
5. Cringing Negativism Network which President was better for America: Calvin Coolidge or Franklin D. Roosevelt? How about Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan?
bkmk
Ok fair enough.
Do I support free markets and free people?
I support free people. 100%. I support free markets, to the extent those are reasonably possibly, to the extent that other countries reciprocate.
To the extent other countries do not reciprocate, I most definately do NOT support free markets, when we are competing against countries (such as China) which do not open their own markets to us in return.
China currently has the entire concept of “free” turned completely on its head.
As things stand now, I believe it is time to return businesses to America.
Now.
The other questions, I have no opinion on, so you’ll have to go without.
However I answered the first and biggest question. Stop selling out everything good about America, to a country which supports none of the qualities which make America a great nation.
Bring back jobs to America.
Excellent retort!
It’s incredible that you have no opinion on fundamental economic, political and conservative thought. I suspect that it is because you’re a Dem operative on deep cover here at FR. Do a little research and answer the questions below. You dodged, again.
Is the Right to Work good for America?
Are lower taxes good for America?
Is less regulation good for America?
These are basic questions and separate conservatives from progressives. Which are you?
The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarter's Expenses?
At the same time we have RINOs suing SpaceX for trivial matters to protect the public space programs in their home states.
When POTUS’s vision for the nation is to demolish all that the nation is, to tear down a nations culture and pride, the consequences are a demoralized society unable to stand up for what is right at home or abroad. This man, Obama, is systematically ruining a thing of beauty - the USA.
Now.
May I ask respectfully: how do you propose that 'we' (as a nation) do this?
The conservative way is reduce taxes and regulations, and encourage states to pass 'right to work' laws that limit the power of unions to leech off the fruits of productive labor and capital.
The leftist way is to prop up the unions, give special treatment to favored industries and employers, and to mouth demagoguery (sp?) about 'economic patriotism'.
Which side are you on?
+
Really?
The other questions, I have no opinion on, so you’ll have to go without.
You've been on FR for over 9 years but you have no opinion on whether Reagan was a better President than Carter?
Even Obama isn't dumb enough to believe that. LOL!
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.