Posted on 10/28/2015 5:04:50 PM PDT by Kaslin
I was the only real conservative available to vote for in the general election of 2012, at least in states representing about three quarters of the electoral votes, almost exactly the same percentage that Lincoln won on in 1860. A handful of patriots made that possible with grassroots effort only. Not a single dime was spent.
Those are simple facts.
Those who voted for me knew all of that, and understood, considering the current state of the electorate and our political process, that success in the election was virtually impossible, and decided to exercise their sacred franchise for what actually represents them anyway, instead of being cowed into voting for what doesn’t represent them, out of craven fear.
You see, the plumb line they operated from was a principled American standard. They actually believe in representative self-government enough to line up their actions with their rhetoric.
In 2012 your plumb line, and the plumb line of most Americans who call themselves “conservatives,” was, sadly, fear of Barack Obama...a fear that led them to cast their ballots for the most liberal governor in history, a man who clearly didn’t represent the things in which they say they believe.
And you wonder why our political class continues to build crooked buildings on shifting sand?
You wonder how and why it is that your worst fears come upon you anyway?
The standards of the fine patriots who supported me remain the same, to this day. God bless and keep them.
One last thing: You have NO RIGHT to tell anyone that they must violate their conscience in how they exercise their sacred franchise. Please stop doing that. It’s un-American.
‘Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catchphrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn’t. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let man label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country — hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of.’
- Mark Twain
‘When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers ‘just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty. If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.’
— Noah Webster
‘Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his own.’
— Daniel Webster
‘Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.’
— John Quincy Adams
‘Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual—or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.’
— Samuel Adams
‘There remains the one standard that has not yet been universally used, namely, the choosing of candidates on moral grounds. A nation always gets the kind of politicians it deserves. When our moral standards are different, our legislation will be different. As long as the decent people refuse to believe that morality must manifest itself in every sphere of human activity, including the political, they will not meet the challenge of Marxism. Contemporary history proves that modern political leaders, devoid of a moral inspiration and relying solely on a mass basis (might makes right), proves ineffectual in time of crisis.-
— Fulton Sheen, ‘COMMUNISM and the CONSCIENCE of the WEST’ -1948
Thats time not worth spending though. These people chose their side and FOUGHT to stay on that side. Plenty of time has elapsed for deathbed conversions. They should be treated as the leftists they are.
What we need to stop doing is wasting our time trying to talk sense to committed leftists intent on working against conservatism. Think of it like the unrepentant alkie or junkie. Sometimes a family just has to say “We did all we could” and just cut them off.
We are now going into our FOURTH election since the GOP and the PDS wing of FR worked so diligently to trash Palin. The very same people today preaching the lesser evil doctrine today were the people doing all in their power then to keep the GOP liberals in power and assist the actual Democrats in socializing America. Now ponder the $7 trillion id debt, the lost of age old institutions and all the rest they ‘accomplished’ for the left since.
Four.
Enough. They aren’t our friends, they aren’t conservatives and their actions show they work against everything we are about. They arent fixable and the facts are ridiculously clear on the ground that they don’t want to change course.
As per usual.
Why did we vote for them again, can someone remind me? Anyone?....,
Because you screwed up and listened to leftists on Free Republic and elsewhere telling you things you knew were not true like “It’s a lesser evil”, “They are better than Democrats” and “If you don’t you hate America and love Obama?”
Funny how after the GOP caved and gave Obama every major issue he wanted, those same people are still here telling toy that you have to keep doing what resulted in the polar opposite of what you wanted isn’t it?
If I were in your position, I’d be pretty pissed that my so called fellow ‘conservatives’ here lied to my face and made me look like a sucker.
You allowed fallacious thinking to bamboozle you into voting FOR turning the Republican party hard left in a way where "your self esteem was and still is intact."
Fortunately for you as well as the rest of us, Romney lost.
Thib, Norm describes you pretty well in his post #82.
of course we are conservatives
we are just not conservative zealots devoid of reason
there is much to be seen if you don’t look through the wrong end of the binoculars. once you migrate away from the far fringe, you see the vastness of conservatism as it truly exists
The differences between them are so minor as to be laughable with regard to "choice." You pretend that there was a choice. You are only fooling yourself. And, as you projected onto Eternal Vigilance, you are so desperate to keep your own self-esteem intact, that you carry on with this charade and get angry at folks who used to be where you still are, but who have figured out that the deal being offered by left-leaning politicians that now dominate both major parties is almost literally "Heads I win, tails you lose."
Just because you are still falling for it doesn't change the reality that that is what you are falling for.
My choice was to use my vote, the one tool I had, to dilute a bad substance (Coke or Pepsi, equally crappy) so that it would be that much weaker.
You went ahead and allowed yourself to be manipulated into voting for crap that you didn't want in the first place.
OR DIDNT YOU? Norm Lenhart is becoming more and more convincing in his argument that indeed, people like you WANTED what Romney has to offer. You WANT the political equivalent of crap like Coca-Cola and actually think it's "better" than Pepsi, metaphorically speaking.
Wake the hell up.
Sorry, Thib, but including yourself in the ranks of conservatives is like a goldfish including itself in the ranks of swordfish.
Kick and cream all you want. You arent getting the candy bar. As badly as you want to redefine what being a conservative is, it isn’t about compromise. And it isn’t about big tent bullshit. It’s about preservation, not expansion into liberalism.
I see women in their 40s dressing like teenagers all the time. Guess what they arent? Teenage girls. Guess what a liberal standing up scream how conservative their views are while preaching accepting liberal Republicans is? Aliberal. Not a Conservative.
1984 was a great book but I’m not going to lie to myself about living in it. And you arent going to lie about what conservatism is without getting called on it.
“Norm Lenhart is becoming more and more convincing in his argument that indeed, people like you WANTED what Romney has to offer.”
Thats because Norm Lenhart has people on FR every hour of every day proving all on their own with no input from him that he’s right all the way down the line. Not because he says he is. Because reality shows he is. You should just accept it Finny. Don’t accept it because he wants you to. Accept it because the facts show you the truth.
It sucks. He will be the first to say it sucks and he wishes he were wrong. But every day on the most right wing sight there is, and in the general population at large, the people prove he’s correct. ;)
You don’t seriously believe that isn’t so ?
Now, either Thibodeaux and millions of others who claim the label "conservative" understand why Romney has zero businesses being a Republican but still operate on an obsolete model of party loyalty, or they are happy with the general direction Romney wants to take the country. They are one or the other. I am very much afraid they are the latter.
In which case, again, it is a total waste of time right now even thinking of depending on the Republican party for anything except as a source of voters to convert to the new "third" party.
And at that, it is better approached as a true second party because with guys like Romney passing as "Republican," the two major parties actually represent only one product or choice (cola soft drink) in two different brands, Coke or Pepsi. It is a hugely apt analogy. We only have one major party going by two names, these days; it's time NOW to go Second Major Party, Cruz and all, if Norm is correct.
So many things have gotten worse, it’s hard to remember them all. What has gotten better ? I can’t name a single thing. If I lived in some other place with an intact values system of right and wrong and had a place to described to me as today’s USA, I would say evil had won there. Instead of Charlton Heston raging on the beach at the end of “Planet of the Apes”, you’d have Ben Franklin mad as hell at everything that had been done for us, all ruined, and for what ?
“And if you are correct, Norm,”
Just wanted to point out that you added an extra word there.
“And you are correct, Norm,”
Fixed it for you. ;)
Most people expanded the ability to lie to themselves without shame, remorse or regret. So there’s that...
Are you still pimping that bullshit party line ? We call that trolling, Hoss.
You and Congressman Virgil Goode. If he wasn’t on the ballot in my state, my vote would’ve gone to you.
If you think Willard was the “Conservative” alternative that Conservatives should vote for, you need to spend some time in the nervous hospital next to Karl Childers and his bucket of French fried taters.
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