"Our task is to make them see that what we represent is identical to their own hopes and
dreams of what America can and should be. If there are questions as to whether the
principles of conservatism hold up in practice, we have the answers to them.

Where conservative principles have been tried, they have worked."

Ronald Reagan

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"The key to restoring the health of the economy lies in cutting taxes. At the same time, we need to get the waste out of federal spending. This does not mean sacrificing essential services, nor do we need to destroy the system of benefits which flow to the poor, the elderly, the sick and the handicapped. We have long since committed ourselves, as a people, to help those among us who cannot take care of themselves. But the federal government has proven to be the costliest and most inefficient provider of such help we could possibly have.

We must put an end to the arrogance of a federal establishment which accepts no blame for our condition, cannot be relied upon to give us a fair estimate of our situation and utterly refuses to live within its means. I will not accept the supposed “wisdom” which has it that the federal bureaucracy has become so powerful that it can no longer be changed or controlled by any administration. As President I would use every power at my command to make the federal establishment respond to the will and the collective wishes of the people.

We must force the entire federal bureaucracy to live in the real world of reduced spending, streamlined functions and accountability to the people it serves. We must review the functions of the federal government to determine which of those are the proper province of levels of government closer to the people."
Ronald Reagan
announcement for Presidential Candidacy
11/13/1979

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"Well, good afternoon. I'm told that this is the coldest day in Inauguration history. But looking out at all of you, I somehow feel there's a lot of warmth inside this building.

...Now, we were all anticipating the parade. And I was looking forward to every unit. I'd heard about all of you. And particularly, there was one that -- someplace in here, I think, is a band from my home, or the town where I was born, Tampico, Illinois. And with that band was going to be the pompom girls from the high school in Dixon, Illinois, where I graduated.
I want to tell you, I have a little knowledge and understanding of some of your problems. I was the drum major of the Dixon YMCA Boys Band, and I had a brief career, because we were asked to head up the parade in a nearby town on Decoration Day. And I know that everyone was briefed about the parade course and everything, but I had also been told that a fellow on a white horse was going to be out in front, and I figured I'll just follow the man on the white horse. Who can go wrong doing that? And I was going down the street, making with the baton, and pretty soon I thought the music was beginning to sound a little faint.

I looked over my shoulder. Everybody had turned the corner. I was going down the wrong street all by myself.

I kept right on walking -- right out of a musical career."

Ronald Reagan
Remarks at the Inaugural Band Concert at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland January 21, 1985

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We the people built America!! We settled it, we hacked it out of the wilderness. We fought for it, we defended it, we died for it. We built our homes, our farms, our factories, our businesses, our schools, our churches, our towns. We raised and educated our children to continue building it.
And as anyone who graduated from the eighth grade before the government propagandists took over knows, we the people built the government:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

And we the people granted the government certain LIMITED powers reserving all others to the states and to ourselves:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

You, our elected representatives and appointed lackeys, are NOT our RULERS. You are our SERVANTS!! Never forget that!!

The government did NOT build America. If anything, it has stood in the way nearly every step of the way!! And now the government has openly stated that its goal is to destroy the constitution, destroy freedom and destroy the free economy altogether.
Free Republic is here to continue fighting for independence and freedom and against the unconstitutional encroachment of ever expanding socialist government. Government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. We do not consent to godless liberal/progressive socialist government!!
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Our God granted us life and liberty along with all of our other unalienable rights. We place our faith with God, not government. With God all things are possible.
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"No one who lived through the Great Depression can ever look upon an unemployed person with anything by compassion.

To me, there is no greater tragedy than a breadwinner willing to work, with a job skill but unable to find a market for that job skill. Back in those dark depression days I saw my father on Christmas eve open what he thought was a Christmas greeting from his boss.

Instead, it was the blue slip telling him he not longer had a job.

The memory of him sitting there holding that slip of paper and then saying in a half whisper, 'That's quite a Christmas present; it will stay with me as long as I live.'"
Ronald Reagan
To Restore America, Ronald Reagan’s Campaign Address March 31, 1976

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"I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness.
And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either."
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"I supported McCain..he lost.
I supported Romney..he lost.

I said to my wife, I'm doing this myself."

Donald Trump
Rally in Sioux Center IA January 23, 2016

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Over the years I have observed the things Conservatives ask for. You see, at times they get them. When they do, they sometimes don't seem to notice or be happy about those things being converted into actual policy, or bills that are signed into law.

For literally decades I grew older as I observed the Republicans in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, lament being in the minority. Very few times in my 66 years, have the Republicans in the House and Senate, realized a majority at the same time we have had a Republican president. Now is one of those rare times. And yet...

The word "dreamers" has been attached to a group who are not citizens of the United States. That's a shame, because our own citizens have dreams that should and MUST take priority. Our nation needs to be sound. That comes before anything else.

I tossed that in, because our citizens had dreams too. Their dreams unlike the others, were in the best interests of our nation. Those who loved this nation dreamed of a time when all the Leftward drift could be addressed. Deficit spending, tens of millions of illegal aliens, potential terrorists flooding into the United States, other "refugees" coming in numbers that COULD NOT be assimilated, were also very disconcerting. These groups WERE at times NOT desirous of melding into the fabric of our nation. Even if they were not intent on committing acts of terrorism, they were intent on changing the United States to their liking, and simply refusing to become Americanized. Then there was the Leftist/Socialist/Marxist/Communist takeover of 1/6of our economy that had to be addressed, in the name of Obamacare. There was also a desire to address Right to Life, deficit spending, our veteran's needs and our military. There were international issues, and the need to back off the rush to combat the non-existent man made global warming.

We have seen the rule of law turned on it's head. We see people attack the police, threaten their lives, and then meet with fatal results for being a threat to an officer of the law. Then groups form to assert a false narrative, decry reasoned justice, then advocate for civil unrest, riots, and payback. This payback is not then limited to the police. It is parceled out to segments of the public irrationally. We had a president and a political party that championed this. We have universities that have championed it. We had an MSM and entertainment industry that championed it. We have billionaire enemies of the United States who champion it. We have Leftist groups that are paid to riot, deny civil rights, and physically attack the people they disagree with. We have universities that are run with U.S. government funds (at least in part), who refuse to allow Conservatives to make public presentations on their campus.

We have people aiding, abetting, and paying those participating in civil unrest and the denial of the civil rights of others. We have a full blown race war going on right now, that is ultimately one-sided. We also have a gender war raging at this time that is one sided. White males have been deemed fair targets and deserving of racial and gender hatred and civil rights denials.

A president who was himself a racist, and that saw things diametrically opposed to loyalist United States citizens, was replaced by the voting public, with a man that wanted to return the United States to reasoned values.

Donald J. Trump was elected and provided a Republican House and Senate, so that he could turn things around. Many of us were thrilled to see this. Others were circumspect, would Trump follow through with his promises?

Folks, President Trump has followed through on almost all of this promises. He has either written Executive Orders that strike down past Executive Orders, or he has supported legislation to get things done. He has supported budget fixes to things.

Trump has already addressed, Right to Life, an incredibly good SCOTUS appointment, global warming efforts, illegal aliens, criminal aliens, government spending, downsizing departments, reducing over-regulation, and the influx of immigrants from terrorist nations. He has opened up a bid process to build a wall on our southern border, and has started replacing fence in some areas with a 20 foot tall rugged steel barrier. His announced policies have seen a 75 to 85% reduction in illegal aliens crossing the border. He means business on this, and he is following through.

Is Trump the man those who supported him thought he would be? Yes. He is unquestionably the best president we have had since January 20th, 1989. What's in question is whether he will continue to exhibit this level of support for Conservative causes, and eclipse President Ronald Reagan, as our best president of the "modern era", and possibly since the nation's founding.

What President Trump faced when becoming President of the United States, was monumental. Almost every single category we could mention needed massive course correction. I can't think of a single one that didn't. On top of that, race relations were at their worst level in sixty years. The lie that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement had been bought into by major Leftist papers and the President of the United States. Racial support groups and our universities signed on. "Permission" was given for people to go rogue rioting and beating people of a different color in public. Not one word of condemnation was uttered to criticize this or put an end to it.

What could have been worse, when Trump took over? Hardly anything.

As if that wasn't bad enough, we had Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and others advocating for open warfare against Russia. If the Left had gotten Hillary Clinton elected, I shudder (and many of you do too) what our future would have been. Luckily, we elected a man that was solid on the issues prior to being elected, and solid on them since, with very few exceptions.

Isn't that great! Well? You know folks, I return to the thought in the first paragraph now. Do we as Conservatives recognize how good we have it? Do we appreciate what has taken place? Do we as a group universally offer up kudos to President Trump each day? Well..., do we? Many folks here do. Many do, but not without a barb tossed in most of the time. And then there are those who simply refuse to acknowledge how good Trump is. Folks, he has been very good.

As of the writing of this commentary, Trump has not sided with our enemies once. If you look at what he has advocated, what he has deemed the best he could hope to do right now, he has outperformed expectations on almost every single issue.

In light of these some of us praise him. In light of his actions, others say they support him and include a barb in many of their posts. Still others don't even bother to post something nice, they just go for the jugular based on some perceived infraction. Let's look at four of those.

Trump has been in office for four months and a week. That's 128 days today.

In that 128 days, he has failed to repeal and replace Obamacare. He has failed to get the wall going. He has failed to overturn DACA. He has appointed his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner as his assistants.

Trump advocated for the Ryan Health Care bill. Most of us, myself included, criticized that. We didn't want what we perceived as Obamacare lite. Was that reasoned? I believe so. We had to make it known we didn't want a governmental health care plan. We voiced our opinions, and the Conservative Caucus in the House refused to sign on. That bill was DOA. I think most of us were happy about that. The president made some unfortunate comments about the failure, but was soon on the march toward a different version of the bill, once again submitted by Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump advocated for it's passage. As part of the bill, Planned Parenthood was completely refunded. It passed by four votes in the House. Just four folks...

Over in the U.S. Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appointed Senator Ted Cruz to come up with an alternate bill. He didn't think the House bill could pass the Senate. He designed his effort as a straight committee to floor vote strategy. Cruz and his committee would come up with the best they could, and the Senate would vote up and down on it. This way it couldn't stall in committee and fail to even come to a floor vote.

The facts are these. The House barely passed it's bill. The Senate will have a very hard time passing it's version. What does this tell us? It tells us, that we came about as close as we could to not being able to pass a bill in the House. It appears that is the same case in the Senate. If we had held out for more, it may have been an easier sell in the House, but may have doomed it in the Senate. Whatever the Senate comes up with may cost votes in the House. This thing is teetering right now, pass or no pass.

It's fairly clear this is the best we can do right now. In 2018, we're hopeful to get a 60% majority in the U.S. Senate, and a better margin in the House than we have today. We either go with what we can get right now, or chance not getting anything done.

As for the wall on the border, Trump put out bids and there was a robust response. Companies will be building concepts. A selection will be made. Meanwhile Trump is replacing some industrial fencing with a formidable steel barrier. I think this is reasoned progress for the first 128 days. Some folks have looked at his budget requests, and don't think he put enough money in for the wall. I have come to trust Trump. With what he has already done, and with the process he has started, I expect him to follow through, and I don't think that is unreasonable to do.

As for failing to overturn DACA (I may be using the wrong name here, I think you'll know what I mean), I believe detractors have a reasoned beef. As we address these things, there is a factor that I think a lot of folks are failing to take into consideration. Were Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, or Kennedy better on immigration reform than Trump? Even failing to take action on DACA, Trump has still advocated more and implemented more to address illegal immigrants than any president since at last the 1960s. As this (DACA) relates to the rest of his actions, it may wind up being the one true failure for Trump to follow through. If, heaven forbid it should remain that way, would this one thing cause us to see Trump as a complete failure for our cause? I don't think so folks, and it's unfathomable for me to think of all the things he has addressed, for him to be seen as a failure based on this alone. Even failing this, he will have done more to stop and reverse the illegal alien onslaught than any president in nearly 80 years.

Now comes the nepotism charge. Ivanka and Jared are family, and Trump brought them in to assist him for no pay. Both Ivanka and Jared have the ability to make a very handsome income each year, but both have come to the White House to help her father the president, for no salary. They may serve as much as eight years for no salary. Many have trashed them. I am here to praise them. We ask for selfless people to come to Washington and help clean the place up, but when two people do just that, some of us have taken many a pot shot at them and the president for them being there at all. That is terribly misguided.

Ivanka and Jared have made their thoughts known on access to abortion, and the efforts addressing global warming. None the less, the president has implemented his policy, not theirs. Over Trump's life he came to believe what he does, and almost all of it aligns with our beliefs. Despite his daughter holding different beliefs, he developed his core beliefs that are different, amazingly similar to ours. Now, for some reason, folks have been very nervous that he would toss his beliefs overboard and adopt Ivanka or Jared's. If he didn't do that in years past, why would he now? Still some folks have been convinced that was about to happen. No, it wasn't about to happen.

So what do we see on the forum today? We see folks very happy at what is taking place. They have evaluated Trump's promises and actions up to now, and they approve. They still care about policy and won't let Trump stray too far, but they do trust him. They keep watching, and if he starts to blow it, they'll address it, as they should. They won't fly off the handle hourly. It's just not like them to do that. They are positive people, and recognize in Trump a positive person. They know he hasn't been lying. Everyone should by now.

Then there's a group whose posts go something like this. Yes, Trump has been great on this topic, but I just have to bring up the subject of "X" here, because I can't stand to give him kudos without offsetting them with a dig. They insert issue 1-4 at will, even if issues 1-4 have nothing to do with the topic of the thread or not. Then they wind up saying, but you know I really support Trump and think he's doing a wonderful job, and I want him to continue on like this. This last part is so they can always claim to support him, even if they have made an unforced dig against him that is totally irrational when they did it.

Then there is the third group. A few people will come on to a positive thread, and not even address the topic of the thread. They raise issue 1-4 and trash him on that count.

Folks, everyone here should hold Trump's feet to the fire. They just need to do it in a reasoned manner. If it's the topic of the thread, address it rationally. If it's not the topic of the thread, address the topic of the thread and other than that, shut up! You're not introducing anything constructive. You're just undercutting Trump. Period. Stop it! This not Democrat Underground.

After a lifetime of pent up need for Conservatives to turn this nation back to the Right, we find that 128 days into the Trump administration, the Republicans had no game plan. They didn't have any legislation waiting to be presented to Trump. They have basically had 28 years to come up with "dream" legislation. They have nothing! Trump is therefore seeking to turn the nation back to the Right all by himself.

We have a House and Senate that are not helping Trump. They are standing with arms folded. When Trump comes under attack, they remain mute. Democrats like Maxine Waters and many others tee off on Trump, demand his impeachment, and other things against him. They criticize wildly and constantly. They claim a Trump/Russian conspiracy and raise the impeachment word. From the Republicans, NOTHING! They don't do their jobs. They don't defend their own team.

Trump has no help in the House or Senate. He has no help in the MSM. The WP, NYT, USA Today, and the WSJ are constantly attacking Trump, Trump's people, and Trump's policies. These entities also support the BLM, a racist movement. Then you have the blogosphere, which has gone mostly South. There are a few places still decent, but not many. Drudge is still pretty good. The Conservative TreeHouse and Breitbart are still good. That's about it folks.

Free Republic is a place that has traditionally supported Conservative ideals. It's clientele (fondly knows as FReepers) remain as true to the Founder's intent, and Founding Principles as they can. They advocate for Conservative Policy and those who talk those principles up and seek to implement them at every opportunity. It is our goal to support them.

Interestingly enough, this last year we had one guy that has always struck people as Conservative. He struck me as Conservative at first. Then I dug deeper and I recognized a guy playing fast and loose with the comments, yet not close to the chest on votes. His talk was pretty good, as it had always been, but some of his policies and votes were troubling. During the campaign many folks saw chinks in his armor, and their support for him cracked, shattered, and fell away. Those who failed to see his problems remained loyal to him. At one point there was a NeverTrump movement, and for all intents and purposes, the candidate and many of his followers became NeverTrumpers. Some will say he never adopted that stance himself, but failing to endorse at the convention and only provide token support post the convention, most of us saw a NeverTrumper in him.

Today, some of these people are the ones who feel compelled to insert criticism of Trump into non related threads. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is. After 128 days, these people have had a chance to observe Trump and judge who and what he is. At this point, only a die-hard NeverTrumper could find fault with this man. Some of us have grown tired of the anti-Trump carping.

Free Republic is one of the few places on the Internet that is full on supportive of Conservative values, and Conservative political figures. It is a very good place to read news and comment on it. It is not a place designed as a place where Conservatives can be attacked at will. In light of Trump's clear wish to implement most of our political goals, the dedicated Conservatives on this site that want to see the nation move back toward the right, are determined to support Trump and give those who wish to unfairly attack him over and over again, a very tough time for doing it.

This forum is here to influence readers. It is here for folks to read and reason out for themselves, what good policy is. It is not here for them to find fellow travelers who despise Trump. If Trump does something wrong, we want them to see a reasoned explanation why, and understand why it is reasoned. Pot shots on unrelated threads do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to advance Conservatism. They are solely DESTRUCTIVE. This has to stop.

Folks, if you're here to read news, get a reasoned take on what is taking place in the nation from a Conservative viewpoint, make some supportive comments from a Conservative vantage point, you've come to the right place.

If you are here to take pot shots at Trump day in and day out, even if you really really really do "SUPPORT TRUMP" honest, then you're not at the right place.

FReep-a-thons come around once a quarter, and it seems as if some folks have lost their way. We have a job to do. It's time to replenish the forum. It's time to show support for Conservatism, via Free Republic.

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The owners of Free Republic determined over twenty years ago, that it would be best not to sell advertising space here. They also determined it would not be good to allow large outside entities to donate to the forum. Some of you may wonder why.

When you sell advertising space other others, or you allow large entities to support your forum, you give them leverage. If you don't adhere to beliefs like theirs, they can withdraw support for your forum. If someone doesn't like your views, they can contact your advertisers and try to get them to pressure you into changing your views.

Folks, those of us who value Conservatism do so to the extent we are willing to donate small to significant portions of our cash to keep Conservative ideals on display available to the public.

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