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"THAT which you believe"---"An open letter to Republicans"
6/23/02 | redrock

Posted on 06/23/2002 10:25:55 AM PDT by redrock

"This is free ground. All the way from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow. No man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here's a place to build a home. It isn't the land--there's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me, we're worth something more than the dirt. I never saw dirt I'd die for, but I'm not asking you to come join us and fight for dirt. What we're all fighting for, in the end, is each other."

What is it that you believe???

A real question....since so many times on this forum, and others, the Republican 'mantra' has become a simple one.

Defeat the Democrats..whatever the cost..the Democrats are the enemy...(sort of Orwellian in it's simplicity)..repeated time after time...and anyone who dares to ask questions of George Bush's policies and actions is loudly shouted down.

But here's a 'news flash' for ya.......It may be that the Democratic Senators...Representitives.....leaders ARE the enemy of maintaining a Constitutional Republic.

But...the average member of the Democratic Party...is not.

The average member of the Democratic Party is just brainwashed..(for want of a better word)...

Just like the average member of the Republican Party is in danger of becoming.

"This is a party, this Republican Party, a Party for free men, not for blind followers, and not for conformists. "

So..I'll ask my very simple questions once again......

And Republicans who wish to rant and rave about 'third party' this or that...go right ahead.

But George W. Bush barely won the last election.....

You NEED staunch conservatives ( nowadays I guess we would be considered 'radical'.....) to help re-elect him....and others of the party..

CONVINCE us.........that at a certain point you will be willing to fight for 'old time values'.....

CONVINCE us ...that you have not become slavish followers of GWB...in much the same way as some did with Clinton....that you will ask the 'hard questions' (and demand the answers).

CONVINCE us.......and you will not do so by the constant dismissal of our very real concerns.

CONVINCE us.......

-----------------

So where do we 'draw the line'????

Should we elect rapists or murderers...if they are members of the Republican Party..and could 'help retake the Senate'???

At what point do you say 'this far and no further'???

Must every single American 'prostitute' themselves in order for one political party (one which on CLOSE examination is no different than the other one) to 'control' government???

I have certain values and beliefs...based upon my Belief in God.

Should I just throw those Beliefs and Values away...and close my eyes....just so the Republicans can win???

The basis of this Nation is a hardcore belief that the values and ideals (sorry to use that word..ideals...seems that word anymore has the same effect on Republicans as a Cross does to evil) that founded this Nation are important....


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: elections; republicans
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To: Luis Gonzalez
I don't have to convince you of anything other than to respect my choices, as I respect yours.

Well said.

And all this time I thought you played left field for the Diamondbacks. LOL

81 posted on 06/23/2002 1:36:43 PM PDT by thrcanbonly1
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To: Registered
My bubble?

You believe that the truism in your microcosm is the absolute truth in the real world.

Look around you, I'm not the one making the claim that "us true conservatives deserted Daddy Bush in '92"...talk to those making the claim.

You can very easily identify them, they are the ones saying that they are "true conservatives" and that they are deserting Bush II.

82 posted on 06/23/2002 1:37:07 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
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To: Luis Gonzalez

This I Believe by Robert A. Heinlein

"I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. "Take Father Michael down our road a piece. I'm not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and lovingkindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I'm in trouble, I'll go to him."

"My next-door neighbor is a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat. No fee--no prospect of a fee--I believe in Doc.

"I believe in my townspeople. You can know on any door in our town saying, 'I'm hungry,' and you will be fed. Our town is no exception. I've found the same ready charity everywhere. But for the one who says, 'To heck with you - I got mine,' there are a hundred, a thousand who will say, "Sure, pal, sit down."

"I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers I can step up to the highway, thumb for a ride and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, 'Climb in Mac - how far you going?'

"I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime yet for every criminal there are 10,000 honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but is a force stronger than crime. I believe in the patient gallentry of nurses and the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land.

"I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

"I believe that almost all politicians are honest. . .there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true we would never have gotten past the 13 colonies.

"I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in -- I am proud to belong to -- the United States. Despite shortcomings from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

"And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown. In the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth. That we always make it just by the skin of our teeth, but that we will always make it. Survive. Endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the
opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes will endure. Will endure longer than his home planet -- will spread out to the stars and beyond, carrying with him his honesty and his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage and his noble essential decency.

"This I believe with all my heart."

Robert A. Heinlein wrote this item in 1952. His wife, Virginia Heinlein, chose to read it when she accepted NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal on October 6, 1988, on the Grand Master's behalf (it was a posthumous award).

Mrs. Heinlein received a standing ovation.

83 posted on 06/23/2002 1:37:08 PM PDT by humblegunner
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To: tricky_k_1972
Let me be first say, "BRING BACK NEWT"

The Contract with America was a great effort, and was even co-opted by the Clintoons in several ways. It's a shame the courts destroyed the millions of votes of support for term limits. We need a Contract with America 2004!

84 posted on 06/23/2002 1:38:37 PM PDT by Teacher317
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To: redrock; christine11
I think slick willy did massive organized fraud in the past election
I think he tried to slick us out of our democracy when the fix didn't take
I think we surmounted the fix by overwhelming votes for Bush
I never bought into ''we won by narrow margin''
I was broken glass republican in this past election
I will vote libertarian in future
my guess is GOP chose not to prosecute clinton corruption, because they did not want to alienate voters
they lost my vote because of it
but maybe they will pick up many others
I am voting Libertarian now cause I want to stop the war on drugs
and get rid of income tax
Love, Palo
85 posted on 06/23/2002 1:41:13 PM PDT by palo verde
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To: thrcanbonly1
Can you build and administer a police department, judicial system, fire department, libraries? Just to name a few things that government does for you. Have you read the constitution of the United States of America lately? Do you know that the states had to give up their power to the Federal government so that we could become a cohesive country? I am not being sarcastic either. We have governing bodies from people who live in condominiums who elect people to help keep their living conditions pleasurable, to city and county governments who see that rules and regulations are enforced to make the city and county liveable for both individuals and businesses, and then we have state governments and federal governments. Each kind of government brings certain things under their umbrella. Sanitation, (do you have rats? Call Health Dept.
street repair? Call Public Works.) I hope I have been able to explain what you are looking for.
86 posted on 06/23/2002 1:41:21 PM PDT by broomhilda
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To: humblegunner
Mrs. Heinlein just rfeceived another standing ovation.

Thank you for posting these words from one of my literary heroes.
87 posted on 06/23/2002 1:43:25 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
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To: broomhilda
Every single one of those are state and local issues... what are the ones for the federal level?
88 posted on 06/23/2002 1:44:36 PM PDT by Teacher317
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To: Nick Danger
Let them hear conservative policies described as something other than the heartless throwing of widows and orphans into the street, and they will vote for these policies.

To me, this is one of the most critical jobs an office holder or political candidate has.  Newt was amazing at this.  Yes our conservative office holders need to legislate, but they needs to lead also.  You lead by championing your ideas.  You lead by explaining to people why lowering taxes is good for them.  You explain why allowing states to control more of the school debate is good for them.  You basicly lead them through the issues so that they have a better understanding.  Then at election time, you run on your core values.

To my way of thinking, we are selling ourselves and our values short if we do not run on them.  If we don't tell people what and why we stand for things, who else will?  That's why I am very leary of Republicans who taylor their campaigns to what they think the people want to hear.  If we don't express our beliefs and explain why, those beliefs evaporate from the public arena never to be supported openly to those who haven't heard of them, or had them explained to them.

Personally I believe this is a major reason why we move slowly leftward all the time.  If our ideas are not championed, what else could happen but this?  It also leads to a less informed group of people who back you.  And if they are not brought up to speed on important issues, they too will waver or slip away from conservative core values.  With appologies to some, I feel that we see that very thing happening to some degree.

89 posted on 06/23/2002 1:44:55 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Theodore R.
In certain ways, I definately agree with you.
90 posted on 06/23/2002 1:45:30 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: redrock
Valid points; valid questions.

I consider myself a staunch Constitutionalist.......but have been a registered Republicans for most of my adult life. I have not been particularly happy with my Party for some time. Generally, I believe Bush to be a very good, decent man..............but I DO have serious problems with many of his spendthrift policies, "reaching out" to liberal Democrats (which looks remarkably like "rolling over" to have one's belly scratched.......but that's another topic), etc.

However, I think I know why folks such as us fight for and vote for Republicans.

Republicans are the perpetual underdogs. The Dems controlled Congress for decades and gave us, particularly under Democratic Presidents, horrific domestic policies that have tossed trillions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars right down the toilet. You know the "programs"; I don't have to enumerate them. We felt that, given a chance, the Republicans would at least have the decency to stave off such Socialistic legislation.............and we hoped beyond hope that they would even reverse some of it/them. To some extent, this happened.......but not nearly enough.

I suppose what I'm saying is that the Republican Party is paranoid as all living hell, and that same Party has come to believe that it must adopt successful Democratic Party tactics in order to win (i.e. "triangulation", appeasement of special interests, adoption of politically correct stances, etc., etc., ad nauseum).

What the damned Party must do is return to its roots and realize that THAT is the only way they'll win and win big. I got sick and tired of hearing what a "genius" Karl Rove was in the way he ran the 2000 election.

It was an unmitigated disaster. Sumbitch should have been fired.

Bush had to squeak by via electoral college votes while getting his arse kicked in the popular vote. THAT never should have happened. Bush could very well have supported the views of the Conservatives........as Reagan did.........and he would have stomped the filling out of Gore at the polls. Rove was too dense and too haughty to see that.

Let's just say that I'll be watching the 2004 elections very, very closely. I'm this close to bolting this schizo Party, and let them wallow in their paranoia.

91 posted on 06/23/2002 1:46:08 PM PDT by RightOnline
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To: JZoback
Whew, I'm glad I'm a Constitutionist rather than a Republican.

Same here. Was a Republican for many years. Now I just want my freedom back.

92 posted on 06/23/2002 1:47:33 PM PDT by Jefferson Adams
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To: broomhilda
and do you think "that the states had to give up their power to the Federal government so that we could become a cohesive country?" was a good thing, and doesn't need to be reversed, now that national cohesion is no longer a critical issue? How about having 50 different systems for Health and Human Services, Energy, etc., so that we can see what works, what doesn't, and who to emulate? Our current system has ONE way, and if it doesn't work... well, we'll form a committee and hope for better. A pathetic bureaucratic system at best.
93 posted on 06/23/2002 1:47:35 PM PDT by Teacher317
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To: redrock
The brain cavaties have been washed and polished. They are now shiny in both the RINO's & DINO's. Neither group has any idea what is happening to America.
94 posted on 06/23/2002 1:48:09 PM PDT by B4Ranch
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To: tricky_k_1972
If you have any constructive suggestions besides the offhand comment I'll be glad to listen.

I know this post was not to me, but I have a constuctive suggestion.

I suggest you study political philosophys and policies of both the Pubs and the Dems since say 1960 (just to keep it resonably short) with an eye to the leftward tend of both parties. What was consider left wing then(1960) i.e. Kennedy's policies would be considered almost Libertarian today. And todays so called right wing conservative policies would be considered part of the loony left in 1960. Just IMHO. Just a suggestion.

95 posted on 06/23/2002 1:49:04 PM PDT by thrcanbonly1
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To: Jefferson Adams
Now I just want my freedom back.

I am sure the next parole hearing will go better.

96 posted on 06/23/2002 1:49:30 PM PDT by Texasforever
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To: Registered
I also voted for Bush in '92. Clinton? I'm in, I'm out, I'm in Perot? Nope, it was Bush. I even voted next to the bottom of the barrel in '96. Then I started asking myself how low the party would go? After looking at what had just happened, I checked out.
97 posted on 06/23/2002 1:52:37 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Teacher317; TwoStep; redrock; DoughtyOne; Gophack; ElkGroveDan
Unfortunately we don't always have the best candidates but I still would rather have a Republican majority in both the house and senate than a Democrat. In 1994 we had a Republican majority in Congress and we accomplished something with the Contract For America. Our goal was a balanced budget and a surplus and the Democrats laughed at us and said it couldn't be done. We can elect GOOD people. The problem is that they need MONEY to get their message out. The news media ignores our candidates. Unless we support our Republican candidates we will end up with only one party in power and that will be the Democrat party. A one party system will give us a totalitarian government. A totalitarian government is a dictatorship which is practically what we have now.
98 posted on 06/23/2002 1:54:15 PM PDT by broomhilda
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To: Teacher317
Our judicial system and Supreme court.
99 posted on 06/23/2002 1:56:13 PM PDT by broomhilda
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To: thrcanbonly1
That was not a suggestion for solving the problem, that was an attempt at criticism. I asked how would someone solve the problem of Republicans acting like conservatives and constitutionalist without: 1 voting for a third party and thereby electing a Democrat or 2 not voting and thereby electing a democrat. (I expanded this for clarity)
100 posted on 06/23/2002 1:57:24 PM PDT by tricky_k_1972
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