Replies

1. Set the agenda.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Repetition of message.

Thank you, Bob J - and thank you to ALL of the members of the Free Republic Network who made such an extraordinary event as "FRiva Las Vegas 2002" possible. Without your inspiration - and PERSPIRATION - FRiva might have remained just another good idea that MIGHT have been. You (and the FRN) team made it happen.

I have never particularly liked the metaphor about "herding cats," but it is true that managing strong egos is at least as much of an art as it is a science, and YOU are in many ways a master artist.

The primary message that I took away from this weekend, however, was pragmatism.

We in the conservative movement need to focus on results. We do not always have to agree with each other. We do not even have to LIKE each other.

Chuck Muth said something about the Founding Fathers often having violent disagreements, despite the common belief that they were always such good friends. Jim Robinson added something to the effect that Alexander Hamilton probably would have been BANNED, if they had had a forum like this one then. :o)

Personally, I agree with Billy Graham's wife Ruth, who once said that if two people agree with each other about everything, ONE of them is unnecessary.

We need to remember that the most important vote that they take in the Senate each term is the FIRST vote - the one that establishes which is the MAJORITY party, and who shall be the committee chairmen. Tom Daschle has been extraordinarily effective at blocking the conservative agenda from his position as Majority Leader, and this CANNOT continue.

While we ALL might like to see fire-breathing "true believers" in public office, we may need to settle for squishy RINOs - at times - who will at least vote for the party ONE TIME - at the beginning of the term, until we can find a way to elect more conservative candidates.

We who post on this forum need to find COMMON GROUND more frequently, IMHO.

That which DIVIDES us pales before that which UNITES us.