Posted on 11/26/2002 7:18:46 AM PST by jasonalvarez
I know I've seen you around here before, and I noted with interest your posts on this thread. I remember the early days when the bold on the FR posted with their real names.
There is a reason that such posters went away, and it doesn't have anything to do with the popular perception promoted by revisionists like gcruse that FR is "just a right-wing Internet chat site". :-)
The problem is that many (not all, but many) of the views they decry as being neo-con are views that either or both of those two men held. Specifically, I am referring to Taft's embrace of international law and working through international organizations, and Goldwater's embrace of free trade, particularly within the Americas. And someone who would hold the modern day equivalent on positions to those of William McKinley would also get their scorn as being a neo-con, even though McKinley-style conservative Republicanism predates the "old right" by several decades.
So you are right, there are some with a lack of knowledge of history. And many of those throwing neo-con labels around either suffer from this lack of knowledge or are trying to disingenuously take advantage of those who do.
We have a big problem in the SW. Ever hear of La Raza and MECHa?La Raza is an extremist group. There are a few characteristics of extremeist groups which are relevant here. One, is that extremist groups tend to cause the formation of extremist groups opposing them, with the groups developing an antagonistic but symbiotic relationship. Two, is that said extremist groups will issue massive propaganda. And three is that such groups, and their corresponding "anti" group both have a vested interest in overstating the membership strength of the groups. La Raza will claim more members than they have, and the groups that oppose them will also claim La Raza has more than they have.
And then there are the sane people not in either of these camps. People like you and me. We have to be dilligent to ensure that the propaganda from either or both sides doesn't get us to lose a clear picture of what is going on.
Is immigration a problem? Absolutely. Is illegal immigration an even bigger problem? Again, yes. Is there a serious movement to reclaim the SW for Mexico that has more than a hundred or two adherents? No, there is not. Any more than there is a Stalinist revolution about to occur in America, the way the SDS has been promising for decades now.
But America, and conservatism, have to have goals in the future and the energy and committment to pursue them. To go on we do have to believe that tomorrow will be better than today, and however much one may dislike current conditions, one has to recognize in them the seeds of a better future.
With the emergence of Bush, the departure of Clinton, and the destruction of the World Trade Center, the focus and scope of acceptable opinion have changed at Free Republic. Some opinions that might have been taken in stride four years ago now are increasingly regarded as outside the pale.
But still, there is more diversity of opinion here than at Lew Rockwell or Liberty Forum or Ether Zone. There's quite a narrow orthodoxy of acceptable opinion on such sites. At first the opinions they express are stimulating, but in time they come to sound quite monotonous in their unanimity.
It would be different if paleoconservative or paleolibertarian opinions were directly relevant to political life today or if they were blindingly true. In that case, one wouldn't mind the reinforcement of repetition. But what one finds in Lew Rockwell or Chronicles is impractical, politically irrelevant, and so joyfully and blindly wrongheaded or so morosely dispairing that it gets increasingly hard to take.
I certainly hope will still be able to argue about current administration policies, but hearing day after day that one needs to get back to how things were before FDR or Lincoln or Washington doesn't add much to the debate.
He's a kid who thinks cynicism means intelligence. Ain't worth your time.
the DC Holiday Party is 14 dec 02. COMING????
free dixie,sw
free dixie,sw
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/798782/posts
This time it's Maggio from Alamance Independent.
These articles both come from the Right. Is FR taking more criticism from the Right or the Left these days?
free dixie,sw
Liar.
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