[Dan from Michigan]

Free Republic’s existence is a symbol of the continuing captivity and betrayal of the conservative base of the GOP. The widespread appeasement and accommodation of the GOP’s hierarchy by these "conservatives" guarantees there never will be any decisive pro-conservative change within the party, since the party is permanently assured that its conservative base, ever fearful of the bogeyman of a Gore-style presidency, will never abandon it. In a sense, the "mainstream" conservatives are as captive an electorate as the Blacks in the Democratic Party. Just as the Blacks are under-served and taken for granted by the Democrats, so too are the conservatives jilted by the Republicans. True conservatives are kept in the basement, and are not allowed to speak at GOP national conventions anymore.

BS. Replace GOP with Bush and you may be getting there.

The problem is that most paleoconservatives(border guards, etc) are lazy asses. I don't see them at the LOCAL GOP meetings. I don't see them running for precinct delegates, etc. If they did this more instead of bitching on the net or at the auto factories, they would have more backing.

Politics starts in our backyards. It does not start in DC. It starts at the county meetings. That's where the state officials come from, and the nationals come from the state level.

Bush can completely morph into Bill Clinton, and I'll still be a GOP member. I might not vote for Bush, but I'll be a GOP member active in local races. The party is much bigger than one person.

Pauly here needs to learn how things work.

[sauropod]

" It does not start in DC."

Baloney. Tell me where in Michigan on a regular basis I would have had the opportunity to FReep His Slickness over the last 8 years. Tell me where in Michigan the Left insists on coming to town and rioting and we counter-protest them on a regular basis?

FReegards,

His Royal Podness (a Paleoconservative from Way Back, but who does not work on an automobile assembly line ;-).