Posted on 12/01/2002 1:23:55 PM PST by BraveMan
What a long way Free Republic has come! From its birth in 1996 as what began as just a place where hardcore conservatives to post the latest news and analyze it, Free Republic two years later had a significant role in the neutralization of the Clintons - as it became the organizing point for enormous protests ridiculing Bill Clinton over Monicagate everywhere he went in the U.S. early in Monicagate throughout 1998. Some top liberals even blame Freepers for Al Gore's defeat.
Very early in Monicagate, Freepers brought Free Republic out of just being a sort of giant cybercafe for dissidents to talk things over - and made it into a very-effective organizing point for giant protests against liberals and liberalism, like the one in Houston at a Clinton fundraiser that not only like most greeted Clinton with hundreds of dissidents ridiculing him for his adultery and perjury, but even found a fire engine to hang a giant sign on that read "Bill Clinton Is A Four-Alarm Fraud." Freepers in Florida hung a giant sign on a cabin cruiser to float in a strategic position just offshore a fundraiser of his there. And here in North Carolina, about 30 Freepers picketed an Al Gore fundraiser in Raleigh's Volvo district in May 1999 - some dressed as Buddhist monks. The Clintons/Gore Regime just couldn't escape the conservatives from hell.
Other liberals were no luckier. The "Rosiecott" that ended Corporate America's willingness to indulge leftist politics was in large part organized on Free Republic. Freeper-organized boycotts were to Rosie O'Donnell's career what a later gay boycott was to advice-talk radio host Dr. Laura's.
But - just six years after its founding, just four years after the height of its power - Free Republic today is largely a total waste of time. As a reader commented, it isn't accomplishing anything anymore - with the giant protests against liberals formerly organized on it by Freepers over; as he agreed last week, the sole positive things it now does are to provide rapid dissemination of news, even from small-town dailies, to dissidents everywhere - and to guide dissidents to the various dissident newspapers that really are hardcore.
Some social issues are almost unmentionable on Free Republic today. More than one Freeper has griped that posted articles on immigration often just disappear. Other Freepers have been just blacklisted from Free Republic - for offending the sensibilities of founder Jim Robinson or the small clique under him that largely actually runs Free Republic now.
Today, Free Republic is every bit as handicapped as founder Jim Robinson - but by another problem. To all too many Freepers now, anyone calling themselves a Republican is God's brother - and cannot be criticized, no matter how Clintonesque their views on many social issues may be. And to all too many Freepers now, Pres. Bush really is God - uncriticizable, no matter what.
To make Free Republic great again, a number of things have to happen. First, all involved - from ordinary Freepers to "JimBob" himself - have to accept that having an (R) next to one's name doesn't make a politician beyond criticism. Second, all involved must also accept that Pres. Bush isn't God. And then, all Freepers must commit to doing again what made Free Republic great - hounding any politician at odds with Red Nation's masses on social issues; if that means picketing Pres. Bush everywhere he goes if he hints at amnesty for illegal aliens or tacit support of racial quotas, that's what it takes.
Free Republic didn't become great by being a Chinese-style "Democracy Wall" for dissidents to post articles from "mainstream" newspapers to and then discuss them. It can only became great again the same way it originally got great.
In this continuum of beating this dead horse, how can some of us in good conscience continue to support the President on the issue of knowingly ignoring the illegal invasion, while at the same time rewarding those same scoffers of our sovereign law? This isn't akin to giving somebody a break on a parking ticket, is it?
The "principle" of standing up for U.S. sovereignty is expected of the GOP AND President Bush. Anything less is not only puzzling, but unpatriotic.
LOL, that's almost exactly what my husband suggested last night. At least you live close enough for me to bike over now. I'll pedal on over and we'll just leave from your house next time or you can pick me up. lol.
Did you know that they have increased by a great deal the number of Coast Guard ships on patrol to interdict the shoreline from illegal "weapons, and personnel" (quote from Cheney). I did not know that until I heard him speak today. The speech is posted here on FR and you can read it for yourself.
Now, I would assume that they are stopping all illegal traffic...not letting Mexicans in but keeping al Qaeda out. The Coast Guard doesn't have the time nor the skill in making decisions like that...that means they are stopping all illegal traffic they can find.
The Border Patrol is supposed to be increased greatly by the Homeland Security bill (which JUST passed, remember). In addition, although there has been a lot of talk from the media and such, I haven't seen any so-called blanket amnesty passed, nor has anyone announced that the borders are open.
Now, I think that we need to stop the flow of illegals into this country. I know that many are coming here for nothing more than opportunity, but we cannot handle this if it keeps on. However, we also cannot afford to insult Mexico by acting like they are all criminals and dead-beats, because to make an enemy of Mexico would be foolish. And on top of that, Fox is probably the most pro-USA Mexican president in the last 50 years....he does not have control of the Mexican legislative body, which is in his opposition's hands, and that party is much more anti-American.
There is a great deal at stake in getting a good relationship with Mexico and a secure border, and it will not happen quickly.
I realize that people want a magic wand waved and the borders somehow sealed. That is impossible given the length of the border and the numbers trying to cross.
I suggest you wait until next year before making a judgement on what the President is doing. I also suggest that you ignore stories about immigration coming from the Washington Post, New York Times, or LA Times. All of those papers spend a great deal of time on unfounded rumor and unsourced quotes, trying to get people in our party stirred up.
Yup. I keep expecting the true believers to come up with their version of M.L.King's "I have a Dream" speech.
He has won by taking the Democrats agenda and getting it passed. Now no one has explained how getting the Democrat agenda passed made us winners...
They call it "strategery". If you figure out how implementing the liberal agenda is good for those of us who value individual liberty, small govt and low taxes, please explain it to me.
...but I'm simple.
And I'm just a simple country boy trying to do my best in the complex world of practical politics.
Now we have to hear that he will have to pass some liberal issue and that we really don't have a majority - we are going to have to wait,I suppose, until we have a 4 to 1 majority - then maybe he could get something done for us.
We must be patient. Rome wasn't built in a day you know....come to think of it, the Roman Empire collasped after two or three hundred years.....hmmmm.
I wonder if there will be anything left of this Republic worth saving after the gop finishes "strategerizing" and gets to work on all of it's grand promises?
Regards
J.R.
Correction - they don't *allow* flame wars in here... but there are a few that do start up.
There are all kinds of malicious creeps in the world.
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands in now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
This from a an NRA calendar I just received today.
Too early to label Free Republic the home of the 'sunshine patriot' or 'summer soldier' IMO. Just visit a few 2nd Ammendment threads and you'll know what I mean. Then there are the 4th Ammendment threads (usually wrapped up in the unconstitutional paper also known as the Drug War).
The size of the monster known as the federal government created over the many years by the Democrats has been heavily under-estimated in it's girth. Four pygmies with spears in a pen with a giant mastadon might best describe the conservative condition today. "Perhaps we can get her to do a few of 'our' tricks" just about sums up what their hopes of managing this beast consists of, regardless the Senate count.
Four well-placed spears is what is actually needed to bring this beast down, and it would behoove those who run this site to keep in it's quiver, a certain number of spearchuckers.
If I'm one of those pygmies in the pen and I get the feeling that the others are not up to the task, I might just get the heck out to save my own *ss than to be trampled.
LOL You do have a way with hyperbole but in the case of the armchair revolutionaries on this site, I think the term would be Spear-catchers.
Another ditty from the calendar:
Paul Revere and William Dawes rode from Boston through the Massachusetts countryside and were joined by Samuel Prescot. Together they alerted the Minutemen that the British were marching on Lexington and Concord. The Minutemen were farmers and tradesmen who were prepared to grab their muskets and leave their work and families with little warning.The need to be prepared to fight at a moment's notice earned these patriots the title "Minutemen".
Minutemen and Freepers(some no longer aboard) have had something in common. Keyboard or musket, choose your weapon.
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