One final shot at this:
This is my opus.
No, I am not writing this opus because someone has offended me. Far more than anything else, I've met friends here.
If Free Republic is to blame at all, it is for the sole crime of being too involving, too fascinating a place for me to spend my time.
I believe in conservative principles. My time here has only reinforced that belief.
It has also helped me figure out precisely what I believe about a variety of contemporary issues, and the appropriate role of government (or lack of role) as it relates to them.
I believe that the role of government is best played when it encourages and reinforces individual responsibility and initiative. These are the greatest keys to our future as a nation. They are also the greatest keys to individual and family prosperity, in all senses of the word.
My problem, alas, is that, for various reasons, my family and I have yet to enjoy the fruits of any such prosperity in the financial arena.
This is due in good part to the fact that we spent so many years of our younger adult lives serving others in volunteer service, to try and make the world a better place, while paying scant attention (or none) to our own financial situation. But regardless of the reasons, this is a situation I must seek, as best I can, to remedy.
In order to do so, I must cut back on non income-producing, time-consuming endeavors, as worthy as they may be. I must go out and spend my full time, as much as possible, living some of the more material principles of conservatism....
I must say that I hope to see you again. But it can not be for some time. At quite a bare minimum, I expect that "john in missouri" shall not post again, at the very least, until after the earth has passed its circuit around the sun and the date on the calendar reads 2004... and it may be much, much longer than that... perhaps many years.
It may be that we will meet one day... perhaps on the street... perhaps in a small, local gathering of FReepaholics Anonymous... or perhaps one day at a campaign rally or other event... Maybe one day, after much time has gone by, we may even meet at a campaign rally in which I may one day run for a public office -- because I would like to do that someday, as well.
But I speak of the far future.
Anyway, perhaps we will meet again. And perhaps you will know me as a FReeper when you see me, and I you.
I am proud to say that my final post (excluding this one) led to my being recognized as being the 500th distinct FReeper to announce that I voted today to further the conservative cause. It is a good way to go.
And now, my final wishes.
May good sense and the Republican Party retake the United States Senate tonight.
May the fat on Hillary's thighs be doubly surpassed by that which grows upon her jowls. May she and Bill enjoy a long marriage. They deserve each other.
May Little Tommy Daschle, Algore, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and the officials of the NEA, NOW, Planned Parenthood and the "ACLU" -- those paragons of liberal bleatership -- enjoy all the success they deserve.
May Osama, Saddam, and their friends, associates and admirers -- those who persist in doing unspeakable evil by slaughtering the innocent in the name of a merciful and compassionate God -- meet with the utter destruction they justly deserve.
A blessing upon our President, our nation, and all who love our nation. And a curse upon those who seek to destroy it.
A blessing upon the President's team, including Powell, Ashcroft, Rice, and all others who are faced with difficult decisions and challenges in their challenge to help protect our country and our people.
A blessing upon the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson. May his tribe increase.
A blessing upon those, now increasingly numerous, who champion common sense conservatism on the radio.
May our entire nation, through sheer virtue, be set 100% free from the threat of violent criminals. But if we really must have them, then I pray they will only attack those who bend every effort to take away from all of us our God-given right to self-defense.
A blessing upon Jim Rob and upon Admin Moderator (whoever the heck he or she may be).
And a blessing upon all true FReepers, including my many friends here.
Long live America! And now, Farewell.
I have been, and always shall be...
...a FReeper.
Live long... and prosper.
And now, with all my farewells said
I turn to face the autumn light
My backside squarely framed within
The bright'n'd rectangle of the exit door
And nothing more to say, I thrust
My foot into the great unknown...