Free Republic

This guy figured it all out about 500 years ago. Will we finally heed his advice?

"Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces." - Étienne de La Boétie

I strongly suggest everyone here find this essay and read it.

I can tell you that truly "Going Galt" is very difficult. To make a long story short, I've been working on this for a few years. It's frustrating, lonely and often frightening. But worth it? Absolutely. No price is too high for the opportunity of ultimately being able to OWN MYSELF. Sorry, but there's no political solution to this. Voting is an excercise in futility. This should be obvious today.

Let's not forget under which administration the DHS began.

If one of the RINO presidential candidates wins in November, the DHS will suddenly transform into the good guys again to protect us against the boogeyman Muslims, according to many "conservatives".

Federal Gestapo security force + Democrat president = bad.
Federal Gestapo security force + Republican president = good.

Partisanship is killing my republic.

LOL. NOT defending Obama, but...

Very reminiscent of when Baby Bush was mesmerized by the UPC scanner at the grocery checkout.

Will we ever elect a truly wise leader? I doubt it...

Most evangelical voters = pro-life, with the exception of brown children in the Middle East whose parents happen to worship a different god than them

What? When/where are these rules posted? I've been away from FR for some time, but decided to come back for a while to discuss -and perhaps promote- a legitimate Republican candidate. Does this "rule" apply to all candidates, or just "kooky ol' Ron"?

Methinks Free Republic isn't as "free" as it used to be...

Good article. A truly free society is one in which charity is dispensed voluntarily - not enforced with the barrel of a gun, which is what taxation essentially is.

A small clarification about a line at the end of the story: Robin Hood did not "steal from the rich and give to the poor." He took money from the government (the king and noblemen) and gave it back to its rightful owners (the peasants).

Rick Santorum, dead. bad debater. Huntsman? I suspect he is secretly a master-debater.

Huntsman had better watch out then. If elected, Santorum will send out his "virtue police" to arrest him for violating anti-master-debater laws. Santorum has an unusual, unhealthy interest in what adults do behind closed doors.

It's just a matter of time before Santorum is caught snorting cocaine out of a gay prostitute's buttcrack in a seedy hotel. These moralist do-gooders always have the most bizarre skeletons in their closets.

So, if we truly liberated them, should we continue to occupy these countries over a half-century later?

Nothing isolates us more than having American troops stationed in numerous countries around the world where we are not welcome nor needed. Is this how you think we make friends?

It's nothing more than "job creation", neo-con style.

Namecalling? Anti-Semitic Ron Paul wants to gut our military. He does sympathetic interviews with Iranian TV and sides with that evil nation against his own. He believes 9-11 was an inside job. He’s a lunatic, nothing more. And most of his followers just hope they’ll score some free dope along the way, IMO.

I don't know where to even start with this. All I can suggest is that you stop regurgitating the lies you've been told and do some basic research.

No one is saying we should ignore any threat to the United States. It's just that we should not rush to war without having any solid evidence. What happened to diplomacy and negotiations? What's keeping any of our presidents from meeting face-to-face with Iran's leaders? Cowardice? Or is it possible that our government and its special interests need to keep the people in a constant state of fear so they can continue to profit?

Oh my, what short memories we have...

Saddam became a "tyrant that needed to go" in the Middle East after we stopped propping him up in his war with Iran in the 80's. How many billions did we give him when he was our "ally"?

"Destabilizing force?" He was left in power after Desert Storm because, according to the Republicans, Iraq served as a "buffer" between Iran and Israel. When did this doctrine change? After Hussein stopped taking dollars for oil. Our special interests could not let that happen. Check this article, and check the date:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998512,00.html

I really don't expect you to look into it, because your little fantasies about the United States government freeing people from oppression are much more soothing.

So, it’s better for us to be lied to, go to war under false pretenses and sacrifice our soldiers’ lives with no clear objective; not to mention the countless civilian deaths and trillion$ we inccur in debt - just so we can feel safe from a percieved threat? Yeah, that sounds like a great policy...Let’s keep doing it.

Then there's only one choice for you as President. He's the candidate who intends to restore the checks and balances put forth by our Constitution. No more talk of arresting federal judges, starting wars without Congress' approval and other unconstitutional violations. It doesn't matter to me if he signs the oath. He lives the oath.

Ron Paul fits the above template perfectly. It's sad that many neo-cons here cannot see that.

The Democrats have become the welfare party, while the Republicans have become the warfare party - both of them putting the middle class further into debt by funneling money from them to the upper and lower classes. It's all based on fear - fear that "children will starve" or fear that the "turr-ists will impose Sharia law on us." If this mindset wasn't bankrupting us, it would be laughable.

I fully expect the same immature name-calling that is so common around here to start soon. "RuPaul/kook/Paulbot/insane foreign policy/etc."

Flame on, statist authority worshippers.

I am sincerely asking you to please stop, put your unfounded emotions aside and think rationally about this for a moment:

In mostly-Christian America, a judge in Mississippi was forced to take down a display of the 10 commandments from his chamber wall. As I'm sure you're aware, the "war on Christmas" rages every season over Christian symbols. I've yet to see a Muslim behind any of these protests. You know this. I could go on with many other examples...

Just how far do you think the Islamic extremists would get with their super-spooky Sharia law in America? Regardless of how they tried to do it: through legislation, through some type of stealth campaign, through violence - how much of this tyranny would Americans (Christian/Jewish/secularist/atheist) tolerate? Seriously - I am laughing at the ridiculousness of this as I type. This truly scares you?

Look - I like Glenn Beck, but he's way over the top with his paranoid hype of the "Caliphate" boogeyman. He's using these fear tactics as a cattle prod to direct his listeners to support the military/industrial complex with their tax dollars so they can continue to build planes that never fly, ships that don't sail and other wasteful projects. This has traditionally been the Republican program of "job creation". It has nothing to do with national defense. Just another welfare program that makes the voters feel "safe" from the boogeyman terrorists.

As for world domination, let me ask you this: How many Muslim fundamentalists sit on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve? The IMF? How about the secretive Council on Foreign Relations? If you're not sure about what exactly these organizations do, I suggest you take a break from the fear-mongering hysteria and please look into them. Then, you'll find out who really threatens your freedom and security.

I don't expect a reply, as these facts cannot be argued without degrading into an emotional rant about "the Muslims comin' to kill us." Besides, my position on this issue actually requires reading and research, rather than simply listening to Glenn Beck's latest ghost story.

How do you think the jihadists view the "Christian" American President George W. Bush announcing in a speech that God told him to invade Iraq? How freakin' kooky is that? There are fringe elements in every religion.

I'm calling BS on your supposed conversations with Muslims. My daughter has a couple of Muslim friends in college - one of them from Iran - and they love America. Fear and paranoia are often signs of mental illness. You should have that checked out.

Please explain how we can afford to keep all of our military bases open around the world. You do know that WWII is over, right? Can we bring the troops home from Japan and Germany now? Also explain how we'll fund another war with another country, based on faulty -or flat out fraudulent- intelligence. WMD's anyone? Oh yeah, the oil we seize from Iran will pay for all of the military operations, right? They told us that about Iraq too.

Why do you neo-cons keep falling for the same lies? Do you have the memory of a goldfish?

I agree with you wholeheartedly. You have been on Free Republic for 13 years; I have been on here for 11 years. Dr. Ron Paul’s views have not changed. My U.S. Senator (and his son) Dr. Rand Paul’s views have not changed. But the majority of Free Republic and the Republican Party sure have changed. So the sheep who blindly follow Unfit Mitt or Newt World Order Gingrich can flame me now if they like. I don’t give a damn. I tell them to kiss my ass.

Same here. I left FR for a while because I couldn't stand the warmongering cries from many supposed "Christian" conservatives screaming for the spilling of innocent Muslim blood because they "hate our freedoms". Give me a f'ing break. They seek only candidates who virtually guarantee a war if elected.

I'm back after a few years away, and it's become a neo-con utopia. The concept of a true free republic has long faded. About all that's left here are juvenile, name-calling statists who probably check under their beds at night to make sure there's no terrorists with nukes hiding under there.

If RP wins, Iowa should NEVER get to be first in the nation with caucuses. The only chord RP strikes in me is a chord of discontent. Utter discontent. Foreign Policy MATTERS. RP’s positions are unacceptable.

Yeah, then probably you agree with this guy:

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*yawn*

We still have some WMD's to find in Iraq, don't we?

The CIA blowback report came out long before Obama was even a twinkle in his handlers’ eyes. Try again.