Posted on 12/08/2012 8:54:54 PM PST by Behind the Blue Wall
Wow, you actually CUT stuff out?!?! That’s a hell of a LONG exchange, but I get the drift. When you said you don’t think you’re as conservative as others here, trust me that you’re not alone! I was accused of being a member of the “GOP-e,” a term I didn’t know until I figured out it was the GOP establishment! Bwahaha! Little did my “FReerepublic Attacker” know — I am about as conservative as they come and yet I was attacked as not being conservative enough, so take heart, enjoy the exchange of ideas, ignore those who appear to be the arbiter of the orthodoxy of your level of conservatism since they seem to be the self-appointed Popes of their own religion.
(oh wait, you already did)
Shrugs. If they want to stay on the democrat plantation and continue to be slaves, I don’t care. The bottom line is that values don’t matter to them. They only live so that they can get free stuff and play the race card. They are the real racists. They just can’t let it go.
I`ve had running disagreements with some friends and family members on political issues until they convince me to see the light..
..the light that reminds me they are incapable of reconciling themselves to the proven and undeniable truth that progressivism is destroying America.
My problem is that I am a converted liberal. I grew up in Mass thinking that the 1988 convention speech by Dukakis was the greatest speech I had ever heard. At that point I was reading conservative magazines (e.g. Chronicles) and should have known better. But I was too ingrained in liberalism. It was not long ago and it takes lots of time and effort to shake off the liberalism especially when one spends a lot of time and effort on a career instead.
I'm not suggesting either of you gentlemen are not adequately conservative but that many of us have a long road ahead of us.
I admire your tenacity and patience. Good luck with the FIL. There’s always hope.
Welcome to Free Republic!
I would be delighted to replace Obama with YOU!
My, my! Daddy sure has a way with words doesn’t he? He even uses the most favorite phrase of all liberals...”At the end of the day.”
They just love this phrase and when you hear it, you will know that more than likely whoever says it is a “die hard” communist liberal.
It is a “code phrase” that really means that “the end justifies the means.”
I think your father-in-law is seriously misguided, but I appreciate and respect his taking the time to give you a detailed and honest-to-his-thinking account of his perspective.
I’m from a deep blue region of the country and involved in a deeper-blue industry, so I think I know the risks of being ostracized and professionally harmed by expressing my political opinions where they are deeply unpopular. (Many Freepers are otherwise situated and so don’t have that understanding.) The risks you face IMO require greater courage and yet are also the more important for the value of your voice being heard.
Your father is a pompous ass.
I think that’s a very important distinction you make, Hawk.
Reagan knew better than to insult Reagan Democrats or those he didn’t agree with 100%, but he also knew he had a primary (in more than one sense) battle with the GOPe.
I wish more here could understand the difference.
Not really. And welcome to the fold ;)
It ids my firm belief that people massively overcomplicate ‘conservatism’. The problem is that they don’t do so with the ‘best of intentions.’
Case in point. The last election, and certainly in 10, [ep[le calling themselves ‘conservative’ completely broke from any accepted and long held ‘definition’ of what it has ALWAYS meant to be conservative.
Suddenly ‘conservatism’ included things like support for candidates that were AGAINST border fencing, Support for candidates hiring hardcore RINOS with long records of ‘moderate Republicanism’ to run their campaigns. Support for the most liberal Republican to the point that ‘fellow conservatives’ were called traitors to their country and worse.
Candidates of proven conservatism abandoned and mocked based on an MSM/Lib witch hunt and driven out of the race.
Palin trashed on conservative sites to the same level and WITH THE SAME LANGUAGE used by and on MSM/Liberal sites.
And my absolute favorite, we were told long and loud by these ‘conservatives’ that winning was the only thing that mattered and ‘purists’ who stuck to their ‘conservative’ principles were idiots for doing so.
(As an aside, since they considered purity bad, they by default have to believe it’s opposite, CORRUPTION, was good.)
Now.
Can any thinking, logical and rational person honestly call any/all of the above ‘conservative?’
As I have said to many deaf ears here (those described above) one believes in something, or they believe in nothing. And when that belief is somehow bad, well, you can see where this is going.
The primary problem the conservative movement has is a lack of cohesion. They DO have the big tent Republicanism approach and fear calling a spade a spade.
Reagan and many greats before him taught that a party cannot be all things to all people. But if people claiming the mantle of conservatism do not inject themselves with some hated ‘purity’, we/are done.
For new converts, they are truly welcome and no one expects them to become Reagan clones overnight. Sure these things take time and lifelong beliefs cannot just POOF! change. But for those who supposedly HAVE been on this side of the fence a while, there is NO EXCUSE FOR THE CRAP WE ARE NOW GOING THROUGH.
They need to fold their big tent BS and embrace the GOP openly.
A house divided cannot stand.
/rant 2 ;)
Racial politics aside, your father-in-law is a Communist. His belief is that the state has primacy in all things. He is lost.
Did he serve in the U.S. military? That he identifies himself as something other than an American tells me he, as well as his messiah obama, hate America and what it stands for.
I pray you can resolve your relationship with him.
Is there some requirement that you actually have a relationship with him? Is there an inheritance on the line? Is your wife threatening to leave over this?
Rest assured, I most certainly do look at all political contests as between the "lessor of two evils", [...]
You shouldn't have corrected your father-in-law; "lesser of two evils" is the proper spelling in this context. The "-er" ending indicates that it is a comparative.
The word "lessor" has the meaning: Someone who lets property under a lease, e.g., a landlord. The counterpart would be "lessee" (i.e., someone to whom a lease is granted). A "lessor" of two evils would then be someone who lets evils under a lease.
Regards,
My brother is a die hard liberal. I disowned him after my daughter joined the Army and he stated she’d be going to Iraq and coming home in a body bag. I used two words “F—k You” and it’s been 7+ years with no contact.
Daughter never did go to Iraq, she went to Korea and Germany, got married to a great Army guy and we now have two awesome grand kids. His loss
I’ll admit that I say a lot of negative things about Obama while I’m in front of my children. However, I do not let them speak negatively of him. I have told them that until they can explain why they don’t like him (aside from dad despising him), they shouldn’t talk about him negatively. When they ask, i explain my beliefs. I want them to be able to think and not be some drone trained to spit out political rhetoric.
Good for you! 110% support here.
More people need to follow this example. Family is what you make it. Not what an accident of birth forces on you.
As long as liberals are coddled/excused/accomodated in the name of ‘family harmony’ liberals will continue to create family disharmony. Among other disasters. Psych 101: NEVER reinforce bad behavior.
I looked over the senate candidates this past election and sent my nickel to a couple including my own "macaca" Allen and Akin. I don't expect perfection from an R candidate any more than from myself and I do not accept that winning takes precedence over values and principles. That's also the good thing about losing this time, because the party won't be stuck with "winners" like Romney (unless we let him stay around).
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