Posted on 08/18/2014 7:18:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
Among nations peace is a pipe dream. Like the poor, war will always be with us. Sadly, peace is only the quick breath before the plunge. Nation states constantly wage wars of interest, economic skirmishes, philosophical firefights, scrabbling after power, gibbering for prestige, for resources, for territory, to fulfill a dictator’s lusts or a tyrants whim.
Progressives assert that man is essentially good, that all one must do is look for the good in others, the proverbial spark of Divinity that smolders somewhere. A casual perusal of one’s favorite news paper should dispel that fairytale like so many autumn leaves. But, the silly idea persists, shambling inside vacuous skulls, finding a rich playground of unintended consequence and good intention. It is a weed that grows and chokes common sense and coils its tendrils of pacifism, moral and political relativism, until its leaves extinguish even the understanding of experience.
Man is corrupted, as our founding fathers knew so well and articulated so beautifully. This was one of the presuppositions that produced the miracle of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is also the same presupposition that makes it possible to assert American exceptionalism. As a matter of historical fact we, as a nation, have striven for liberty and that makes our cause noble, dare we say better, than other nations which have been founded on lesser principles. A spark of Divinity does not lurk within us but rather the brooding ember of evil. That ember is always ready to metastasize into flame, feeding itself on the seven deadly sins until war and murder rage among men and nations.
Americans may delude themselves into believing that America can just opt out of the ancient struggle but the rest of the world will just snicker into their sleeves and step over our slumbering bodies, having drowsily clambered onto our own pyre. The rest of the world is gleeful to strike the match. America learned that lesson during WWII. We slept and our enemies, emboldened by our passivity, struck Pearl Harbor. Decades have passed and we seem doomed to repeat the Progressivist error—to assume that we may reason with our fellow man’s higher lights; we beat our swords into plowshares while China, Russia, and the rabid Islamo-Nazi hone their glittering blades to a razor’s edge.
President John F. Kennedy, Jr. understood that the flame of liberty is delicate and that we must be preeminent among nations if we wish to preserve it and see it set the world aflame. President Kennedy articulated clearly that only by maintaining an unassailable stature can America preserve its liberty against the constant pressures of hostile regimes. The enemies we face today are no different that the evil empires of the Cold War. Nation states do not seek parity but avariciously scrabble tooth and nail for dominance. That is human history not a fiction spun in a Harvard faculty lounge.
America’s mission to the moon, its presence in space, had everything to do with displaying American greatness and inspiring citizens to strive after excellence. In essence, that’s the American dream to participate, as equal citizens before the law, in a system that rewards merit, courage, risk, achievement. The space program was also about flexing some muscle and humbling the Soviet Bear. Intimidation is an important tool but is useless without a demonstrable capability. The Soviets were first to orbit a man made object and President Kennedy was wise enough to understand that this could not stand. The threat was strategic but almost more importantly psychological.
Americans love a winner. We need winners. Second place is merely first loser. Among nations, second place is death. The mission to the moon wasn’t just an exercise in technological expertise, it was a declaration.
The Obama administration, with it’s collective head bulging with the putrid gas of Progressivism’s blotched corpse, seeks a flaccid parity among nations. President Kennedy urged us to excel and to do those things that were hard because they were hard. JFK knew that the American people were not just up to any challenge but were and are always energized by it. It is the hardness that makes the achievement and the conqueror great. It is the process that builds capability and lifts the man or nation above peers. Achievement is a moral positive; it is a moral imperative for to hide one’s talent in the dirt is to sin against the Creator who bestowed it.
Ours is a lineage of heroes and giants who transversed the terrors of seemly illimitable seas in slosh-bucket ships, bestrode a fierce and wild continent to hew out a civilization, and blasted across the face of the stars to dust their boots with lunar powder. A free people are not meant to join in the dusty, bent-backed line of history’s serfs. Whether we like it or not, the world expects the best from us; it expects leadership from us because America is that shining city on a hill. America glitters because we are bejeweled with truth.
We can be first again, the engine of liberty for the world, but we must first roll up our sleeves and burnish the jewels encrusting our founding documents which Obama and his imps have been busy tarnishing. We can be great again but we must eject the detritus of Progressivism and maybe reach out again for the stars.
1 yes
2 yes
3 yes
4 yes
5 Coolidge/Reagan
OK, I think I aced this quiz.
The American heart has change,we lost our first love for God.
You are much more articulate than CNN. I take an America-first posture, but it’s based on economic reality. I don’t like crony capitalism, but I know what a free market is and how it benefits America and Americans. The country you describe from the history of WW2 was built on free trade. It remains the world’s largest economy despite all the recent socialism.
That CNN won’t or cannot answer the most basic questions is odd. He simply cuts and pastes about China, but not Saudi Arabia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, etc. Take a look at these basic conservative questions and what would your answers be?
1. Do you support free markets and free people?
2. Do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
3. Would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
4. Would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
5. Which President was better for America: Calvin Coolidge or Franklin D. Roosevelt? How about Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan?
The simple direct answer is yes to every one, Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan. CNN won’t distinguish FDR and Jimmy Carter as bad for America? It won’t mention Right-to-Work as a conservative goal for America?
Something’s rotten with CNN. Don’t defend the indefensible. It’s a troll.
Nice work. You are a conservative, just like every real FReeper. The answers are obvious to us, but not to liberals/progs.
OK you’re right.
Ronald Reagan was far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far
superior to Jimmy Carter.
(did I mention “far”)?_
But HIRE AMERICANS.
When you begin to show you are in favor of hiring Americans, you will have a bit of credibility.
Until then, hire Americans.
Americans.
Hire Americans.
Are you in favor of hiring Americans?
We designate what is noble and right as evil, and what is detestable we celebrate.
We slander and even criminalize honest men on specious pretense imposed through populistic mob rule.
Like the people grumbling against the Lord in the desert, we seek our own ways and not His.
Turn us, our God.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
I too would like to see America live long and prosper.
But here are the facts:
Businesses go to where they can prosper.
Jobs are created by businesses, and they are created where the results and return on investment can be favorable to the businesses that create the jobs.
Right now, America is not that place for many businesses.
If we want America to be the best place for business again, we have to drastically change government policies, replace the tax structure, curb the regulatory structure, abolish destructive government agencies, repeal destructive legislation, etc., etc.
If we want to change American government for the better, we have to convince the voters to change their way of thinking. This must come first. You should know this.
I don’t have to prove anything. I know how to improve the American economic landscape. You know about comparative advantage and absolute advantage and the benefits of free trade. You cannot answer the easy questions below:
1. Do you support free markets and free people?
2. Do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
3. Would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
4. Would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
5. Which President was better for America: Calvin Coolidge or Franklin D. Roosevelt? How about Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan?
You’re a fake, a faux conservative, a wolf in sheep’s clothing and likely a union hack concern trolling on FR with your both parties blather. It’s the Democrat’s policies that have destroyed jobs, American jobs. That you cannot see that or admit to it is all the proof needed.
amen
I don’t agree.
It’s NOT JUST the Democrat’s policies that have “destroyed jobs, American jobs” as you say.
Both parties have abandoned American manufacturing.
Everyone is anti-American now. That is my point. Republicans need to stop selling out our very own nation, reel it in, and rebuild the United States of America.
Buy American, for a change.
Your collaboration has been on Free Republic for nearly a decade. In all that time you’ve not developed an opinion on the following questions:
1. Do you support free markets and free people?
2. Do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
3. Would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
4. Would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
5. Which President was better for America: Calvin Coolidge or Franklin D. Roosevelt? How about Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan?
You keep dodging and answering in your standard mode. I asked you the above questions nearly hours ago. Did you do some research? Have you developed an opinion on these questions? Answer them.
Any real FReeper who wasn’t a Democrat plant would and if they didn’t know something they’d seek to learn it or research it. You’ve done neither. In over a decade on FR you’ve never developed an opinion of FDR, Right-to-Work, or Jimmy Carter?
It sticks in your craw because the entity with the pseudonym of Cringing Negativism Network is a Democrat operation to suppress the conservative vote. You cannot fault what you truly believe in.
Bring back American jobs.
Stop buying everything from China.
You’ve had nearly 23 hours since I first asked these simple, conservative-proving questions. You can stick to your Democrat talking points or you can come clean. Any legitimate FReeper wouldn’t have a moments hesitation answering these questions:
Who’s better, Carter or Reagan and FDR v. Coolidge?
Do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
Would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
Would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
You say you’re for American jobs, but you don’t know how to “bring them back”. Answer the above and learn.
Yes.
2. Do you support Right-to-Work movements in the United States?
Yes, with the caveat that we locate evil and greed not in corporations, not in unions, not in government, but in the human heart, an evil which permeates all three.
3. Would you support reducing taxes on capital gains, labor and corporations?
This is a must if we are to continue to be a leader.
4. Would you support reducing regulations on capital, labor and corporations to the levels of say Eisenhower’s Administration?
Yes.
5. Which President was better for America: Calvin Coolidge or Franklin D. Roosevelt? How about Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan?
Don't insult my intelligence...
Those questions are well and good, but I remain skeptical about the underlying conditions of uneven trade with, say, China. I suspect the problem is much larger than trade alone and more indicative of a cultural metanoia that has swept and shaped thought since the 1960s. Think "engineered obsolesce" and the shift away from honest days work for honest days pay toward maximization of profit at consumer's expense...
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