Replies

From Merle Haggard's Greatest Hits, posted to FR a couple months ago by jrherreid, here: http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b5e3a106c3d.htm

Thought it appropriate to post again.

If you're runnin' down our website, Hoss,
You're walkin' on the fightin' side of me.

Recent events have me thinking about another great Merle song, "Are The Good Times Really Over (I Wish A Buck Was Still Silver)," which was written after four years of the Carter administration:

I wish a buck was still silver, and it was back when the country was strong,
Back before Elvis, and before the Vietnam war came along,
Before the Beatles and yesterday, when a man could still work, and still would,
is the best of the free life behind us now,
and Are The Good Times Really Over For Good.
Are we rollin' downhill like a snowball headed for hell.
With no kind of chance for the flag or the liberty bell.
I wish a Ford or a Chevy, would still last ten years like they should.
Is the best of the free life behind us now,
And Are The Good Times Really Over For Good.
I wish Coke was still cola, and a joint was a bad place to be.
It was back before Nixon lied to us all on TV.
Before Microwave ovens, when a girl could still cook, and still would,
Is the best of the free life behind us now,
and Are The Good Times Really Over For Good.
Stop rollin' downhill like a snowball headed for hell.
Standup for the flag, and let's all ring the liberty bell.
Let's make a Ford and a Chevy that'll still last ten years like they should.
The best of the free life is still yet to come,
And the good times ain't really over for good.

Now FReepers need to be honest here. Back during Clinton's Balkins boondoggle (which remains ongoing at this time) a lot of us read, agreed with and posted material from LewRockwell.com. This was because we did not believe we had any business being involved in the Balkin's conflict and felt (in my case, still feel) that it was a total wag-the-dog exercise of Bubba's part.

Now, we also need to admit that there is and has been a great deal of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, jingoistic rhetoric floating around in various posts in the forum these days.

A lot of that is understandable. We all need to vent anger on occassion.

But, while I don't accept and strongly disagree with the characterizations of FReepers made in this article, I think he is pointing out something that is significant. I am also a bit uneasy about how fast some of us have switched from sullen suspicion to lock-step approval of the Federal government here. It wasn't that long ago when FEMA was a bigger boogie-man on the forum than Saddam Hussien.

Yes this is a war. Yes, we need to support our Government and most definitely our Servicemembers as they fight it. But we also need to calm down and remember that we are not slaves or subjects to a crown, and that we have an obligation to keep a close eye on what our government is doing to ensure that it is acting in the best interests of the American republic. This is an obligation of citizenship that cannot be shirked at any time if the nation is to remain free.