Posted on 04/01/2005 2:39:59 PM PST by hchutch
Six months ago, Free Republic was riding high, and I was proud to be a part of it. It was coming off having blown the cover off of Dan Rather’s use of forged memos against the President. The President was well on his way to winning re-election. It was a great time to be a Freeper.
However, things have changed. It started with the justifiable removal of ALIPAC. I supported that move by Jim Robinson, but the ugliness directed towards Alberto Gonzales. He was accused of everything under the sun, and Senator Mel Martinez was viciously attacked for speaking Spanish on the Senate floor. The tone and outright viciousness (terms like FROBL and traitor were fired off at anyone who did not toe the line established by Michelle Malkin and Tom Tancredo) on immigration threads had concerned me, but I had concluded it was an isolated incident. After ALIPAC was removed from FR, I had hoped the tone there would improve. But it only got worse. I was point-blank called a traitor because my views on immigration differ from those of Michelle Malkin’s groupies. On immigration threads, questioning the questionable is not allowed. One must accept the unacceptable and allow folks to defend the indefensible. Never mind that VDARE, American Renaissance, and other sites are racist or have no problem hanging out with those that are racists (I’m just going to call a spade a spade here).
There were folks who had the long knives out for Senator Rick Santorum, one of the strongest pro-life members of the United States Senate. Why? Because he endorsed Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey. It was stunning to see these long knives out for a conservative. And all it would accomplish would be his replacement by a Democrat. How in the world replacing Rick Santorum with a Democrat would aid conservatism is beyond me, but it was demanded because Santorum endorsed Specter. The long knives were out, and I suppose it was a sign of what was to come.
The whole Terri Schiavo case has changed everything for me. A mob mentality took over the first few days after the order to pull the tube was given. Anyone who did not toe the line was attacked. I saw a dedicated active-duty member of our armed forces called a “Maine liberal” for simply asking why troops in harm’s way did not get the same sort of “all-nighter” attention that Terri Schiavo got. It was a reasonable question – we have 40-year-old P-3s still out there. We have a war on terrorism still going on, in case folks have not noticed. We have to get Social Security fixed. I say this as a person who believes that at best, Michael Schiavo’s relationship with a woman (and having two kids with her) meant he had a conflict of interest – and that he had decided that Terri was inconvenient. I cannot take his word alone that Terri would have wanted this. I also believe that George Felos is a supporter of euthanasia, and that he is using this case for his own ends. Those folks give me the creeps, and I think that Jim Robinson was on the right side of this issue. However, I also got a very bad feeling when the Schindlers embraced the likes of Randall Terry and Bo Gritz. I had to wonder what has happened to the conservative movement when the threads were allowed to spiral so out of control. The concept of euthanasia is repulsive and disgusting, but it does not excuse allowing the threads to spin out of control.
I have seen the President of the United States, George W. Bush, and the Governor of Florida, John Ellis Bush, take huge political risks in an effort to save Terri’s life. I believe they were doing their best to do the right thing, and that the original law passed in 2003 was a reasonable one that was wrongly stuck down by Judge Greer and the Florida Supreme Court. I think that the Republican Party has taken a huge risk to give Terri a chance at life, and I am disgusted with those who seek a pretext that will justify leaving the GOP in the lurch. I’m sick of the way the Terri threads spun out of control, and the vicious attacks launched at reasonable people who came to a different conclusions about the situation or who pointed out facts that certain people found inconvenient. This is not what I signed on here for.
I believe in a strong national defense, cutting taxes, and in general trying to keep government involvement as minimal as possible (there are times when the best one can do is to limit government involvement in a situation). I am pro-life (with exceptions for rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother) and pro-Second Amendment. However, I do NOT want the federal government to be involved in any culture war. “Culture” was never mentioned in the constitution, thus I believe it is left to the States or TO THE PEOPLE (see the Tenth Amendment). I do NOT think immigration is a problem, but I believe some mistakes were made along the way (like eliminating the bracero program). I also think that the President of the United States has proposed a sensible plan that will go a long way towards solving the problems on our border with Mexico and do much to alleviate the problems surrounding illegal immigration. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me and Free Republic to part company, because Free Republic has left this limited-government neoconservative. In the process of Free Republic leaving me, I now find that I fear the social conservatives as much as I fear the loony left. As a result of coming to this conclusion, I ask that my account be deleted and all posts I have made, save for this opus and the ping to my friends be removed.
I do this with regret, since I will miss some of those who I have met here, but I feel no other choice. So long.
Well said.
Wait wait wait... I havn't whipped out the Free Republic BBQ Apron (Screen name added for 5 bucks) yet!
I hope this is just your idea of an April Fools' joke. We need you around here.
No!!!! Not THAT!!!!!!! [Runs Away Screaming.]
Okay...I give up...
:]
In the scheme of your day, was it really that vitally important to find out what that guy's sign-up date was and to take him on in an embarassing argument?
Sometimes I find it hard to believe that there are any adults here. No offense to you specifically but some of the sniping is more childish than the kids on the playground outside my office window.
I never get why anyone feels the need to say anything to the idiots (includes me I guess) from whom they are escaping.
I think you're being melodramatic, hope you stay around
If it makes you feel any better, I could sense the emotion and great disappointment in your farewell because I share a similar feeling. Rather than leave, I have opted to avoid the things that I know will get me in trouble, lurk more than post, and post rarely. It seems to have worked for me and I am able to simply shake my head at the off-the-deep-enders.
I still find FR a great place for news and an array of opinions, but I do wish the crazies hadn't taken over.
"It seemed more okay to offer constructive criticism now."
I meant "It seems." Maybe that led to the confusion. I meant it as a sort of general observation about the vibe of FR. It wasn't meant to imply that I was chomping at the bit to knock the president.
Lurking isn't posting, newbie.
Not condoning the darts, just pointing out that it is likely they weren't aimed at you.
Not really, but it was fun, and he was arrogant. Speaking of that, I couldn't help but notice you've been here not quite a year yet... Hmmm... ;0)
Amen! The ugliness of the Terri trauma caused me to nearly vacate as well.
Staying silent and vacant helped me weigh the advantages and disadvantages of FR. For me, the advantages win as long as a hiatus brings perspective.
Come on back, hchutch, we need ya!
"I think you jumped to a conlcusion"
Well, accidental hypocrisy has always been one of my strong suits. I hope you're right.
I didn't take those remarks to be aimed at you either. I think it was addressed to the other FReeper. That's my read, anyway.
I has nothing to do with superiority. It has to do with noticing the inappropriateness of someone in his position telling someone else he won't be missed.
By the way, you can read a sign-up date by mousing over the member's name. It wasn't exactly a big thing "in the scheme of [my] day", and I see no reason why my defense of another person should embarrass me.
P.S. rdb3 - I like your tagline
I was feeding the babies once, and ran out of bread.
####
Why were you feeding them, if you didn't like where the bread ended up?
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