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Correct me if I am wrong. Eighty per cent of the Contract with America became law. Only two of the ten items failed, the balanced budget amendment and term limits. The balanced budget amendment failed because Bob Dole was more loyal to spineless Republicans than to the freedom of current and especially future Americans. He threw the balanced budget amendment in the trash to save a worthless Republican RINO Senator. The overwhelming majority of Republicans remained true to their word and voted for term limits. There were some Republican deserters on term limits, but I don't know specifically if they were signers of the Contract with America. All of this however, is water under the dam.

Now we are at a much different point in history. America is threatened with drowning because our ship is off course. I welcome Jim Robinson to the discussion and hope you will share with us how sailing blindly with the current Captain and crew will turn the ship before tragedy can be avoided, or your plan to convince the Captain, crew and other passengers to change course before it becomes every man for himself. So far no one has been thrown overboard. Do you see the risk that many Americans are going to be in the water, but the life jackets of government promises including social security and medicare will be worthless against the cold. Can you buy enough time to make enough life boats? Are you afraid to make a serious effort to actually change course in hopes of saving the ship and its passengers? I submit that we have almost run out of time. I think its change course or abandon ship, and we all know there are not and will not be enough life boats. Swimming offers no protection against the cold. Which is the greater risk? A full scale effort to change course, or hoping rescuers will arrive before the folks in the water are left out in the cold. And if we hit the ice, make no mistake some Americans will go down with the ship along with Captain and crew.

FreeRepublic alone will not change the course and save the ship. But catalysts are amazing gadgets. They dramatically increase the speed with which reactions run and they can do so against the natural gradient or equilibrium point. Indeed they can drive reactions almost to completion in the opposite direction. FreeRepublic is capable of being the catalyst that forcibly drags Republicans back to the Constitution. It can be the catalyst that makes them put the interest of America above their own perceived self-interest. I would suggest that if we can't save the United States and our freedoms, I would rather see the ship go down and am willing to take my chances of ending up in a boat or the water. If it came down to it, I would rather go down with the ship fighting for a chance to be free that stay onboard a socialistic ship.

FreeRepublic represents a microcosm of the United States. You are the Captain at FreeRepublic. Where you are willing to lead, I think there will be many willing to follow. The discussion has been framed. I think the choices are difficult and only God knows which if any will work. I consider myself to be an agnostic, despite the almost overwhelming evidence that the United States was inspired by Divine Providence and the increasingly very high odds against the accidental origin of life and the universe. I struggle because I can't see the grand design or plan and its ultimate resolution. Now, maybe more than ever we need Divine Intervention. Most of our Constitutional rights and liberties have been usurped by Presidents, Congresses and Courts bent on exercising power over the people. They have incurred the favors of the people by promising one group of Americans that they will take the produce of other Americans and give it them as the favored groups. Every principle of the equality of man is trashed. Both the favored and the raped are losers. Only the Powers That Be in government gain from the exchange.

Jim Robinson, you must answer the questions for yourself. How long can we continue with the present course? How can we change the course? Who will change the course? I don't think there is any doubt about your ability to determine the course of FreeRepublic. Can any political party change the course of the United States toward our Constitutional Republic other than the Republican Party before we hit the ice? Who or how can the course of the Republican Party be changed for the better? The Internet and Forum for Ideas on FreeRepublic is an extraordinarily powerful tool. Jim Robinson, do you deny that FreeRepublic played a crucial, if not the critical role in impeachment? Would you deny the role of the Contract with America in the results of the 1994 Congressional elections? Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 could have simply been the result of a combination of a terrible economy, coupled with a weak leader as existing president who was faced with a charismatic extremely well-spoken opponent. But could Reagan have enacted his tax cuts over the opposition of an over whelmingly Democratic Congress with powerful leaders who were absolutely committed to the defeat of Reagan's plan without convincing the American people of the validity of his ideas. It is only the immense power of propaganda exercised by a media that is 90% committed to the Democrats' socialistic agenda that has allowed Democrats to steal election after election from Republicans until Republicans lost faith in the people and now pander to the same interests as the Democrats. Republicans lost faith again after the successful assassination of Newt by his own hand and serial assassinations of Republicans in the aftermath created by the vaccuum of Newt's absence.

We must get the attention of the Republican leadership and the members of the Congressional delegations and get them back on the Conservative course. Please explain to me why you think blindly voting Republican will change their direction. Explain why I am wrong in contending that when conservatives blindly vote Republican, it only encourages Republicans to move further to the left to gain addtional Democratic votes. Even where there are genunine conservative Republicans in Congress, I would argue that keeping them in office carries some risk since they are not getting the job done in terms of leading other Republcians to enforce the provisions of the Constitution. Don't lose sight of the big picture. All we are asking of Republicans or anyone in the government is too simply enforce the Constitution and stop circumventing or flaunting it. Most of our existing federal statutes and most of the departments of government have no Constitutional basis and are frankly unconstitutional. How little are we asking? And in exchange for our vote, you would demand nothing.

How long are you willing to wait to get your freedom back? How many more are you willing to surrender while we wait? Do you think there is limit as to how much Congress and indeed even Republicans seem willing to take? Have you examined the Patriot Act signed by Bush? How about the farm bill he signed or the tariffs? How many of Clinton's executive orders has he repealed? When he was elected governor of Texas, his first official act was to withdraw the Coastal Management Plan submitted to Congress by Ann Richards. You cannot imagine my euphoria. Less than four months later he resubmitted it largely unchanged to Congress with his signature, but he appointed his own man and fired Richard's choice to be the man in charge. Blindly re-electing people who are part of the problem because the alternatives are worse is not a solution. It is merely a form of delay that contined long enough simply compounds and prevents a real solution from being found or implemented. Whether you recognize or admit it, we are at that point now. Soon we will be beyond the point of no return.

MY VOTE IS FOR SALE using the CONTRACT WITH CONGRESS is a powerful tool for change. Employed using FreeRepublic as the catalyst, it can change the Republican Party. In turn the Republican Party may be able to change the course of the United States while there is still time.

I ask you again Jim Robinson, "Will you become a patriot and fight for freedom now, or are you going to continue letting the Republicans use you for a patsy?" You want to restore the Constitution; they want to stay in office and with your vote safely tucked away they are free to move left and try to take Democratic votes with more socialism. Which Medicare plan for drugs for seniors do you favor? Which version of the minimum wage increase will the Republcans pass next? How many more immigrants will Bush cater to and how? What will he take from you and promise to them? How long will this continue to go on or when and where will it stop? If it doesn't stop now with the Contract with Congress, it may simply be too late to stop it at all. It could be up to you Jim, now or never? Are you willing to lead this fight, or is it time for those of us who want to use this weapon in the fight for freedom to look for other alternatives?

Vote out the Democrats is my answer.

You are most articulate, my friend, and make a most compelling case. Thank you. It would please me if the Pubbies would become the answer, as they do have the numbers, but unless the RLC becomes much more powerful, powerful enough to overcome the influence of socialist-lites and the various colors of authoritarianism, it won't happen. We can see a microcosm here at FR... the various authoritarians who want to control certain aspects of others' lives, whether they are "liberal" or "conservative," and differ only in whether or not the incumbent party has a "D" or "R" after their names, the conspiracy-minded who see the misdeeds of gooberment as specific plots, and the reasonably rational rest of us who only want to be left alone to pursue our peaceful lives without interference of any sort from big brother or big nanny or who ever... as long as we respect the same right in those around us.

JimRob is kinda frustrated because of the slowness of the process, near as I can figure, and I can't blame him too much. However, unless it's the RLC, I do not see the pubbie branch of the incumbent party as the answer.

After reading the whole thread, I think you've presented a very powerful arguement, but I don't have the vision to determine which way is right. I, too, voted for Perot, and all I see is that voting for third party candidates gives the election to the opposing party, hence Clinton.

However, I am also disappointed, in part, by Bush's increasingly socialist policies. For example, why seniors need government reimbursment for useless drugs to make drug company's stock holders rich is beyond me. Really. My parents are in their eighties. The fewer drugs they take, the better they feel. (My father takes a daily aspirin, is all.)

Mysteriously absent in your arguements, however, is the impending threat of WMD from the adherents of the Koran. Why is that? And what role do you think this "monkey wrench" plays? You're analysis is so September 10th.

Explain why I am wrong in contending that when conservatives blindly vote Republican, it only encourages Republicans to move further to the left to gain addtional Democratic votes.

BANG!

Dead on target!

As a life-long Republican activist, including stints as a state GOP delegate and a stint as county chairman for a GOP gubernatorial candidate, I am terribly distressed at the growing Socialist tendencies of the current crop of GOP elected officials, at every level. As little as 20 years ago, I could not imagine ever voting for anyone but a Republican. Then Daddy Bush became President. Since then, I find myself voting increasingly Libertarian or Independent. I am deeply saddened that last election, I found it necessary to cast just under 50% of my votes to other than Republicans and that included my vote for President. It's the only way that "we the people" have of making our elected representatives understand that we are watching them and that we will vote them out, if they continue to ignore the Constitution.

Unfortunately, as you so deftly pointed out, most Republicans do not appear to be smart enough to realize that as long as those Republicans in power are convinced that their core voters will support them regardless of what they do, they will naturally move to the left to gain more votes from the left.

They either don't understand or they are too scared to face the reality of the fact that, if we can't keep the GOP in power with a slate of truly conservative candidates, then it's already too late and the liberals have won. I personally don't believe that we have yet reached that point. But, as you point out, "we have almost run out of time." It is time to either "change course or abandon ship." In fact, over 100,000 of this countries wealthiest citizens chose to abandon ship last year and even more will probably leave this year. Compare that to only about 5000 who left in the last year of Reagan's presidency. Those are the folks who pay the bills and the lion's share of the taxes.

It's time for a shift back to the Constitution and if Republicans are unwilling to do that, then we need to elect others who will, regardless of party.

Good stuff BAC.
I consider myself to be an agnostic, despite the almost overwhelming evidence that the United States was inspired by Divine Providence and the increasingly very high odds against the accidental origin of life and the universe. I struggle because I can't see the grand design or plan and its ultimate resolution. Now, maybe more than ever we need Divine Intervention.

If you stand outside on a windy day you can feel the breeze upon your skin blowing across your body. You hear it, you can see the grass and the trees gently bowing, yet you still can't see the wind. You know the wind exists because you see the results of that wind, yet it remains forever invisible. Only the effects from the wind, not the wind itself, are noted.
Rather simplistic, I know, but maybe it'll give you something to think about. Hope it helps.
John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.