Time to part company

myself | 4/1/05 | hchutch

[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.

[Always Right]

Call other social conservatives "Nazis" on Free Republic.

In the sticks and stones category, I guess.

[Trust but Verify]

Proofreading is my friend.

[proud American in Canada]

"Sounds like you are needed here, more than ever."

I agree!

hchutch, I stayed away from the immigration threads; however I agree with everything you've posted. It bothers me, too, that people are enraged at GW and Jeb and I don't think Randall Terry did the conservative cause any good at all. The past few days have been very emotional and perhaps, when some time passes, cooler heads will prevail.

I sincerely hope you don't leave.

[Incorrigible]

Awww man.

Just take a breather and come on back. Don't delete your old posts, they're quite cogent and the threads would be at a loss without them.

[Mulch]

sniff-sniff

[metesky]

It's always better to run rather than stay and fight. What would you be like if this was nose to nose, ya cry baby?

Here's a real parting shot, buster.

[theFIRMbss]

>I will miss some of those who I have met here, but I feel no other choice

So long, it's been good to know you So long, it's been good to know you So long, it's been good to know you There's a mighty big war that's got to be won And we'll get back together again

[Junior_G]

Can we really just have the mods delete all our old posts on a whim?

[Old Professer]

It's always the same; guy finishes putting the last nail in his coffin and turns right around and pulls it back out.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Like you think your the Lone Ranger or something?

[jpl]

With all due respect, if you don't believe that our current lax approach to immigration in this country is a serious problem, you really have your head buried in the sand. The fact that driver's licenses are being given out to people that should not be getting them is one of the key factors that permitted 9/11 to take place.

As far as the culture war goes, the left has been actively waging it through government for well over three decades. Take a good look around you at what's going on.

[Joe 6-pack]

"A mob mentality took over the first few days after the order to pull the tube was given."

- hchutch

"Extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

- Berry Goldwater

Guess that makes me a mobster....

[mdittmar]

That's a shame.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Well if that is all it took to run you off, people who disagree with you- you weren't doing that much good here anyway. If all of the people who were the victims of the MS supporters ran off we may have no one left around here.

It was on both sides.

[Bar-Face]

Thanks Sandy. God knows I miss Bill the Cat and Opus and friends. I don't even care how far to the left Berk Brethard is/was, I loved that bunch.

[EllaMinnow]

I know you've thought long and hard about this. I respect your decision, but I don't like it.

[Huck]

April fools, right?

[Hoodlum91]

Thanks for posting. I have also been debating sticking around as the mood has REALLY taken a turn for the worse lately.

I'll stick it out and see what happens, the shrillness of the past few weeks should calm down. Some of the Terri threads took on a very unattractive DU quailty, but I have faith that FReepers will return to normalcy (such as we are).

[DoubleOJanet]

That's just silly, no two people agree on anything, the world is made up of many kinds of people. Some are intellectual, others comedians, and some just want to argue. Don't take people so seriously. I very rarely post, but your post has me wondering why some people give up and give in.

[Always Right]

Now that you mention it, the people here don't all agree with each of my beliefs either. I think I'll leave too.

I agree with everything anyone has ever said on this forum.