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Nope. You said it all.
Farewell from Free Republic.
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.
I am the son of a LEGAL immigrant. My mother always wanted to come to the U.S. She followed our laws and became a citizen before she married a dashing young USMC Lt.
Legal immigration is OK. It brings many benefits. We routinely "brain-drain" other countries by bringing in medical doctors, engineers and scientists. Their loss, our gain.
Luis is a good FReeper of long standing, and he is not in favor of law breaking.
Enough of my speech. I now return you to this thread, which is already in progress.
Just did a quick Google lookin' for a pic of him.
Here's an interesting one of him and guess who?
http://www.jaylincoln.com/jjones.html
lol!
You've got it. :)
I agree with much of what you say.....the problem of massive amounts of illegals flooding in here threatens the very fabric of this country if left un-checked and that's a fact that shared by a majority of people on this forum and across the country. That said, I'm a big proponent of anyone who comes here under the proper circumstances...heck I'll help them move in next door if need be because I know they're here to help pull the train and are not going to be latching on to the welfare system.
Basically, my point is if one says their against illegal immigration then be prepared to discuss and accept certain realities of the situation.......just not pick and choose or totally dismiss some unpleasant aspects concerning the issue.....I just don't think you can expect to have it both ways and have any credibility.
OOOHHH!!!!!!
LOL!!
check your pings....there is some nut...well I will let you read it!!
That is a plain fact. I think you will find that Luis also agrees, but I cannot speak for anyone but myself. I agree. The invasion of our country will destroy it if it is allowed to go on.
Terri who?
The good news is that even though there are a lot of people with radical positions both left and right, they aren't usually in the majority or in a position to make decisions.
:)
My feelings on the Schiavo case have been stated in a thread based upon an editorial from a Florida paper, which I posted. It was in praise of the nine Conservative Florida Republican Legislators who did not join the rest of the party in trying to change the law to intervene in the case. In that thread, I voiced my personal contempt for the antics of so-called "Conservatives," in Washington. I believe that Conservatives and Republicans have a new Albatross around our necks as a result of what went on in Congress over the March 18 - 20th weekend. But I will hold off really addressing the whole question in detail for a few weeks, so that emotions may calm down, and reasonable discourse may be possible.
But again, thank you for the kind words.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
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Nope. You said it all.
Farewell from Free Republic.
Sure, we're both stating what's patently obvious but I still stand by the fact that in order to begin to solve this mess more people need to understand the hard, harsh REALITIES of what's occurring right under noses amid all the fluff and nonsense generated by the MSM using the MJ, Scott Peterson, Martha et al to keep us all routinely distracted. Truth be known this whole illegal immigration mess is just a conditioning tactic to force us to accept the new FTAA style of governance soon to be shoved down our throats by the usual suspects.
(Philly razz.)
Please give Luis a break. He does not deserve your anger. He is a good American.
The only reason for watching that atrocious film, "O Brother Where Art Thou", is for the soundtrack, in my humble opinion.
-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)
hehe!
You must be talkin' about THIS nut?:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1376118/posts?page=15#15
Yeah, a whacko. The government and the ME's are conspirin'
together on oil prices. ha!
I pinged it on #22. :)
yep....LOL
the guy is a whack job....
I am noticing A LOT of lurking trolls that signed up in January and Februrary.....
" I ate in Hell's Kitchen and heard more languages spoken in one place than I've heard in my entire life, and I had a cabbie tell me that the real America was not to be found in papers stored in D.C., the real America was in the immigrant neighborhoods of the Big Apple...and I believe he's right."
I agree. When are you moving your family to Hell's Kitchen??
"The greatest city in the world is an American city filled with immigrants from every corner of the globe."
Why ?? Is it because of the desireability of living in a graffiti-infested,hell hole, with high crime, long welfare lines.etc, or is it something else??
They did have a line about Philly: "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave."
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