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Title: Ron Paul for President: What is Free Republic Afraid of?
Source:
Mens News Daily
URL Source: http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/01/23 ... at-is-free-republic-afraid-of/
Published: Jan 24, 2007
Author: Dan Phillips
Post Date: 2007-01-24 18:35:53 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 313
Comments: 25
By Dan Phillips Since the beginning of the Bush administration genuine conservatives have been taking a beating, but now there is hope. Friday 12 January 07 finally brought some good news for the conservative movement and the cause of authentic conservatism and constitutionally limited government! Rep. Ron Paul has set up an exploratory committee for a possible presidential campaign for the GOP nomination in 2008. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Rep. Paul, he is a Republican Congressman from the 14th District of Texas. In the Congress he is a bright shining light of limited government in a bastion of big government darkness. In an age when many Republicans have embraced the cause of activist, “big government (sic) conservatism” at home and abroad, Rep. Paul has been keeping the limited government faith. (Of course “big government conservatism” is an obvious oxymoron.) Rep. Paul’s, who is a physician by trade, support of constitutionally limited government has earned him the moniker “Dr. No,” because he so often votes against big spending bills. Rep. Paul, in an era marked by the abandonment of core principles, has remained a genuine constitutionalist. For a while, I have had to set back and listen to conservatives debate whether Sen. McCain or Gov. Romney was the least objectionable candidate. Or even worse if that is possible, I had to listen to speculation about whether Mayor Rudy Giuliani could win the Republican nomination. Almost in despair I listened as conservatives mentioned amnesty supporters Sen. Brownback and Gov. Huckabee as possible conservative alternative candidates. I wondered to myself and also aloud, “Has the conservative movement really sunk this low?” As I have indicated before, I am a serious political junkie. The problem is there has seldom been a candidate that I could whole-heartedly endorse. My paleoconservative and constitutionalist beliefs would not allow me to enthusiastically support such obvious moderates as Dole in ’96 or Bush in ‘00 and ‘04. In fact, I felt like Bush’s embrace of “compassionate” big government (sic) conservatism was more in line with the editorial page of the New York Times a la David Brooks than it was with main street small government conservatism. And his foreign policy was certainly not small government conservatism. It was big government Wilsonian liberalism. So when I heard about Rep. Paul’s announcement, I was ecstatic. I immediately went to a few e-mail groups I belong to to share the good news, but good news travels fast. Many were already aware. Since Rep. Paul’s announcement, the conservative bloggosphere and conservative internet sites have been on fire with the news of a possible Paul candidacy. Finally there is a candidate who is right on all the right issues, a candidate I can whole-heartily endorse. I have already priced tickets to Iowa and New Hampshire. Rep Paul is right on spending, he is right on taxes, he is right on the border, immigration and amnesty, he is right on life, and he is right on guns. Unlike many “federalist” conservatives, he understands the importance of decentralization and State’s rights. And given the current situation in Iraq, he understands the importance of a truly “humble” foreign policy. Bush campaigned on a “humble” foreign policy but gave us Jacobin revolution instead. Rep. Paul understands that the only foreign policy consistent with small, limited government is non-intervention. His foreign policy is the policy of the Founders. His is the foreign policy of authentic, historic conservatism. His is a foreign policy of humility that recognizes the limitations of fallen man. His is not the foreign policy of revolutionary Jacobin transformation and overthrow. Political Science and History 101 should teach us that Jacobin style transformation is a policy of the left, not the right. Rep. Paul’s campaign is really the answer to prayer for many conservatives. Here is a paragraph I wrote from a previous column. This column first appeared 9 Jan 07. Based on the reaction to the Baker commission and talk of surges, the official Right does not look like it will be abandoning its embrace of neo-con interventionism any time soon. The base is still broadly supportive of the policy. None of the potential GOP presidential candidates in 2008 are anti-war. Senator Hagel (R-NE) could probably be described as a realist, but the base hates him because of it. Both possible paleo-esq candidates, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), are pro-war. Front-runner Senator McCain (R-AZ) is the loudest voice calling for more troops. (Rep. Ron Paul, are you listening?)[emphasis added] I am not trying to take credit for his decision to run. I just want to demonstrate that Rep. Paul’s potential campaign really is for many of us, the best political news in a long, long time. So I was eager to share my excitement with my paleo friends, but I was also interested to see how some of the more militantly (no pun intended) pro-intervention sites were dealing with the news. So I went to the “Mother of All” pro-intervention sites, Free Republic. I went to Free Republic and searched “’Ron Paul’ President.” There were already a few threads. One had 40+ replies, and it is the first one I looked at. I only got to look at the 40+ reply thread briefly before it was deleted. In it, some clueless Freeper had written “Paleoconservatism = fake conservatism.” Of course, this infuriated me. Statements like that are either the result of ignorance or are a deliberate attempt to smear and distort. No thoughtful, well-informed person could make such a silly statement. The rap against paleoconservatism is that it is too conservative: that it rejects certain modernist, liberal assumptions. It can not simultaneously be too conservative and fake conservative. That makes no logical sense. So I replied with the following: “Paleoconservative = fake conservative” Anyway, after my banishment, I returned to the website to check on the status of the thread I had attempted to post on. In good Orwellian fashion, it had been erased as if it had never existed. Ron who? Perhaps there was some problem with the thread such as foul language that caused it to be deleted, but I doubt it. I suspect the problem with the thread was the same problem with my comment; it expressed wrong think. Other Ron Paul for President threads remain. I really have no idea what makes the difference. Maybe it has to do with who is moderating at the time or whether the non-interventionists are getting the better of the interventionists. I sent “Jim Rob” two e-mails asking him for an explanation for the thread being deleted and why my innocuous comment warranted banning, but he has yet to reply. I’m not holding my breath. I discussed this situation with many people via e-mail and several replied that they thought Jim Robinson and the Free (sic) Republic crowd feared Ron Paul. Ron Paul does have a tremendous amount of support among the grassroots base. He is an articulate spokesman for the principled non-interventionist position. He does have the potential to unite people from across the political spectrum and draw in a lot of third party activists and those who have previously given up on the system. But I honestly don’t think Jim Robinson and the boys at Free (sic) Republic fear Ron Paul. What they fear is honest, open, and intelligent debate. Who needs paleoconservatives with their pesky ideas and concern for the past constantly invoking Washington’s Farewell Address and the Founders and making all those learned references to Jacobins, the left-wing and the French Revolution? It is so much less taxing on the brain to read over and over again “Kill all the Islamo-fascists,” chant “regime change,” “creative destruction,” and “benign global hegemony” and lap up the rest of the revolutionary, left-wing faith that passes for “conservatism” these days. But the actions of the thought police at Free (sic) Republic are not a sign of strength. They are an indication of weakness. Their position of the more foreign intervention the merrier (Let’s take out Iran and Syria while we are at it.) is rapidly deteriorating and becoming increasingly untenable. When the War first began they could count on a lot of support and consent on the mainstream right. But as things have gone poorly in Iraq as the conservative war critics predicted (I take no joy in being right about that.), they are in an increasingly smaller minority. Their interventionist strategy is opposed by more and more Americans on the right, left, and center. I’m not arguing that public opinion is always right. It isn’t. But no one is buying their strategy anymore. They are spending all their time talking to each other and shouting down, or banning, dissent. Again this is a sign of weakness, not strength. And it is a sign of intellectual atrophy. They certainly can not prove that their interventionist ideas are from the right, because they manifestly are not. And they can’t defend their leftist position beyond mindless slogans and accusations. “Kill them Islamo-fascist!” “You’ve got you head buried in the sand.” “Pacifist.” “Appeaser.” “Neville Chamberlain.” “Cut and run.” “Surrender.” And my very favorite of all, the completely mindless “I would rather fight them over there than fight them over here.” Can you tell I am a veteran of these wars? Well Jim Rob and the boys can mindlessly continue to backslap each other and cheer on global Jacobin revolution and hoot down all those who dare to call them on their left-wing ideological crusade, but fewer and fewer on the right are buying it. It is my hope that a Ron Paul campaign will continue to chip away at the pro-war “right,” and restore some integrity to the word conservative and return the conservative movement to its Old Right, anti-interventionist roots. Global revolution is not now, nor has it ever been conservative. Run Ron run! (Dr. Dan E. Phillips is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia. He specializes in the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse. He can be reached at Phillips_de@mercer.edu.)
Ron Paul for President: What is Free Republic Afraid of?
You have got to be kidding me. The paleocons are the only true conservatives. It is actually not them who need a pre-fix. Neocons and the mainstream conservatives who have bought their rhetoric are liberal Wilsonian interventionists. Interventionism is inconsistent with small government conservatism. Look at what the right in this country believed before the Cold War. Contrary to the myopic belief of some “conservatives,” human history and conservative history did not start 50 years ago. Perhaps you should take a look at Washington’s Farewell Address.
For that statement I joined the large and proud legion of those who have been “banned” by Free (sic) Republic. I recognize the above statement is unpopular with many on the “right,” especially the Free (sic) Republic style “right,” but it is certainly a defensible position. It is a position held by many respectable conservatives/rightists. It is not a lone or eccentric opinion. So why did it warrant my banning? Clearly I was not banned for foul language or personal attacks or some other legitimate reason. I was banned because I expressed what Free (sic) Republic determined to be wrong think. It is really very sad. There was a time when invoking the past proved your conservative bona fides. Now it seems at Free (sic) Republic that invoking the past is wrong think. How dare I worry about what Washington and the Founder’s believed, at Free (sic) Republic all that matter is what the Dear Leader believes. I will leave it to the readers to determine if “Dear Leader” refers to President Bush or Jim Robinson, the founder of Free (sic) Republic. Or come to think of it, has anyone ever seen “Jim Rob” and President Bush in the same room together? Hmmm….
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
.... Well Jim Rob and the boys can mindlessly continue to backslap each other and cheer on global Jacobin revolution and hoot down all those who dare to call them on their left-wing ideological crusade, but fewer and fewer on the right are buying it. (Dr. Dan E. Phillips is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia. He specializes in the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse. He can be reached at Phillips_de@mercer.edu.) He has his work cut out for him on FR. It would make an interesting study of psychopaths and anti-social types.
The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. – Tacitus
Put RimJob on the list of colaborators that need to be tried for treason once we restore the republic.
Things must really be going downhill over there at FR. Mens News Daily used to be the 'darling' of the forum for editorial content/neocon slant reporting. Now MND is turning on them?
The forum needs to do a fundraiser and send 'lil rimjob on a "Leon Klinghoffer" type theme cruise... /chuckle
Edmund Burke's birthday.
When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of. -- Confucius
...had never thought of that until I read your correct and incisive comment. I quietly left FR 5 or 6 years ago when I no longer could ignore the pervasive insanity / treason there. J.R. had strongly repudiated the Dunce when things weren't too noticeably bad in the Administration; then, when things went sour, mean, evil, ugly, immoral, illegal, and utterly treasonous, J.R. tucked tail, barked at the moon, and declared himself a Bushbot extraordinaire. Had to be some big money changed hands somewhere. J.R. and F.R. are two inmates that even a resident psychiatrist can't help.
Just check "Ignorance" and go on. Please don't waste your time with the 26% which is the Koolaid brigade.
Memo to smirk - please dial in SOON for a consult. Thanks, lodwick
now that's funny. :P
He would look very funny being dropped through the trap door sitting in his wheelchair. ;-)
"We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." -- Marshall McLuhan, after Alexander Pope and William Blake.
I don't like the idea of dropping traitors through trap doors. I think they should be slowly hoisted up, kicking and screaming...
Congressman Admits a Conspiracy for Global Gov't Exists "You can not save the Constitution by destroying it."
Well, well. Free Republic's going down hard after this. Mark my words...if Ron Paul runs he's going to run big.
"How legitimate is the Onion as a source?"----noone222
FR is not a debate site or a discussion site. It is a GOP rah rah site for the rank and file party faithful who adhere strictly to an ever decreasing scope of allowable debate. Think of the rather narrow parameters of our two party fraud- and then cut that in half, and in half again- and that is what is allowed to be discussed on FR. The only point to going on to FR is to find out what version of reality the GOPER faithful are allowed to recognize and under what terms. One can get a sense of where the GOP heirarchy is going because they test out new lines of crap on the FR toads. It must have been heartbreaking for the FR BOTS to hear dear leader say that "we are not winning" in Iraq- when the line on FR had been that clearly- we were- but that the "liberal media" was not reporting the great successes that they pass among themselves from the reichwinger "news" sources. Its funny to see them adjust to the new line- like commies had once done on command from Moscow.
Actually I can see what happened to FreeRepublic in general in what happened with Doug from Upland. I remember in Douggie's older song parodies that he was just as much a Constitutionalist Patriot as anyone on Freedom4um. However once Shrubya was made President Douggie became Bushbot and warmonger number two only after JimRob himself and a virtual GUN GRABBER by ommission. (meaning he dumped the gun right themes of many of his older parodies.) I think it's possible that some big money might have changed hands in this case too, probably through eBay. (Douggie is known to use that auction site as a sort of "money laundering" zone for FreeRepublic donators through the use of fake "auctions".
In other words you monitor FR for clues for the current thinkings of Levithan, one does not read it for a honest interplay of ideas or opinions.
Ron Paul is not on AIPAC's list of approved Presidential candidates for Americans to vote for.
I hated Bush when hating Bush wasn't cool.
And, just how many delegates to the convention will vote for him?
How many voted for Howard Dean? Get back behind your bozo, Houndy.
"How legitimate is the Onion as a source?"----noone222
Perhaps you should define "run big" then? Because without votes from the delegates he doesn't get the nomination. And, with no media coverage no stretch of the language will result in "running big". I'm sorry but those are the facts, troll boy.
Are you saying that Howard Dean didn't run big, Houndy?
"How legitimate is the Onion as a source?"----noone222
Ponchy has self esteem issues. He thinks he can elevate himself by being a prick to others ... if you haven't noticed.
Bunch of internet bums ... grand jury --- opium den ! ~ byeltsin
Well, now that you've called my attention to this, I will ignore him because I don't cross swords with ignorance. Even though I voted for Ron Paul and he is the only rep I have any use for, his exploratory as a Republican will be strangled in its cradle and he won't even get as far as Sen. Richard Lugar when he tested the waters for the presidency. How people can confuse their hopes and dreams with the political reality is beyond me. Unlike Howard Dean who is a party hack insider certain to grant Israel's every wish while promising seniors an ever growing share of the ever shrinking tax base, Paul is a serious threat to the Fed, The Lobby, the largest plurality of the voters (who consume federal tax dollars in SS, welfare and govt pension checks) and the whole wormy system including most members of his own party. Just where do these dreamers think his votes will come from?
"I don't know how he does it...but I'll tell you the bottom line... The man got a way with women...HE GOT AWAY WITH MINE!" ;)
as this administration has sunk deeper and deeper, I have from time to time gone there, foolishly thinking the tide would have to turn even there. I wonder why I'm always a little shocked to see that if anything, they are more firmly dug in than ever. 'a day in the life' and 'pray for the president' - all that stuff. and my favorite thing - some fantasy about every thing bush doing looking stupid because he's actually SO SMART (a chess player, they like to say) that he is, I guess, playing stupid to fool his enemies (which would be the american people and the rest of the world). bizarre stuff.
Um....ironic, ain't it?
sometimes there just aren't enough belgians
But the actions of the thought police at Free (sic) Republic are not a sign of strength. They are an indication of weakness. Their position of the more foreign intervention the merrier (Let’s take out Iran and Syria while we are at it.) is rapidly deteriorating and becoming increasingly untenable.
#2. To: Brian S (#0)
When they come for your guns, take theirs.
#3. To: robin (#1)
#4. To: Critter (#2)
#5. To: Brian S (#0)
12 January
#6. To: Critter (#2)
Put RimJob on the list of colaborators that need to be tried for treason once we restore the republic
#7. To: Brian S (#0)
Of course, this infuriated me. Statements like that are either the result of ignorance or are a deliberate attempt to smear and distort.
#8. To: robin (#1)
(Dr. Dan E. Phillips is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia. He specializes in the treatment of alcohol and drug abuse. He can be reached at Phillips_de@mercer.edu.)
#9. To: Brian S (#4)
The forum needs to do a fundraiser and send 'lil rimjob on a "Leon Klinghoffer" type theme cruise...
#10. To: Critter (#2)
Put RimJob on the list of colaborators that need to be tried for treason once we restore the republic.
#11. To: YertleTurtle (#10)
He would look very funny being dropped through the trap door sitting in his wheelchair.
When they come for your guns, take theirs.
#12. To: Brian S (#3)
#13. To: Brian S (#0)
#14. To: Brian S (#0)
#15. To: Brian S (#0)
#16. To: Burkeman1 (#14)
The only point to going on to FR is to find out what version of reality the GOPER faithful are allowed to recognize and under what terms. One can get a sense of where the GOP heirarchy is going because they test out new lines of crap on the FR toads.
#17. To: Brian S, Dan Phillips (#0)
#18. To: Redheadedstranger (#13)
Well, well. Free Republic's going down hard after this. Mark my words...if Ron Paul runs he's going to run big.
#19. To: HOUNDDAWG (#18)
#20. To: Redheadedstranger (#19)
#21. To: HOUNDDAWG (#20)
And, with no media coverage no stretch of the language will result in "running big".
#22. To: HOUNDDAWG (#20)
#23. To: Minerva (#22)
Ponchy has self esteem issues. He thinks he can elevate himself by being a prick to others ... if you haven't noticed.
#24. To: Burkeman1 (#14)
The only point to going on to FR is to find out what version of reality the GOPER faithful are allowed to recognize and under what terms.
#25. To: Brian S (#0)
What is Free Republic Afraid of?
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