Congrats on the FSME position, Semperfortis. Sorry I didn't see the announcement the first time around. Since you are the expert, I hope you don't
mind if I raise a few points about conservatism. Myself I have not affiliated with either of the two major parties because I didn't quite agree with
either one. I have always thought that the two parties were pretty good at balancing each other out, and clearly they are not two heads of the same
coin as some would suggest.
What I find fascinating looking from the outside in is that people from both parties really don't know their parties origins nor do they understand
the implications of the agenda of their parties. What I see is that members of a party will spout the positive benefits of a particular ideology and
that is all they are aware of. I believe that there are pros and cons to both major parties in this great county of the United States of America and
would like to make my point on the conservative side with your opening post if you don't mind.
Originally posted by semperfortis
I believe Conservatism to be the core foundation of this great nation and our only hope of continuing into the future as incredibly successful as we
have been in the past.
I would agree that conservatism has been an economic value to this great nation, but it is anything but the core foundation. The core foundation of
this great nation is libertarianism. The founding fathers were of this ilk and wrote the Constitution accordingly. It really bugs me when a
conservative claims that it was the foundation in this country when that is far from the truth. You may believe that conservatism is the core of this
nation NOW, but it was not in it's origin.
This may be not be a real attempt at deception by Semperfortis, but in my opinion it is written is very subtle manner to suggest that conservatism was
what this country was founded on, but it wasn't and it is my intention to point that out.
I also find the following post very interesting.
Originally posted by semperfortis
While some good did indeed come from Lincolns term, it is my
opinion that he was possibly the greatest abuser of Presidential Powers that has
ever held the office.
Let me explain...
States rights are essential to our freedoms. The Founding Fathers knew this and it is clear in the Constitution.
The States have to have the freedom, even to secede from the Union, if the people so choose to do so. When that freedom was taken from us, through the
Civil War, we lost.. BIG TIME...
While many are deluded into thinking the Civil War was over Slavery, the roots of the war are far deeper and more insidious.. It truly was all about
freedom...
Lincoln felt that the preservation of the Union was more important that the right of the people to decide their own destinies.. He took that away
forever..
Just my opinion of course...
Semper
Disregarding other aspects of this statement, I will only focus on the aspect of rights. This is were I find Semper to have a double standard, and in
this post he tries to claim that conservatism is about State Rights. I beg to differ. Individual rights are what are granted by the Constitution,
which was written in the libertarian ideology. If you don't know what I mean, let me explain. Libertarianism considers the individual rights above
all other values like government and corporations. That is the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, and all the others that you will find in
the Bill of Rights. This gives an individual the right to do what he wants, and protects him/her from tyranny that people suffered from in the
past.
So Semper here is using these constitutional (libertarian) rights back in this period to claim that a person should have the right to run his state as
he sees fit. What he is not seeing is that individual rights do not override the rights of the common good.
I find this incredible, because in conservatism, the individual has LESS individual rights. We are now seeing this in many forms in the current
administration. The Patriot Act allows the government to illegal search and seizure, in other word wire tapping our conversation without a warrant.
Now Semper has brought up many good points in the past regarding the Democratic Party. He refers to them as Liberals and claims that they are
Socialist and want nothing but the government to provide everything for everyone. That is true to an extent, and this is where I find myself also in
disagreement with the Democratic party. However the Democratic Party is made up of several factions one of which is the Liberals. The Liberals are the
ones that can claim the origins of our founding fathers in the Libertarian Party. Since then the party has changed.
The fact is that Socialist have infiltrated the Democratic Party and should be considered a threat. Likewise, the Republican Party has been
infiltrated with Fascists. These Fascists believe that the individual possesses less individual rights and the Nation State should not be questioned.
Sound familiar?
Both parties are not perfect, and when it comes time to vote it comes down to the lesser of two evils. The world is not perfect, but it is worth
fighting for.
I challenge our conservative FSME Semperfortis to take a hard look at his party and it's agenda and where it might lead. I believe he loves this
country as much as I do though we may not agree. I wish him luck, and I congratulate him on his efforts.
