Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johannes Pilch who wrote (672813)	2/19/2005 8:48:26 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Shooting a Moose seems a lot like shooting a parked car.

To: Johannes Pilch who wrote (672813)	2/20/2005 1:29:17 AM
From: Wayners	Respond to of 769670

those 5 degree temperature changes are HUGE. Better not wear a windbreaker. You might sweat to death.

To: Johannes Pilch who wrote (672813)	2/22/2005 1:08:33 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

COMMENT: Thoughts on U.S. Presidents Day. Dear A-Letter Reader: In another, prior life, I was active in the modern American conservative political movement that began in 1956 with Bill Buckley's National Review, came of age in 1964 with the nomination of Barry Goldwater for president, and in 1980 triumphed with the election of Ronald Reagan. After Goldwater's defeat in 1964, some of us decided to found the American Conservative Union (ACU) to carry on the battle for principle. In 1973 we began holding the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), now the oldest and largest annual gathering of conservatives in the US. Last week CPAC met again in Washington for the 32nd time. According to reporter Tom Edsall, the conservatives in attendance "...fell into two factions, one arguing that the state has an interest in managing the behavior and moral conduct of individuals, the other contending that individuals should be free to manage their own lives as long as they do not harm others." After all these years, please again mark me down in the freedom corner. The "conservative" Bush administration seems to be firmly in favor of managing people and our lives. US "conservatives," once in control, turned into big spending, power hungry, big government advocates -- just like those hated liberals of old! My good friend, the late Frank Meyer, spoke for me: "Unless men are free to be vicious, they cannot be virtuous." In his illuminating 1962 book, 'In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo', with that simple statement, Frank defined what should have been the goal of modern conservatives: to create a society in which we are free to pursue virtue, but not one in which virtue (or little else) is forced on us by government. The NY Times notes: "If the history of the Republican revolution were being written today, a single overarching question would have to be answered: Whatever happened to the promise of smaller government?" Or, we might add, to the promise of greater freedom? Like Woodrow Wilson before him, Bush wants to make the whole world safe for democracy, but at home our liberties are diminished at every turn. (One reason we go offshore). Meyer argued that what American conservatives had to conserve was an Anglo-American tradition of liberty. We agree. For him, the raison d'être of the US political order was to preserve that individual liberty. Questions of virtue were to be left to private religious and other institutions of society. But only individual, free will acts can produce virtue. Thus freedom and virtue are allies, not enemies. Today's self-styled "conservatives" should read and understand Frank Meyer -- then translate his wisdom into action. That's what we try to do here at the Sovereign Society. That's the way it looks from here. Bob Bauman, Editor PS: Want to join us? Click here, LINK: agora-inc.com COMMENT LINKS: * Now in Power, U.S. Conservatives Free to Differ. LINK: washingtonpost.com * The American Conservative Union; a short history. LINK: pfaw.org * Principles and Heresies: Frank S. Meyer. LINK: findarticles.com * In Defense of Freedom, Frank Meyer. LINK: acton.org