Chucktshoes

I absolutely agree with everything you wrote, up until the last line. Romney will clean nothing up. At best he will delay the coming collapse a few years. There is no way that he is going to be the savior and turn back the tide of progressive designed decline that has been in the works since Woodrow Wilson. If you want real change in the way Washington goes about its business of raping the American taxpayer, the Republican party isn't going to give you what you want. There isn't enough political will in this country to make the hard decisions needed to save the the US. As much as I have been harping on the Republican party being not any different than the Democrats lately, neither party is really the problem. The problem is that the American people have figured out that they can vote themselves largesse from the treasury's coffers. We are reaching that tipping point of more than 50% sucking on the government tit. I don't see any way back from collapse left, only delays of the inevitable. It is coming and we the people have nobody to blame but ourselves.

Has Romney's record as governor of MA changed in the last nine months? I am continually amazed at people's ability to believe the lies politicians tell about what they are going to do when there is a very clear record of what they have done. Leopards don't change their spots, and 9 months later a steaming bag of fermented crap still stinks.

There is no difference between Romney and Obama. http://www.examiner.com/article/george-soros-not-much-difference-between-romney-and-obama

Nah, linking to all the threads should be sufficient.

A point I have been trying to make in multiple ways is that to a large number of what are dismissively referred to as "Paulbots", RP was the reason they were going to vote Republican this cycle. Many of us view Romney as no better or even different from Obama. It is a case of 6 of one, half a dozen of another. The enemy of my enemy is my friend does not apply when Romney's history puts him in the position of being the exact same enemy of liberty as the current resident of the White House. It would be like us uniting with Russia against China during the Cold War.

Here is why I took such issue with your position of irrelevancy for the parties. If the parties are irrelevant, then not only what they do is irrelevant, but HOW they do it as well. The RNC changed and or ignored its own rules in an attempt to present unity behind Romney. As an example, the Socialist Party USA (no, I'm not referring to the DNC) is irrelevant on the national stage. Nobody knows or cares who their candidate is, or how they were chosen because they don't have a chance in hell of getting elected. Right now to get elected you have to come from one of two major parties. If how the Republican party chooses its nominee is irrelevant then the subject of the entire debate we were having becomes a moot point, thereby allowing you to sidestep having to deal with whether or not the actions taken by the RNC to silence dissent within the party were ethical. That has been what stuck in my craw this whole time. The RNC was underhanded and wholly unethical in the manner in which it handled the RP "problem". I was willing to go along with the Rs and vote for Romney to hopefully get rid of Obama. This whole debacle only reinforced for me (and others that I know) that at the end of the day, the Republican party is no better or even different than the Democratic Party. The current and future well being of the nation are not their priority. All either party is concerned with is accumulating and maintaining power, money and influence. They are equally corrupt, diseased and rotten in their cores.

While winters here will be much easier to handle than they were in Minnesnowta, the summers are gonna suck. In regards to the BBQ, Memphis BBQ is the best in the country. Our middling BBQ joints are better than most in the state or the even country. As far as the shooting, live here long enough and you will bound to be invoked in one or two.

I would say the above quote of yours does accurately describe one of the primary party functions. I would also posit that we both know that if you aren't an R or a D, then your chances of getting elected to national office are pretty slim. Taking those two facts into consideration, I'd say that makes political parties pretty damn relevant, no? If the parties are that important, then their internal rules that determine who gets to have input on shaping the party platform are pretty damn important as well. You can legimately argue the position that the RNC was right to take the actions they did in changing their internal rules, or just outright ignoring them all day long. To argue that political parties are irrelevant is more than just a bit disingenuous, and in my opinion beneath you. You normally bring more honest arguments to the table.

Yes. Though our state disagrees. I view defense of property as a valid reason for deadly force. However, as I mentioned before, I am legally constrained by the states opinion on this matter.

Calling them out does no good if you continue to vote for them,those like them, or for those that have the ability to hold them accountable and don't. What happened this year with the Maggart primary is an example of what needs to be done wholesale. Robert, I like how you say parties are irrelevant, and in the next breath speak about exactly why they aren't. Nice trick.

Hell, they have Wendy Thomas on staff specifically to write columns like this.

As I stated, for a brief second it looked like the Republicans were open to reform from within. I am under no illusions that raising a 3rd party to relevence is easy, or even likely in the short term. If it had been possible to make substantive changes to the R party to more closely resemble my libertarian ideals I was willing and wanting to be onboard. The party establishment has made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in hearing from the party's libertarian wing, including those like me willing to join the party, but unwilling to sell out our principles. It is that partisan devotion which concerns me. If Romney does win and becomes president, will you speak up when he engages in the same sort of policies that W. did? Or will he get the same sort of pass because he is on your team? If Romney abuses executive privilege because congress won't pass his agenda, will you still raise hell? Or is is ok because you agree with what he is trying to do. My whole point is that when you step back and look at the actions of both parties over the last few decades, neither one has acted with any sort of integrity. Both parties are corrupt to their rotten, diseased cores. When in power both do the same thing. They spend too much money, pass too many intrusive laws and regulations and hand out favors to their friends at the taxpayer expense R v D has become about having your side win instead of differing visions of what is best for the country.

Your devotion is admirable. I hope you enjoy the peanut flavor.

You mean delegates that were duly elected by the citizens and IAW the rules of the RNC and their individual states? Manufactured unity for the sake of appearances is no unity at all. By disenfranchising the Paul delegates, and by proxy the libertarian wing of the Republican party along with a sizable contingent of folks like myself who are not, and never were Republicans, the RNC has opened itself up to be bit in the ass by us. I don't presume to speak for others, but I can tell you how I view the events surrounding the convention controversy. I see no substantive difference between the Republican and the Democratic Parties. They both want an overly large and intrusive federal government. The R s want to achieve it on a balanced budget while the D is willing to deficit spend to get there. That's the only real difference and to someone like me who is concerned with freedom and personal liberty, it is the difference between deciding whether you want corn or peanuts in your sandwich. There were only 2 reasons I was considering voting R. The USSC was the first and Roberts did a good job of letting me know that battle was already lost. The second reason is that for a minute, it appeared the the R party was vulnerable to being reformed from the inside. What happened with the RP delegation firmly closed the door to that idea. So, I am walking away. We tried it, it didn't work out I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to force my ideals on a party that doesn't want me, or people like me. To those that would appeal to the libertarian minded folks to vote Romney for the reason of "anybody but Obama" aka "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Sorry, barking up the wrong tree there, bucko. I view both the R and the D parties as unmitigated enemies of individual freedom and personal liberty. It doesn't matter which party is in power the Republic is dead and it is all over but the shooting.

^ that x eleventy billion.

So Obamneycare and an assault weapons ban are conservative agendas, eh? I didn't know that. Thanks for educating me on those points.

Exactly. It isn't used for ID for proof of address, so when I moved, I changed my address online and didn't worry about going into the DMV.

Just as much as I will enjoy the next 4, regardless of who wins. Like it or not, Romney's words are meaningless when his record in MA shows him to be cut from the very same Fabian Socialist cloth as Obama. So once again, I will pass.

What little I watched of the last few nights was good lip service. We have records to go on, and those records bear no substantial difference from each other. It matters not what a man says he is going to do, but what he has done. Romney in MA is the very model for Obama in DC, I'll pass. I'm voting for Gary Johnson, as all I can see from the R and the D is two bowls of ####, one corn flavored and the other with peanuts, staring at each other.

Please explain how they are substantially different? According to their own words they are a couple of Fabian Socialist peas in a pod.

That was my thought.

There is going to be a gun buy back on Sep. 15th here in Memphis. Anyone interested in going down and seeing if there is anything good we can save from destruction?

Normally I try to avoid places that post as well. Hell, I only go to a movie theater 2 or 3 times a year, but this was a bit of a special occasion. Some friend's of mine and I went to see "Runaway Slave". Seeing that film in theaters outweighed not spending money at Malco.

I've never seen the sign.

You'll keep her, eh? Have you taken an honest look lately at what she has become? Your statement makes me think of a father looking at his junkie prostitute daughter and saying "it's just a phase, she'll grow out of it."