Wrong. I am perfectly aware of every slur, every wicked lie, every venomous, spittle-flecked slander that Progressives use to portray Conservatives. I have been battling them, from within mostly hostile territory, for the better part of thirty years. What I was reacting to in my post #107 was this:

If we are as hard-hearted as we are being depicted, I will have to move to the other side.

If you really believe what the Progressives say about us – even a little of it – by all means move to the other side. You'd be crazy not to. But please skip the "we". The conservatives I know are not hard-hearted. They love their fellow man deeply and want him to be free. That's what I want. That's what I believe in. No Progressive caricature can shake that belief, even though I also believe their odious vision is now destined for ultimate victory.

But you know in your heart whether or not you are actually guilty. I don't dispute that others think me hard-hearted. Unlike Red Feline, however, I don't let their opinion cause me to lose confidence in my principles.

I hate to seem unsympathetic, but speak for yourself. I don't feel cold and hard-hearted, mainly because I'm neither of those things. Only you can answer the question as to whether you are "as hard-hearted as we are being depicted". Leave the rest of us out of it.

If you're so ready to swallow the liberal caricature of conservatives and start hating yourself, you don't have an image problem; you have a self-esteem problem.

No, RF, you (and possibly Indaba) missed the point of my post. "Thanks, Canada" was directed at the person who wrote the column Indaba was quoting, not at Indaba herself. (The quotation was attributed only to "Canada's national paper", and no link was given.)

For what it's worth, I also assume Indaba is a conservative. There's no need for you to rush to her defense, at least not against me.

Not piling on Canada, just piling on stupid "advice" from ill-meaning journalists.

Hilarious! Another liberal describes his perfect caricature of a conservative, insists that's how conservatives really, really are, and advises them to knock it off for their own good.

Thanks, Canada! Thanks for keepin' it real!

Trink, you put me in mind of a friend of mine (a confirmed liberal) who was struggling with his weight. He said to me, in so many words, "Why doesn't the government just make it illegal for me to buy all this fattening stuff?!"

I was stunned into speechlessness. How to even begin to explain liberty and self-government to someone who thinks that way?

"The government should just tell me what to do and how to think. It's too much work trying to figure stuff out for myself."

It's an interesting analysis, and compellingly stated. Where it may fail, though, is just here:

Deep down, conservatism is about a belief in personal responsibility and self-government. In order to "win", as you put it, we have to convince a majority of the people that they should want to govern themselves.

Unfortunately for us, it appears they just don't want to do that. They want to vote in a crew of charismatic, telegenic talk-show hosts and their bureaucratic hangers-on to do all that hard thinkin' and decidin' for them. This will leave them lots of time for sports, video games, and movies based on comic books and trashy romance novels.

True self-government is hard work. Wilson and FDR began the process of convincing the American people that it's too hard for us simpletons: better let the experts take over. LBJ continued the job, and yesterday BHO gathered up the last scraps, tossed them in the trunk, and slammed the lid.

The people gave away their liberty, voluntarily. Gleefully. We can't make them take it back. They don't want it.

Sounds harsh, but I've been thinking along those very lines myself. Like Paul Ryan, I believed the American people were ready for a "grown-up conversation". What fools we were!

Of course we've been having the grown-up conversation here at Ricochet, but what's the point? Banging our gums at each other about how right we are… to what end? The people told us loud and clear yesterday that they don't give one good damn about who's right and who's wrong. They refuse to take any side except their own. Load up on freebies while the gettin's good and hand the bill to somebody else.

I'm sick to death of it all, and I'm ready to chuck in and stop wasting my time reading, thinking, and writing about it any more. But since we're all "soul-searching", I'll wait a few days to see if the feeling passes.

Yep, me too. That's one of the reasons I weep for the country: they're about to get a big dose of what we've been feasting on for years.

Wish I had the option of moving. Right now, I don't, though I assure you I will not remain here one second longer than I have to. "Land of Lincoln". Feh.

I know, and I also know that deep down, you're right. Fighting is the only way. But I am also now firmly convinced that it's a losing fight.

My little girl was at the breakfast table this morning. I could hardly look at her, I was so ashamed. I tried to smile my brightest. The look in her eyes said, "What's wrong, Daddy?" I hugged her hard and turned away.

I admire your grit and determination, I really do. But look at the trajectory: Wilson, FDR, LBJ, now BHO. The train is headed in an obvious direction, and it ain't goin' our way. We've managed a couple of minor detours, sure, but the ultimate destination is no longer in doubt.

My thoughts exactly, Mr. Carter, and my mistake also. I believed the American people just wanted a safety net. They don't; they want a big ol' bouncy house where they can play, play, play all day in the summer sun. They want Mommy standing by with chocolate chip cookies and juice boxes, and band-aids and kisses if they bounce too hard and get a boo-boo.

The infantilization of the people is complete. I have never before felt anything but pride in being an American. Today, I am deeply ashamed.

I'm afraid Brother Rob is wrong: the problem is not in the messaging. Arguing harder and talking longer will not halt this sickening descent into servitude. The people are not interested in the facts. They want what they want, they voted for it, and now they await delivery of their goodies.

I'm with you right up until "the fight continues". It doesn't. It's over. We lost.

Possibly the President's most annoying tics are his dauntless battle against armies of straw men, and his use of phrases like "experts say" and "everybody knows" to dispose of issues that are settled only in his own mind.

Members of the press should be ashamed of themselves for letting him get away with these things. But even more, they should be ashamed that they have continually allowed him the pretense that he is everything he is not.

He is not a uniter, he is a divider. He is not a moderate centrist, he is an entirely conventional modern liberal. He is not open to any good idea, no matter where it comes from; he is perfectly committed to his own progressive ideas and intentions. He is impervious to persuasion. In fact, as near as I can tell, he hasn't absorbed a new idea since he completed his college-era indoctrination.

President Obama is a poseur; his vaunted "moderation" is a convenient lie, one the press has seen fit not only to swallow but to perpetuate. Their behavior from his campaign through his presidency has been contemptible.

What strikes me is the silliness of this argument. Conservatives assert that government should have a limited role, not a non-existent one. Every time some arm of government manages to do a good and useful thing, liberals trot out this notion that it would never have happened if conservatives had their way. Phooey.

Has your friend ever heard of the idea that a government that tries to do too many things ends up doing few of them well? I am not unsympathetic to the idea that major disaster relief is an appropriate role of the feds. But that does not automatically mean they should also dictate how our local schools are run, or what kind of health insurance I must buy, or…

So your friend is wrong about what Romney actually said, and his attempt to broaden the argument misses the mark. Pretty much what I expect from Facebook posts and why I stopped engaging people in discussion there.

I want to know how Romney infiltrated the Obama campaign and planted this ad to embarrass them.

That's got to be the explanation, right?

OMG! I was, like, totally grossed out by this! I mean, I am SO, like, FREAKING OUT right now, it's like… Wow!

Totally.