Free Republic

resident Obama is promising to veto key Republican backed legislation in 2015 and 2016. This may represent a generational Republican opportunity to both pass important legislation and gain the friendship and support of working American voters. It may also represent the opportunity to split the Democratic Party between its existing leadership and the Democratic Party’s far left wing. The key is for Republicans to tailor their legislation and their legislative timing to insure that there are parts of every piece of legislation that appeal to working voters. This has to start with the first three pieces of legislation taken up...

As a libertarian, it’s easy for me to get agitated about the theoretical burden of high taxes, wasteful spending, and costly regulation. But even regular people should get upset when they get exposed to specific examples of individuals who are victimized by abusive government. Regarding the particular topic of Second Amendment freedoms and government misbehavior, I know I get very angry when I read about what happened to folks like Adam Meckler and Benjamin Srigley. And now we can add Shaneen Allen to the list. Here’s some of what Glenn Reynolds of the University of Tennessee wrote for USA Today....

<p>Emails don't get "lost." Any government official who claims it is a lying abuser. Any reporter who doesn't mock and expose is a presstitute. There needs to be a 21st century version of tar and feathers to humiliate these scoundrels.</p>

Did you see the photo? It's all over the Internet -- a snapshot of billionaire CEO Richard Branson, in board shorts, in the Caribbean, kiteboarding with a naked woman on his back. If you ask me, that's the kind of person you want to give you advice. I mean, there are lots of billionaires out there, but how many of them have naked women on their backs? No more than a handful, I imagine. That's why I was so excited to find "Richard Branson's top 10 tips for success" on the BBC News Entertainment & Arts website. (No, I...

Last week the House of Representatives passed yet another bill with an awkward, acronym-enabling title: the Executive Needs to Faithfully Observe and Respect Congressional Enactments of the Law Act. The ENFORCE the Law Act (get it?) would allow either chamber of Congress to authorize litigation aimed at correcting the president's "failure to faithfully execute the laws." While the bill's name is ridiculous and its mechanism is dubious, the basic premise of its supporters, almost all of whom are Republicans, is correct: As the House Judiciary Committee's report on the bill puts it, Obama has engaged in a "pattern of overstepping...

We need police to catch murderers, thieves and con men, and so we give them special power -- the power to use force on others. Sadly, today's police use that power to invade people's homes over accusations of trivial, nonviolent offenses -- and often do it with tanks, battering rams and armor you'd expect on battlefields. In his book "Rise of the Warrior Cop," Radley Balko recounts the rise of police SWAT teams (SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics) armed with heavy military equipment. SWAT raids began as rarely used methods of dealing with violent situations, like hostage-takings. But...

The Book of Proverbs, part of biblical canon, once a vital part of American culture, tells us: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” It’s this haughty spirit, this pride that precedes destruction, that lies behind the Supreme Court’s decision last week to bury the Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA defined marriage, for purposes of federal law, as traditional marriage – the union of man and woman. This decision did not come out of nowhere. It did not happen in a vacuum. It is but the latest in a long process of the unraveling of American culture...

Make no mistake about it. This new talk about “Filibuster Reform” coming from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is nothing more than a power grab by liberals in the Senate. Reid has stifled debate during his rule, and he will use the pre-text of “Filibuster Reform” to bully and squelch the minority party, much like he has done for the past few years. The Washington Times reports, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate rules that would limit the GOP’s ability to filibuster bills.” Reid argued at his post-election...