Free Republic

Yes, the Democrats are that desperate. Smacked with the guy who has made his business to lead the loyal opposition to policies that hurt the country, the Democrats did something so foul, so mind numbingly stupid and so desperate that it out Nixoned Nixon in his worst of days. And in doing so, theyÂ’ve completed the transformation from political party to caricature. Does Rick Perry's indictment disqualify him for 2016?!!! asks CNN, while fronting for the Dems. No, the indictment probably does not disqualify him. But Marco RubioÂ’s sip of water during a televised address should, right? RubioÂ’s problem...

The Senate approved a continuing resolution for the budget which included a provision authorizing President Obama to arm and train Syrian rebels for the purpose of combating Islamic State terrorists. The legislation passed 78-22. Of the 22 Senators that voted no, here are the 12 Republicans that voted against the provision: John Barrasso (WY) Tom Coburn (OK) Michael Crapo (ID) Ted Cruz (TX) Mike Enzi (WY) Dean Heller (NV) Mike Lee (UT) Jim Moran (KS) Rand Paul (KY) James Risch (ID) Pat Roberts (KS) Jeff Sessions (AL)

I’m very worried about the burden of government spending.Moreover, I’m quite concerned that poorly designed entitlement programs will lead to fiscal disaster.And I’m especially irked that Obama made the problem worse by ramming through yet another misguided and costly health care entitlement.Given this background, you can imagine that I was very interested (and depressed) to see that Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center put together some very important charts and analysis based on new fiscal policy projections.After crunching the new numbers from CBO, here’s her bottom line conclusion. …data from the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recently released update to its...

Is the government monkeying around on your dime? The National Institutes of Health is reportedly spending $3.9 million over five years to study the effects of excessive drinking on monkeys. …

The bill is coming due for ObamaCare and it’s a whopper. According to Medicare Care’s own actuaries U.S. health care spending is about to rocket. Federal meddling in what was once the finest and cost-effective health care system on the planet is nothing new. Back in the 1960s, many Americans paid for doctor and hospital services out of pocket or through modestly priced private insurance. Health care spending was about 6 percent of GDP. Enter President Johnson and Medicare. He bought millions of votes by giving seniors free health care that they never paid for through payroll taxes during their...

In April of 2013, I introduced a Moocher Hall of Fame to “celebrate” some very odious examples of welfare dependency.Since that time, I keep thinking that it’s time to do something similar for government bureaucrats. This compilation from last December would be a good place to start, though I’d have to figure out whether to have group memberships so that we could include the bureaucrats at the Patent and Trademark Office who get paid to watch TV, as well as the paper pushers at the Department of Veterans Affairs who got big bonuses after creating secret waiting lists that led...

President Barack Obama is asking Americans this Labor Day to think about the rights and benefits that people often take for granted. […] Obama says to strengthen the modern middle class, the U.S. must raise its minimum wage. He says states and businesses have raised wages already and Congress should, too. …

Unless you’ve been sticking your head in the sand, or had a busy summer of spending American tax dollars with Obama on the golf course, you’re probably aware of all the race baiting going down in Ferguson, Missouri. Several weeks ago, a black man named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, in the economically depressed community outside of St. Louis, creating a perfect recipe for race riots, looting, and liberal race baiting geared toward keeping Americans divided. America’s favorite race hustler, the Rev. Al Sharpton shot over to Ferguson before Brown’s body went cold, sensing...

It is no longer a question of how much government Americans want. The only question is how much government Americanscan afford. And the former Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the answer is becoming clear. “I talk about this in the book,” Ryan told Watchdog Radio Monday. “About very progressive policies. About the outcomes they produce, and how they bankrupt governments.” Ryan writes in his new book, “The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea”, that the federal government has expanded entitlement programs, Medicare, Social Security and now Obamacare, to the point where they cost far more...

The American public is frustrated with Congress. There is a constant stream of bickering between the two parties and two chambers, while the country falls deeper into debt to the tune of $1.3 billion per day. Congressional approval ratings are an abysmal 13 percent. To top it all off, Congress is in the middle of a five-week recess. Followed by their return on September 8, where they are only expected to be in session for 15 days before they adjourn and head home to try and get re-elected. With such little action from our lawmakers and so much of their...

When Niki Quasney felt a piercing pain in her ribcage in March, the oncologist treating her advanced ovarian cancer told her to get to an emergency room immediately. But instead of making the short drive to a hospital near her home in Munster, Indiana, she drove alone for more than 40 minutes to one in neighboring Illinois. Quasney said she was “terrified” her local hospital might not allow her and her partner of more than 13 years, whom she wed last year in another state, to be together if she suffered a health emergency. Quasney and her partner, Amy Sandler,...

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is trying to ban smoking… Everywhere. Well, at least everywhere someone might be working, so I guess that’s not as many places as you might think. (Hat tip to Obamanomics.) The CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has suggested banning all tobacco consumption at every work place in the nation… Because, ya know, the nanny-state can never be too big, right?The ban would apply to not only office buildings, restaurants, and retail stores, but it would also apply to any outdoor location (such as construction sites, landscaping work, and...

The misguided attempt to increase the minimum wage can almost be passed off as institutionalized economic illiteracy. Many people, however, have argued that it’s more than simple ignorance that drives the Left to ignore fiscal sanity and push for a $15 per hour burger-flipping wage. Well, if the latest attempt to institute mandated-minimum-pay illustrates anything, it shows that the Left isn’t that fond of the effort/reward relationship of hard work. Labor groups are now aiming to snuff out the system of tipping servers because… well… because it’s “unfair”.There is a movement to bump the minimum wage for tipped servers (often...

Leadership: Texas Gov. Rick Perry smiled confidently for his mug shot, as if to signal he would prevail over politicized big government. In fact, that may resonate as a campaign theme for voters weary of the same abuses. Until now, the prevailing "narrative" was that a governor under indictment on two counts of "abuses of power" would be political toast. Because even if the charges were baseless, as these are, the mug shot and the screeching headlines would bring certain opprobrium. It certainly happened that way for now-exonerated House leader Tom DeLay, whose career was ruined by the same tactics...

BULLHEAD CITY — There’s “no logic” to proposed new regulations on coal-fired power plants by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said Tyler Carlson, Mohave Electric Cooperative chief executive officer. Carlson spoke at the Bullhead Area Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon, held at Mohave Community College. MEC is not against clean air, Carlson said. “What we’re concerned about is the over-reach, the over-reaction, what we’re worried about is having rules and regulations that aren’t reasonable, that aren’t rational and that actually have collateral damage to them.” The rules changes would shut down coal production in Arizona, driving up the cost of...

...Michael Brown and the paramilitarized Ferguson Police Department are two sides of the same coin. They are the joint product of the politics of grievance and the growing expansion of government. The taxes that made the mobs dependent also armed the paramilitary police that contain them. You have one government department handing out Obamaphones and another handing out MRAPs to the cops. HHS gives out Obamacare and the IRS enforces it. A giant bureaucracy tasked with providing all “positive rights” rumbles on, even as progressive politics unleashes more “community organizers” while erecting a giant political machine to meet those same...

The events unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri, represent why every single black American should, without equivocation, reject the big government view of America. Without doubt, the savior of the African American community will not be any government, neither local nor state nor federal, nor will that savior be anyone within that particular government who shares our pigmentation. In truth, big government is the primary cause of the psychological scars and emotional pain so deeply rooted within the African American community today. History is clear on this point. It was big government that allowed slavery to exist in this nation until we...

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....

OUR RIGHTS ARE GRADUALLY ERODING. I THINK THEY ARE GRADUALLY SLIPPING AWAY FROM US. I THINK THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONSTITUTION AS A DOCUMENT THAT RESTRAINS YOUR GOVERNMENT, THAT RESTRAINTS YOUR SIZE AND SCOPE OF YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN LOST ON A LOT OF PEOPLE, AND I THINK IT'S SOMETHING WE SHOULDN'T GIVE UP ON.

At 74,000 pages, the IRS code is a mind-boggling ode to lobbying, pork-barrel spending and graft. These are the only good things that I can say about the IRS. Ode may be too friendly a word, however. Let’s instead call it an incantation for our country. Because the code holds a country in thrall like the winged monkeys in Dorothy’s Oz were held. And until the witch is dead, we monkeys must do her bidding. Politicians, economists and ordinary citizens can’t follow the tax code, which has tripped up cabinet nominees, majority leaders and others who ought to know...