Free Republic

In the history of politics, there is only one fundamental, abiding issue: It is individualism vs. collectivism. Do individuals have the right to pursue their own happiness, as Thomas Jefferson thought and as the Declaration of Independence deemed self-evident? Or do we have an obligation to live our lives for the community or the state, as most societies have claimed throughout most of history?Yet if this is the paramount political issue, why is it not forthrightly debated in presidential elections and in other contests for public office? The reason is that American political debates tend to be dominated by...

Speaking at a commencement ceremony at Worcester Technical High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, President Obama urged graduates to “vote Republicans out of office before they chain you to a life of sweat, toil, and unwanted personal responsibility.” “Our country is at a crossroad,” Obama declared. “Will we continue to go forward toward a future of government-funded leisure for all? Or will the reactionaries of the GOP be permitted to drag us backward toward a lifestyle where everyone is dependent upon his or her own efforts?” “Rugged individualism may have served our country well in the past when there was a...

Concerned that the City is an inhomogeneous hodgepodge with pockets of great wealth in some neighborhoods and squalor in others, newly appointed Housing Preservation and Development Commissar Vicki Been announced a plan to move 80,000 to 120,000 poorer families into middle class neighborhoods. “This way instead of having blight and filth in every direction they might look poorer families will be within easy walking distance of a better kept neighborhood,” Been boasted. “The crimes that plague poorer sections of our City would be more evenly dispersed throughout the whole City. Victims will come from a more broadly representative subset of...

Bill Gates, the multi billionaire who does not have an earned college degree or teaching certificate, never taught a day in the classroom, never worked in an educational system or one room school house is comparing the education of children to electrical outlets.

Vice-President and potential contender for the 2016 Democratic nomination for President, Joe Biden rejected contentions that individual freedom is crucial to economic growth. “I know a lot of people keep insisting that it is America's free market and individual rights that account for this country's phenomenal economic growth, but is that really the case?” Biden asked. “Look at the rapid economic growth achieved by the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 40s. By mobilizing armies of human labor to build canals and mine metals they were able to transform perishable human resources into the durable infrastructure that vaulted the country...

"The children belong to all of us," Paul Reville, an education professor at Harvard and former Massachusetts secretary of Education, said Friday in explaining why states should adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative. "What we're doing at the national level ... is what a lot of our states thought made sense individually. Why should some towns in cities or states have no standards or low standards and others have extremely high standards when the children belong to all of us and would move. And the same logic applies to the nation," he said, making the case for national standards....

Beginning his address, the Holy Father reiterated his imagery of Baptism as an unbroken chain in the transmission of faith. Each baptized Christian, he said, is a link in that chain. “Such is the grace of God and so is our faith, that we should transmit to our children, because they, as adults, can transmit it to their children,” the Pope said. “Baptism makes us enter into this People of God that transmits the faith. This is very important. A People of God that walks and transmits faith.” Continuing his catechesis on the Sacrament of Baptism, Pope Francis reminded the...

The fact that a state legislature would decree population density mandates to cities in the state is an intolerable tyranny. Naturally, the California legislature is doing it. But it has officially decided to worry about the environment of a fantasy world, not the real one.

What are we to make of the 20th Century? Like any period it is marked with its glories and its horrors. In his now classic work Modern Times, historian Paul Johnson gives a sober assessment of the 20th century and estimates, many think conservatively, that 100 million died in war and for ideological reasons in that violent century. Perhaps no century can be said to have been bloodier.It was a century of the imposition of every sort of collectivism from communism, fascism, tribalism, and socialism , all with catastrophic results. Whole populations were the subject of social experiments; and here...

Polls indicating that Obamacare may be costing Democrats the youth vote sparked outrage from several sources. Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (Fla), Chair of the Democratic National Committee, characterized concerns over the price as “selfish and misguided.” “Those reacting negatively to insurance plans that double or triple their out-of-pocket costs for medical care are placing their own welfare ahead of society's,” she declared. “Maybe they think they're strong and healthy and don't need medication or therapy, but what about those who do?” The Congresswoman urged young people to “not try to substitute their thinking for that of the government's experts. These experts...

House Republican efforts to push the American Health Care Reform Act (HR-3121) were denounced by leading Democrats as “unfair” and “unpatriotic.” The bill would fully repeal Obamacare, allow consumers to purchase insurance across state lines, permit small businesses to pool resources so they can bargain for better deals, modify malpractice rules, expand access to health savings accounts, give individuals the same tax break on insurance that corporations enjoy, and provide funding to help insure those with pre-existing conditions. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the GOP bill “a stab in the back. These opportunists are using the failures...

In the eyes of some, the great hope for mankind has always been a sort of communal society. The thought behind this idea is that everyone could work towards a common end and share the fruits of their labor. As a matter of fact, Liberalism and social progressives teach this today. So, “in order to form a more perfect Union”, at all costs they foist their communal ideals upon society. In a perfect world, this type of social order would be heavenly. Unfortunately, we don’t live in paradise. That being the case, there are two things that war against this...

Pete Ferron at The Shrugging Out Podcast performed a brilliant satire on The Ruling Class of Washington, District of Criminals. The premise of the one-man-show is a conference call between the Federal Director of Communications and all Federal employees. Great satire depends on a kernel of truth, and Pete gives the whole cob. https://app.box.com/shared/static/v6m8xo51u8i9mx73vu8o.mp3 Pete has reached the same conclusion I have, namely that my point of view will not carry the day. We are optimists and true-believers, probably radicals, but that does not preclude us from seeing reality for what it is. You can listen to it at the...

Most politicians are crafty. They hide the mailed fist of political power in a velvet glove of caring and compassion, and they conjure up an appealing picture of competence to hide the reality of blundering ineptitude.But not Barack Obama. He believes his own propaganda; he's even said so. He thinks that politics is exhausted by the cunning tricks of the community organizer, that all you need to do is find a festering sore, and pick at it.Even Frantz Fanon, author of the anti-colonialist screed The Wretched of the Earth, understands that sore scratching and the messianic moment will only get...

Regrouping with Democrats after a bitter budget fight, President Barack Obama on Friday cast the recent spending-and-debt standoff with Congress as “a symptom of a larger challenge” but one offering Democrats the chance to show voters the virtues of their vision for government ahead of the 2014 midterm elections. … “The shutdown was about more than just health care,” Obama said. “It was about a contrast of visions, about what our obligations are to each other as fellow citizens. And we’ve got the better side of that argument.” … … Obama is weighed down by the calamitous debut of the...

Take a look at the following list and tell me if anything strikes you: Prudence Justice Temperance Courage Faith Hope Charity Viewing these, the Seven Cardinal Virtues, anything make an impression? Okay, now try the Seven Heavenly Virtues of: Chastity Temperance Charity Diligence Patience Kindness Humility Anything? What strikes me is that equality is not among them. Scour great works, such as the Bible, and you won't find much talk of equality – that is, unless you consider The Communist Manifesto a great work. One thing about virtues – which are defined as "good moral habits" – is that their...

Recent statistics indicating that 48 percent of births in the United States now occur below the poverty line were hailed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius as “evidence we are making the strides in the transformation of this country that President Obama promised.” “Throughout human history the enjoyment of sex and parenthood has been inhibited by the reluctance to take on the responsibility of rearing children,” Sebelius announced. “These data show we are alleviating some of these inhibitions. Hopefully, there will come a day when the freedom to procreate will be totally unconstrained by any financial apprehensions.”...

I love it when liberal progressives actually speak their true beliefs for us all to hear. However, you have to probe deeply and get them riled up enough to blow their cool in order to hear their unvarnished agenda. Liberals know that sane people do not agree with their policies or their goals, so they must always cloak them in a shadowy cloud of lies. It's always, "it's about the children!" or "where's your compassion?" with them in order to mask their true goals. Once you get under their skin, you can expose their lies and twisted words as they'll...

Distressed by the high cost of college and the high unemployment of college graduates, Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) recommended “a major revision of how we educate people for the public good. I have heard so many stories of graduates facing crushing debt loads and no prospects of a job that I think it’s time we remake the whole system.” “First of all, why should a student have to pay for college?” Rangel asked. “We don’t make them pay for elementary or high school. If a college degree is needed for the role a person is to play in our society...

One of President Obama’s pitches in promoting his Affordable Care Act was the promise that those who were happy with their current coverage could keep it. The statute, however, requires those whose policies are deemed non-compliant to switch to more comprehensive and expensive plans beginning January 1, 2014. Most affected will be healthy people currently enrolled in high-deductible plans. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius explains that “in our view, high-deductible policies are inadequate for several reasons. The major flaw in the premise of such policies is that the individual is competent to assess his own health. Doctors are...