Free Republic

Debate Performance Cannot Overshadow Decades of Personal HistoryOne of the aspects of the current campaign climate that I find deeply discouraging is the fact that the majority of the American electorate spends little or no time learning about the candidates in the weeks and months leading up to the primaries, and they apparently spend little or no time during non-election years paying attention to the roles that American politicians, and would-be candidates, play in events and policymaking that are happening both in America and elsewhere around the globe. One of the shocking and disturbing ramifications of that sad state of...

Trump Is Not A Liberal or Conservative, He’s A Pragmatist by Mychal Massie January 19, 2016 We recently enjoyed a belated holiday dinner with friends at the home of other friends. The dinner conversation was jocund, ranging from discussions about antique glass and china to theology and politics. At one point reference was made to Donald Trump being a conservative to which I responded that Trump is not a conservative. I said that I neither view nor do I believe Trump views himself as a conservative. I stated it was my opinion that Trump is a pragmatist. He sees a...

The old right, which I would define as Anglo-Saxon traditionalism, was obliterated in America during the first years of the 20th century. When Wilson abandoned traditional American isolationism in favor of Teddy Roosevelt's jingoistic internationalism, American conservatism was finished as a dominant political ideology. It could not exist in a world where America was an active participant in European intrigues. It staggered along after Wilson, until the Great Depression delivered the final blow. What replaced it was the mild corporatism of FDR that was an adaptation of what we would come to understand as European fascism. In America this meant...

One of the little known aspects of recent American history is that Russell Kirk served as one of Barry Goldwater's most important intellectual advisors, 1959-1964. The two talked frequently, met frequently, and strategized frequently. In private and public, Goldwater acknowledged Kirk's role a number of times. Only recently, however, did I discover that Kirk wrote a number of speeches for Goldwater. The one that intrigued me most (as Goldwater praised Kirk innumerable times for writing it; Goldwater considered it one of the best speeches he ever delivered) was the talk that Goldwater gave in February 1962. After a very exhausting...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VckRA4tYFo

Why do millions of voters, low-information and otherwise, never get it that the Democrats NEVER give up when it comes to the relinquishing of power? They were always out there even though those watching nightly television never heard them. Overnight the wolves have come out of the fields and up over the bluffs into front and back yards where the primal sound of their howling foretells the coming death of Conservatism in America. The spine-chilling howling of the wolves is the Conservative Funeral Requiem of the lib-left, now that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has passed.

If conservatism is your bag, if conservatism is the dominating factor in how you vote, there is no other choice for you in this campaign than Ted Cruz, because you are exactly right: This is the closest in our lifetimes we have ever been to Ronald Reagan. ***snip*** But for those of you that conservatism's the answer and conservatism is the way, you have no choice here. Ted Cruz has got to be your guy. There's nobody even close. Nobody.

Most Americans are not THAT demanding of a strict definition of conservatism

As I was saying at the dawn of this day: 1) Trump; 2) Kasich; 3) Rubio; 4) Bush; 5) Cruz. Number One and Two were correct, and at this hour Numbers Three, Four and Five are all jostling together at 11 per cent, but with Cruz third and Rubio fifth. On the Democrat side I noted the midnight vote tallies from Dixville Notch, Hart's Location and Millsfield: Sanders 17 Clinton 9 [snipped text about Dem race] On the Republican side, Trump won yuge: 35 per cent in a nine-man race, and more than twice as many votes as the second-placed...

I launched a book this week and I went Indie with it. Indie means I released it on Amazon via Kindle Direct Publishing. I had to. My Publisher, HarperVoyager, refused to publish it because of some of the ideas I wrote about in it. In other words, they were attempting to effectively ban a book because they felt the ideas and concepts I was writing about were dangerous and more importantly, not in keeping with their philosophical ideals. They felt my ideas weren’t socially acceptable and were “guaranteed to lose fifty percent of my audience” as related back to me...

In the latest debate Donald Trump made it clear, once again, that not only he is not conservative, but he has absolutely no idea what conservatism is. When asked to define conservative, Trump, who usually gives expansive answers, could only manage to speak for less than 30 seconds before running out of ammo. His answer was that "Conservatism means... to conserve... your wealth". That's not what conservatism is. A two year transfer student into Wharton College (with an uncle in MIT) should be able to give a better answer than that. Marco Rubio, perspiring like a fire hydrant, nonetheless came...

As the New Hampshire primary fast approaches, I wish to remind voters that our next commander-in-chief must be of the highest character, cut from the rare cloth of our founders. Sometimes God gives us great gifts in ugly packages. Recent attacks on Ted Cruz from both the Trump and Dr. Carson campaigns gifted Cruz an opportunity to show his character and presidential instincts.

SALEM, N.H. - Ted Cruz in person, on the campaign trail, is a study in contrasts. What I principally mean by that cliche is that Cruz makes a more plausible human being when seen up close than in his animatronic television appearances, but he does not resemble a human being who came into the world by the usual method. He's both cute and sinister, a highly discordant combination. He's like a marzipan man brought to life by the kiss of a magic fairy, stuffed into overly tight blue jeans and sent toddling into middle-school cafeterias in the middle of nowhere...

There is no real litmus test for Conservatism; as should be obvious to anyone on brief reflection. Conservatism is--and always has been, as the term connotes--about preserving what one considers important, in a social, cultural, historic & genetic heritage. One person may be more focused on one aspect, another on another. There is no natural law that demands that all have the same focus--indeed, the notion flies in the face of the concept that man is Blessed with Free Will; with freedom to decide priorities--and, of course, bear the consequences. Conservatism is about preserving social--both cultural & material, as well...

Trump is not a conservative. He's an economic nationalist whose limited involvement in politics over the years has largely consisted of furthering his own interests by contributing to members of both political parties. His current policy positions often contradict those he's publicly expressed in the past, and his governing philosophy, to the extent he has one, combines crony capitalism with government activism (eminent domain; ethanol; protectionism; universal, government-paid health care).Des Moines, Iowa - The shorthand understanding of the likely three-man race for the Republican nomination goes something like this. Donald Trump is the populist outside agitator, running on economic nationalism...

There is a boisterous Oath Keeper leaking alcohol from every pore sitting three seats away from me in a Nashua, New Hampshire, middle school auditorium hosting a Ted Cruz town hall. I'm wondering if it's too late to change seats. The guy is wearing a camouflage jacket that doesn't quite hide the bulging middle-age belly straining at the faded Patriots T-shirt underneath. He's carrying a sign that reads "Like a Cruz missile, Ted will destroy ISIS" on one side and "Cruzin West" on the other, a plea for the Texas senator to pick former Florida congressman Allen West as his...

Neomasculinity combines traditional beliefs, masculinity, and animal biology into one ideological system. It aims to aid men living in Westernized nations that lack qualities such as classical virtue, masculinity in males, femininity in females, and objectivity, especially concerning beauty ideals and human behavior. It also serves as an antidote for males who are being programmed to accept Western degeneracy, mindless consumerism, and immoral state authority. The purpose of this article is to list and describe the principal doctrines of neomasculinity.

Senator Sasse of Nebraska gives Chuck Todd a refresher on what conservatism is really all about. (Click on the link for video)

I tip my cap, unreservedly, to Ted Cruz. With everything on the line - and so many GOP colleagues cowed and intimidated - he took on Donald Trump and won. Late last year I wrote that the GOP needed an actual leader, someone who would step up and take on Trump directly: Now is the time. A presidential campaign is an early test of leadership, a proving ground for dealing with the challenges of the world's most difficult job. I don't want the last man standing. I want the guy who took down the king. If Trump can absorb the...

Lastly, the sudden embrace of Trump by GOP establishment members in an attempt to knock out their real nemesis, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), has got to force Trump voters to take pause. The GOP gambit is to knock off Cruz in Iowa because his voters go disproportionately to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Trump's voters, on the other hand, tend to go to Cruz. So, beating Cruz would boost the establishment's favored alternative, and in classic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" fashion, they are pumping up Trump.