Free Republic

Russell Kirk was a great American thinker of the last century - and giant of conservative thought. He was a student of the Founding Fathers, but also of their fathers, and of their mentors' mentors. He knew Edmund Burke's philosophy cold, and history's big lessons all the way back to Plato. Kirk hated "ruinous taxation," like Lecky, who wrote "Democracy and Liberty." Kirk hated "corrupt Washington," as Henry James, who wrote "Democracy." Kirk loved individual liberty and was a scholar of our Constitution's roots, including its "natural law" origins. Kirk was effectively the Father, or wise man, of modern conservatism....

I'm trying to understand FR's embrace of the Donald, but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. I too had a favorable first reaction when I heard him talking about building the wall in absolute terms, and his rejection of the concept of amnesty for illegal aliens. I also admired that he was the first politician in a long time that would fight back against the media and left-wing attacks, instead of trying to appease the left. However, that admiration quickly wore off when I researched Trump and found clip after clip of the man, in...

<p>Caption - So long as the remaining votes are divided between other candidates, as occurred in the first three nomination contests, Trump appears unbeatable.</p> <p>Washington: Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has in the past eight months defied his critics and proven his White House bid is not simply a surreal stunt.</p>

Trump’s had enough solid numbers this week to expect he’ll win tomorrow night going away, but if you’re desperate for hope and looking around for data to cling to, there’s plenty out there. CNN’s survey earlier this week showed Trump dropping like a rock after his “Bush lied!” performance at the debate, from 40 percent to 31. Two days ago we got a national poll from WSJ/NBC showing Ted Cruz, whose support has been flat in South Carolina this week, nosing past Trump to take a two-point lead. Now here comes the WSJ/NBC again — this time using a different...

As for me, I'm as conservative as it gets, but Conservatives have failed me and our country. I'm counting on Mr. Trump to fix what's been broken, to keep our country safe and employed and on the road back to a spectacular recovery! I’m watching the fierce South Carolina primary contest among the six remaining candidates for POTUS and a few things strike me as astounding. The first is that all the seasoned politicians on stage—Governors Bush and Kasich, Senators Cruz and Rubio—have been relegated to straggler status by the non-politician in the race, billionaire businessman Donald Trump. (Dr. Ben...

Joan Swirsky I'm watching the fierce South Carolina primary contest among the six remaining candidates for POTUS and a few things strike me as astounding. The first is that all the seasoned politicians on stage -Governors Bush and Kasich, Senators Cruz and Rubio--have been relegated to straggler status by the non-politician in the race, billionaire businessman Donald Trump. (Dr. Ben Carson, the other non-politician, is hanging in there but not lighting any fires). Second is that only Mr. Trump is raising the biggest issues facing our country, among them: Closing our borders, which are being flooded with un-vetted illegal aliens...

Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos made an appearance at Rutgers University and his ideas and rhetoric so traumitzed the delicate flowers who heard him, that many of them attended a "group therapy" session afterwards. You are not going to believe what happened next: According to the paper, students and faculty members held a wound-licking gathering at a cultural center on campus, where students described “feeling scared, hurt, and discriminated against.” “A variety of different organizations and departments were present to listen, answer questions and show support” to the apparently weak and vulnerable students, who just a few days prior had...

The forces that now have a stranglehold on both the so-called “major” political Parties are determined to overthrow the Constitution, turning the United States into an oligarchic tyranny, affirmed periodically by sham votes, as in the erstwhile Soviet Union. I can’t support anything produced by their sham political process. It’s all calculated to produce a result fatal to rightful liberty. Only a true grassroots movement can restore constitutional self-government in the United States. The presidential election, as envisaged by the Constitution’s provisions, actually requires such a grassroots mobilization, focused on the election of presidential electors. These electors are supposed to...

Today was a big beautiful day. Today was the day I started phone calling for Ted Cruz at home. In the comfort of my cozy abode, I called about 95 residences in the Texas area likely to come out and vote for Ted Cruz. Many were not home, or did not answer. I contacted around 55 total people, a few in the same household. Did I take perfect notes? No. These numbers are based on crude tally-marking on a sheet of note paper. It was actually kind of fun; most of all, I felt like I was making a difference....

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may not have the best rapport with the Latino community, but on Thursday he received a key endorsement from a member of the community. Congressman Raúl Labrador of Idaho came out in support of Cruz’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination. In his endorsement, the Puerto Rican-born lawmaker called Cruz “a stalwart defender of the constitution and a tireless advocate for conservative principles.” “Americans know Washington is broken,” Labrador said in a press release. “Ted Cruz is the only candidate that will truly change the way Washington works, restore the balance of power between the presidency...

One of the curious aspects of the intensity of the primary season is that most forget that there is another side to contest. After all, the ultimate goal of the primaries is to have a party standard bearer that has chance against the Leftist tyrannical side of the aisle. With that said, it would be a very good exercise to examine what the national socialist left has done in the past as a way of discerning who they would prefer to compete against in the general election. So let us begin by looking at the memes and falsehoods they have...

Donald Trump is firing back at President Barack Obama, who said on Tuesday that he does not think he will be elected as president, because it's not like "hosting a talk show or a reality show. "It's not [about] being a community organizer, which is what he was, that was about it," the real estate tycoon told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "I built one of the greatest companies, some of the great assets in the world, very little debt and tremendous cash flow. It's the thinking our country needs." But, Trump said, it's a "badge of honor" for...

2 Corinthians 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. This is the greatest election ever and it is only just begun. We have the outsiders completing the work the Tea Party had begun and Moscow on the Potomac has no idea what is about to hit them. When you look at the two Parties you have one which is being headed by some old as dirt Leninists...

Donald Trump has now made clear that the thrust of his campaign will not be conservatism. It will instead be populism and nationalism.

This is a short dissertation on the Real political spectrum, Each step of the way will be confirmed by the dictionary definitions of the various political ideologies and how they relate to the spectrum. In order to properly set it out in a logical manner we need to base it on the metric of governmental power since this should be the clearest method of distinguishing where the ideologies fall on the spectrum. 1. Government Control scale. For the sake of simplicity we will use a scale of %0 to %100 with zero for no governmental control and ranging up to...

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

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Donald Trump may have come out of New Hampshire with the victory, but Sen. Ted Cruz has emerged as the Republican front-runner. Though Trump's victory in New Hampshire was no doubt impressive, the electorate of independent voters and super high turnout was tailor-made for him, whereas Cruz didn't put substantial effort into winning the state - where very conservative candidates don't typically do as well. He is currently in position to win third here, with votes still outstanding. As the race moves to South Carolina, however, Cruz has a ground game in place and the electorate is...

Ted Cruz Responds to Donald Trump's Profanity (ABC News Video)...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has picked up endorsements from six New Hampshire lawmakers who previously supported Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) presidential bid. From The New Hampshire Union Leader: The six state lawmakers endorsing Cruz are: Rep. Max Abramson of Seabrook, Rep. Eric Eastman of Nashua, Rep. Harold French of Franklin, Rep. Larry Gagne of Manchester, Rep. JR Hoell of Dunbarton, and Rep. Mark McLean of Manchester.