Free Republic

From the 1776 Maryland Declaration of Rights and the 1783 New Hampshire Bill of Rights we are reminded of the proper American attitude toward a government hostile to freedom: "The doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind." In a recent post to her Eagle Forum website, the highly respected and admired Phyllis Schlafly unfortunately resorted to a lot of snark and little reason in her decades’ old opposition to an Article V convention of the states to reclaim free government. Beginning with her title, “Failed Republicans Want...

Law-abiding Americans are not terrorists and must not be treated like terrorists. Yet, that’s exactly what more gun control will do. It will spread the blame for Omar Mateen’s actions, punishing every current gun owner and every future gun owner for the behavior of a radical Islamist in Orlando.

Many American minds have been twisted by a hundred years of progressivism. A once proud and independent people have become increasingly meek and dependent on the decisions and goodies disbursed by faraway masterminds. Part of that twist moved our attention and expectations from the dispersed power in our states, and toward a single focal point in Washington, DC. For any real or imagined problem, the perceived answer no longer resides within our communities or states. No, there must be a national program to deal with and regulate everything. This top-down imperial approach, that treats the fifty states no better than...

In 2012, nearly four years ago, after the shooting at Sandy Hook, the future of the Republic and the Constitution looked dim.  We had seen a President who disdained the Constitution, who flaunted his power, who had the media on his side and a Congress that conspired with him, be re-elected.  This happened in spite of numerous scandals that should have resulted in his impeachment. It appeared the seeds of severe European type gun control were going to pass Congress.  Leaders among Second Amendment supporters were grim.  Some said that we could not win. Some claimed that the best...

Is punishing Americans the appropriate response to Islamic terrorism in America? Consider, Obama continues to recklessly and without ANY background checks import over 100 Syrian 'refugees' PER DAY into the United States. No worries though, because Obama tells us it has been AMERICAN CITIZENS waging these attacks, not foreigners. Excuse me, Obama. FIRST, this attacker was MUSLIM. Secondly, his father was IMPORTED FROM AFGHANISTAN. Third, the issue of citizenship is IRRELEVANT. The REAL issue here is ISLAM and its promotion of HATRED AND DEATH for anyone NOT Muslim, not citizenship! The REAL issue here is not 'AMERICANS' RIGHTS' under the...

I can almost see Tacitus (55-117AD) weep as he wrote of Rome’s transition from a free republic to a despotic empire. Tacitus: After Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, and the people with cheap corn, he slowly concentrated in himself the powers of the senate, the magistrates, and laws. In this, he was unopposed, for the boldest spirits had fallen in battle or been murdered in the proscriptions. The remaining nobles, the readier they were to be slaves, were raised the higher by wealth and promotion. So aggrandized were they by revolution, they preferred the safety of the present...

Actions speak louder than words. That's what we've all been taught by hard experience. So despite Paul Ryan's tepid endorsement of Donald Trump his actions tell us where his heart is. Ryan and the rest of the GOP establishment have had absolutely nothing to say about the violence perpetrated against Trump supporters by Hillary Clinton's backers on the streets of Albuquerque, Anaheim, San Jose, San Diego and elsewhere. This political violence targets Republican voters, but as far as Conservatism Inc. is concerned, mum's the word. But they have had plenty of time to parse Donald Trump's every word and Tweet...

PHOENIX — A new ruling Wednesday by a federal appeals court will not affect the rights of Arizonans to carry concealed weapons. And that's not just because a majority of state lawmakers here support that right. California law allows each county sheriff to determine if someone has "good cause" to have a concealed weapon. The lawsuit decided by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ability of individual sheriffs to make that determination.

Lest anyone jump to an erroneous conclusion, I’ll participate in the upcoming presidential election process and vote for Trump. Since Hillary is the sum of every corrupt quality, every character flaw that cannot be allowed in the Oval Office, nothing will keep me from supporting the opponent of this vile traitor. As a registered Republican I receive regular emails from GOP candidates standing for election to Florida’s second congressional district. The candidates appear to be honest men and women of conservative bent who oppose all things Obama. Ditto for the eventual Republican senatorial nominee. Anyone who promises to do his...

Our Declaration of Independence says the Creator God endowed us with Rights and that the purpose of government is to “secure” the Rights God gave us. What does this mean? How does a government go about “securing” God-given Rights? I will show you. The miracle of our federal Constitution was that the States created a federal government, which, by means of exercising the enumerated powers listed in the Constitution, was enabled to “secure” our God-given Rights in specific ways. It is not the federal government’s job to secure our God-given Rights in ALL ways, only in the ways appropriate for...

I recently looked up our early state constitutions and bills of rights with an eye toward clauses that proclaimed the peoples’ sovereign right and duty to closely watch their governments, be covetous of liberty, and amend their constitutions when necessary. Connecticut. Its first post-revolutionary constitution was actually in 1818, which included a Declaration of Rights: “That all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit; and that they have at all times an undeniable and indefeasible right to alter their form of government in such manner as...

In Book XI of The Spirit of the Laws, Charles de Montesquieu touched on the nature of liberty and representation in republics. While the term ‘liberty’ is somewhat ambiguous, he ascribed to it tranquility of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another. To foster liberty, free men send representatives to deliberative bodies to craft laws on their behalf. The great advantage of reps is their capacity to discuss public affairs in the course...

Government has a right to regulate the Second Amendment, Hillary Clinton said in an interview on the June 5 airing of This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Clinton contended that Americans have historically recognized the government’s “right” to regulate the bearing of arms, suggesting that it was not until District of Columbia v Heller (2008) that anyone thought otherwise. Stephanopoulos asked, “Do you believe an individual’s right to bear arms is a constitutional right? That it’s not linked to the service in the militia?”

The media’s wall-to-wall coverage of Donald Trump and the presidential horserace is a distraction from the main event. The point of the horserace—and of all politics—is to run a government capable of dealing effectively with the nation’s problems. But effective government is precisely what we don’t have. America’s greatest challenge is that it is burdened by a government that doesn’t work, and indeed is dysfunctional. Why is the nation so poorly governed? This is the question that we address in our new book, Relic. What we show is that the fundamentals of an answer can be traced to the Constitution—which,...

You may recall, Readers, that I penned a couple of pieces detailing the CKST (Confederated Kootenai & Salish Tribes) Water Compact last March in 2015. To refresh in brief, the Water Compact gives the Indian Tribes the water rights to all surface and subsurface water in almost all of Western Montana, to include Flathead Lake. The problem: these water rights are all off-reservation. That’s right. The Democratic-controlled State Senate, House of Representatives, and Governor of Montana voted this into law. Everyone is to receive a water meter on their well. All revenues will go to “the Tribes” as stipulated by...

This squib goes hand-in-hand with my two earlier posts that made the case for an annual Article V state convention, here and here, to defeat both an out control administrative state and runaway scotus. My vision is a regular convention that will examine in detail the past year’s congressional statutes, regulations issued under the auspices of the president, as well as supreme court decisions. Those that infringe upon our liberty can, if recommended by the convention, be repealed or overturned by thirty-eight subsequent state ratifying conventions or state legislatures. What prompted me was the outrageous Obergefell v. Hodges scotus decision...

Democrats just love democracy. Who could possibly oppose democracy? Didn’t progressive icon Woodrow Wilson inform the nation that the purpose of the United States was to make the world safe for democracy? What reasonable person could be against all power to the people? I am, and I am in good company. Our framing generation had enough experience with overly democratic state governments to figure out that majoritarian abuse of minorities was just as harmful and dangerous to freedom as the executive tyranny of George III. Benjamin Rush famously said that while the state constitutions of 1776-1780 barred the front door...

In Part I, I examined how and why an Annual Article V State Amendments Convention should become a regular feature of the American governing scene. To further support my thesis, I shall illustrate here the impropriety of allowing scotus to be the sole arbiter of our rights. The right and duty to define them and determine their practical reach ultimately belongs to We The People when acting in our sovereign capacity via Article V. I will show that scotus fails to keep to its own standards of what constitutes legitimate law, rights and liberty interests. To scotus, the notion of...

Congress is looking into the funding for several Obamacare programs for which no money has been directly appropriated. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that the administration is unlawfully paying insurers who are required to reduce costs for poorer customers on Obamacare’s exchanges. But there are other Obamacare programs that the administration is running for which Congress has refused to fund. ... Subpoenas ignored or willfully unfulfilled, stonewalling witnesses, and lies, lies, lies. Sound familiar? "The most transparent administration in history" has a game plan when dealing with Congress and they play it out to the letter. They even...

A strong right to keep and bear arms amendment to the Oklahoma state constitution was killed by the Republican leadership at the last minute. They did this by running out the clock in the conference committee, by not voting on HJR 1009.  The clock ran out on May 19th. The tactics were similar to what was done in 2014.  This year the measure was passed with overwhelming votes in both the House and the Senate. It passed the House 66-7.  It passed the Senate 39 to 7.  That is by 90% and 85% respectively.  Obviously, the measure was wildly...