Free Republic

A hypocritical NBCNews.com article argues that America is a “flawed democracy” that can be fixed by copying the “World’s Best Democracy” — Norway. In “Norway Is the ‘World’s Best Democracy’ — We Asked Its People Why,” NBC pretends to provide an objective look at why the Economist Intelligence Unit — based in London, where the country’s parliament actually considered banning America’s president — downgraded the U.S. to a “flawed democracy” and rated Norway the best. The article doesn’t mention one reason the U.S. is a flawed democracy: it isn’t one; it’s actually a Republic. […] Feigning fairness, the article points...

The Washington Post has a new motto, displayed right below the paper's logo on its homepage: "democracy dies in darkness." It's a new thing for the paper, which never had a motto or slogan in its 140-year history. Not through World War I, or the Great Depression, or World War II, or the Cold War, or Vietnam, or Watergate, or the War on Terror, or — or anything. Through all that time, including the period when the Post was lionized for shining light on Watergate, did the paper have a motto. But now, it is "democracy dies in darkness." The...

During my middle and high school years, I found it strange to say a pledge to the United States flag “and to the republic for which it stands,” while in the same class being taught the United States was a democracy. The teacher would correct my inquisitive nature by stating, “It’s semantics. Democracy and republic are really the same thing. The United States is a democratic republic.” Not satisfied with that justification of semantics and nuance, I continued to explore and discover the difference between U.S. republic and democracy and I’m still exploring it today. From whom did the Framers...

Pope Francis has offered his unequivocal support to grassroots organisers and activists who are fighting for social justice, migrants, and environmentalism, saying he “reaffirms” their choice to fight against tyranny amid a “gutting of democracies”. “As Christians and all people of good will, it is for us to live and act at this moment. It is a grave responsibility, since certain present realities, unless effectively dealt with, are capable of setting off processes of dehumanisation which would then be hard to reverse,” the pontiff wrote in a letter that was read to organisers this week. The remarks can be viewed...

This week, not only have the State Department workers been negatively discussion President Trump’s phone calls with foreign world leaders, they have also taken the opportunity to criticize the structure and content of these calls. According to politico.eu, the state department has suggested that Trump has been going off topic. Surely as elected leader of the United States, the “topic” he discusses is whatever he sees fit to make a benefit to the actual United States. This “topic” they’re referring to is what exactly? Who decided on it? Since when is it the Presidents job to push an agenda put...

Knesset Member Azmi Bishara in Lebanon: We are original inhabitants of Palestine, not ‘those who came from Poland, Russia; says Israelis should leave, take their democracy with them Israel is the 20th century's greatest robbery, carried out in broad daylight, Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly) told a Lebanese audience last week during a speech at an Arab book fair in Beirut. "I will never recognize Zionism even if all Arabs do," he said. "I will never concede Palestine. The battle is still long." Bishara, who recently launched his campaign for an additional term in the Knesset, left...

Were you happy to see the presidential election conclude on November 8th only to be disappointed in the escalation of hostility after the election? America has always taken pride in its ability to have a peaceful transition of power. Are we losing that ability? And if so, why? Perhaps it is because we are being conditioned and trained to believe our system is a pure democracy, so we are behaving as if it were true. Some democratic principles are an important part of our Republic and must be preserved if we are to maintain a balanced, free government. But history...

Outgoing President Joachim Gauck warned in a talk on Wednesday that his country’s democracy is at risk amid major international shifts, including Donald Trump becoming US President on Friday. Gauck gave a speech to about 200 guests at the presidential residence of Bellevue Palace, looking back at his five years of serving as Germany’s head of state. “Now, after five years, I am more strongly affected by the awareness that democratic and stable Germany is also in danger,” he said. […] Gauck specifically named the crisis in the European Union with the United Kingdom’s impending departure, as well as conflicts...

Vice President Joe Biden delivered an epic final speech Wednesday to the elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The gist of his speech was simple: At a time of "uncertainty" we must double down on the values that made Western democracies great, and not allow the "liberal world order" to be torn apart by destructive forces. Biden went after Russian President Vladimir Putin by name, saying he is using "every tool" in his power to whittle away the European project, and undermine Western democracies. Biden accused Putin of wanting to "roll back decades of progress." Biden said...

President Barack Obama reaffirmed his belief that change only happens when “ordinary people get involved, get engaged and come together to demand it” during his farewell speech on Tuesday. Addressing thousands of supporters at McCormick Place in Chicago, the same city where he gave his presidential victory speech in 2008, the outgoing president said change was the “beating heart of our American idea — our bold experiment in self-government.” Obama, who cultivated his empowering brand of American politics in Chicago, said the city had taught him that change starts at the grassroots level. […] At one point, the president was...

A tectonic-level battle could soon take place over the fundamental structure of America, and hardly anyone sees it coming. Nevertheless, I am making a bold prediction for 2017. With the Democrat party seemingly in total upheaval after the 2016 Presidential election, it boggles the mind at how fast political fortunes can change these days. Democrats, liberals, leftist and progressives have arguably realized that the current system of things political has become impenetrable to them, and that they will not move forward by gaming the existing political machinery any longer.

Soros' bleak 2017 forecast: Billionaire warns EU will FALL after elite 'STOLE democracy'GEORGE Soros has warned voters have turned away from mainstream political parties as “many people felt that the elites have stolen their democracy”, in an alarming forecast for the European Union in 2017.

One of the most commonly observed natural phenomena around us is that of turbulence. We experience turbulence everywhere that we see fluid flow – in the air which airplanes pass through, in the wakes of boats traveling in the water, in the rising of smoke and the movement of clouds, and many other everyday things. Yet, for all of its commonness, turbulence is still little understood and is difficult to control or predict. Turbulence is a chaotic phenomenon, in the “chaos theory” sense of the term. Most commonly, a chaotic system is one which exhibits the property of sensitivity to...

Puerto Rico’s new governor was sworn in Monday, promising an immediate push for statehood in a territory facing a deep economic crisis. Gov. Ricardo Rossello, 37, proposed several measures aimed at alleviating the crisis shortly after he was sworn in at midnight. Among them is a proposal to hold a referendum that would ask voters whether they prefer statehood or independence. Many have argued that Puerto Rico’s political status has contributed to its decade-long crisis that has prompted more than 200,000 people to flee to the U.S. mainland in recent years. “The United States cannot pretend to be a model...

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously proclaimed the “end of history”, seeing the triumph of the United States as the only remaining superpower and the leader of Western democracies. “The end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy (is) the final form of human government,” he wrote in his best-selling 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man.Twenty-five years later, Fukuyama’s certainties have all but vanished. Liberal democracy in Europe and the United States is in crisis, while China and Russia demonstrate that authoritarian regimes are...

It is truly disgusting for me to hear politicians, national and international talking heads and pseudo-academics praising the Middle East stirrings as democracy movements. We also hear democracy as the description of our own political system. Like the founders of our nation, I find democracy and majority rule a contemptible form of government.You say, "Whoa, Williams, you really have to explain yourself this time!"I'll begin by quoting our founders on democracy. James Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 10, said that in a pure democracy, "there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual."...

It is alleged that Hillary Clinton won a popular vote majority. Therefore, if the nation were not burdened with the antiquated Electoral College, anguished and freaked-out Americans whine, she, instead of Donald Trump, would be the next president of the United States. You say, "Hold it. Before you go further, Williams, what do you mean it is alleged that Clinton received most of the popular vote? It's a fact." I say "alleged" because according to Gregg Phillips of True the Vote, an estimated 3 million noncitizens voted. Presumably, those votes went to Clinton.In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote...

Of all those whose predictions were dashed by this year’s presidential outcome (“Trump is headed toward a major loss” his Oct. 19 headline blared), few have been more exercised than the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne (“white identity politics and male self-assertion triumphed” he railed the day after). Yesterday, in a piece titled “America will soon be ruled by a minority,” he joined the chorus now condemning the “undemocratic” Electoral College—in the name of the Founders, no less, the very men who created it. Ever the good progressive, he fails to appreciate the role states were meant to play in ordering...

Yes, it is good that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, especially in light of revelations of her private email security breaches and pay-for-play administration of the State Department. If true, she belongs in prison. However, what is ominous is the number of voters who, despite all that was known of her crimes, still voted for her. This is not a sign of a healthy American electorate. It seems the same citizens who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 after his disastrous first four years voted for her. Many people who go the polls in our generation are simply not thinking....

Americans talk about democracy like it’s sacred. In public discourse, the more democratic American government is, the better. The people are supposed to rule. But that’s not the premise that underlies America’s political system. Most of the men who founded the United States feared unfettered majority rule. James Madison wrote in Federalist 10 that systems of government based upon “pure democracy … have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.” John Adams wrote in 1814 that, “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.”