Free Republic

Every year the Fourth of July is marked by ringing affirmations of American exceptionalism. We are a special nation, uniquely founded on high ideals like freedom and equality. In practice, however, much of what sets the United States apart from other countries today is actually Southern exceptionalism. Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-the-south-skews-america-119725.html#ixzz3evoOFM1c

Boldness comes more naturally to Ted Cruz than compromise. Barely through his first year in the Senate, the Texas Republican bucked his party leaders and became the public face of a government shutdown while standing up for conservative ideals. Rewind three decades back, and you'd find Cruz selling a similar message as a teenager in Houston. You could say Cruz ran with a gang in high school. Their colors were blue jacket, white shirt, red tie. They called themselves the Constitutional Corroborators. And their leader was the head of a conservative think tank named Rolland Storey, who took them around...

Slowly but surely, some of Donald Trump‘s Republican rivals have come out to condemn his remarks about Mexican immigrant rapists and criminals. George Pataki got the ball rolling this week, and criticisms by Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, and others followed. But Ted Cruz––who defended Trump earlier this week––is still praising him. In a Meet the Press preview clip out tonight, Cruz told Chuck Todd,”I like Donald Trump. He’s bold, he’s brash.” He refused to get caught in a bout of Republican infighting. When Todd asked him if “rhetoric matters,” Cruz said, “I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need...

The specter of John McCain was present at a recent meeting the Arizona’s Legislative District 2, as Precinct Committeemen moved to pass a resolution to close the Republican primaries. Despite his operatives’ best efforts the resolution vehemently opposed by McCain passed. LD2 Chair Sergio Arellano, who told the group that he personally supported closed primaries, pleaded with attendees to delay the vote until Arizona GOP head Robert Graham could address the group. According to Arellano, Graham, who was in France, wanted the group to refrain from voting on the resolution until he could talk them out of it. Arellano entertained...

In 2011, new Republican Gov. Scott Walker set the creation of 250,000 jobs as the benchmark for success of his new administration. Walker missed that goal by a wide margin over his first term despite an embrace of sweeping tax cuts aimed at stimulating growth. Instead, the cuts helped dig a more than $2 billion hole in the state budget.Wisconsin ranked 36th among the states and District of Columbia in the pace of private-sector job growth during Walker’s term, trailing all Rust Belt states and all but one other state in the Midwest.A PROJECTED SURPLUS TURNS INTO A DEFICIT JANUARY...

Right now, Donald Trump is like a black hole whose stupendous gravitational pull is attracting a lot of media attention and some of the voters associated with the Republican 2016 presidential race. Which of his rivals in particular is this hurting? After all, Mr. Trump’s poll numbers have risen sharply since he said that this time, he’s actually, positively running. Polling is a zero-sum game: His rise means other folks have fallen. Let’s look at the numbers and see which of Trump’s fellow candidates they are. ((snip)) Nationally, Trump’s jump into the fray has affected Marco Rubio the most, according...

A conversation about immigration between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore, reported on by the New York Times this week, never happened. “We have spoken with Stephen Moore and the conversation that was reported did not happen and he will tell you that. I would recommend you reach out to him,” Walker spokeswoman AshLee Strong told Breitbart News on Thursday in response to an article by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman. On Thursday, the reporters wrote: “Stephen Moore, a conservative scholar at the Heritage Foundation who backs an immigration overhaul, called Mr. Walker’s embrace of a...

Sen. Ted Cruz defended Donald Trump on immigration and called out “the Washington cartel” he says is ignoring the issue, in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”“I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal immigration,” Cruz said of his rival for the 2016 GOP nomination, adding that it “seems the favorite sport of the Washington media is to encourage some Republicans to attack other Republicans.”“I’m not interested in Republican on Republican violence,” he told host Chuck Todd, adding that “bold … brash” Trump “has a colorful way of speaking.”The Texas senator’s...

It’s July 4, and you’re not very happy with your country. Specifically, you’re unhappy with your country’s Supreme Court, which ruled last week that the marriages of same-sex couples shall be legal in every state. Your bible tells you – and a lot of others – that homosexuality is a sin, and that marriage should be between a man and a woman. The justices – five of them, at least – believe the Constitution says otherwise. What can you do? You can believe the Court made a mistake, of course, and others should respect your right to those beliefs –...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)80% released a statement Friday night attacking rival Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for a statement made during his campaign announcement speech 16 days ago. Rubio’s statement reads: Trump’s comments are not just offensive and inaccurate, but also divisive. Our next president needs to be someone who brings Americans together – not someone who continues to divide. Our broken immigration system is something that needs to be solved, and comments like this move us further from – not closer to – a solution. We need leaders who offer serious solutions to secure our border and fix our...

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A random fatal shooting in San Francisco, allegedly by an immigrant, proves the United States must tighten its borders, according to a statement on Friday by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is facing heavy criticism for his comments about Mexicans. Kathryn Steinle, 32, was fatally shot as she walked with her father along the popular Embarcadero pier on Wednesday in what San Francisco police described as an apparent random attack. Francisco Sanchez, 45, was quickly arrested nearby. He is on probation from Texas, police said. He has a long criminal history and has been deported...

Boldness comes more naturally to Ted Cruz than compromise. Barely through his first year in the Senate, the Texas Republican bucked his party leaders and became the public face of a government shutdown while standing up for conservative ideals. Rewind three decades back, and you'd find Cruz selling a similar message as a teenager in Houston. You could say Cruz ran with a gang in high school. Their colors were blue jacket, white shirt, red tie. They called themselves the Constitutional Corroborators. And their leader was the head of a conservative think tank named Rolland Storey, who took them around...

A conversation about immigration between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and the Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore, reported on by the New York Times this week, never happened. “We have spoken with Stephen Moore and the conversation that was reported did not happen and he will tell you that. I would recommend you reach out to him,” Walker spokeswoman AshLee Strong told Breitbart News on Thursday in response to an article by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman. On Thursday, the reporters wrote: “Stephen Moore, a conservative scholar at the Heritage Foundation who backs an immigration overhaul, called Mr. Walker’s embrace of a...

Hillary Clinton: 75% Bernie Sanders: 15% Jim Webb: 4% Martin O'Malley: 2% Lincoln Chafee: 0%

Interesting that he went after Trump for what he said about Mexicans on the same day that he criticized the GOP more broadly for having given up on the black vote. Everyone expected him to run this time on his jobs record but yesterday’s comments were the biggest splash he’s made as a candidate so far.I don’t mean to be cynical about it — these are his heartfelt positions, I’m sure, and good for him — but his choice of topic is probably at least partly a function of his standing in the race. The top-tier candidates like Bush,...

The "mainstream media...are partisans" who protect Barack Obama and “are ready for Hillary,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview with Glenn Beck Thursday where he criticized Republicans for wanting reporters “to like them.” For conservatives, there is no such thing as a “nice” reporter, argued Cruz. “You see Republicans, when they are interviewed by left-wing reporters, and they get afraid, they want them to like them,” Cruz said. “They are not going to like us; they hate us!” One day a young staffer described a reporter to Cruz as “really, really nice.” “You know what? No, she’s not,”...

The latest polling shows that most Americans still view the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern pride as opposed to racism — an opinion that has not significantly changed in 15 years. After the last couple of weeks of anti-Confederate hysteria, you don’t have to be a fan of the rebel battle flag to appreciate that the public is basically shrugging their shoulders. Via CNN: American public opinion on the Confederate flag remains about where it was 15 years ago, with most describing the flag as a symbol of Southern pride more than one of racism, according to a...

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum admonished his competitors Thursday for their reactions to the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, saying as president he would fight to repeal the ruling and implement a law protecting religious freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment. “Many are moving on,” Santorum said of Republican reactions to the court ruling. “Well, not me. This will not stand.” The former Pennsylvania senator gave the keynote speech at a gala for the National Organization for Marriage – a conservative organization that defines marriage as between a man and a woman – Thursday in Washington.

Recently I've been hearing a lot of conservatives saying things like, "It's over. The left has won. This is no longer America. I'm not even going to celebrate the Fourth of July this year." I confess this disturbs me. I expect feminists to squeal like hysterical little girls. Second Kings, Chapter 6, contains one of my favorite Bible stories. The King of Aram (which was more or less Syria) is waging war against Israel. But every time he sets up an ambush, the prophet Elisha tips off the Israelites and they get away. Because Elisha is a prophet! So he...