Free Republic

The Utah state legislature has passed a joint resolution calling for a return to federalism in general, and, in particular, the end of the federal Education Department. The measure passed the Utah State House with a vote of 60-14, and the State Senate, 20-1. It was enrolled on March 17. The measure specifically urges that Congress end the federal Education Department and block grant funds for education to the states: WHEREAS, the [federalism] Commission received the following summary of federal overreach: EDUCATION •Recognize that education is not a power delegated to the federal government under the Constitution, it is reserved...

Consider fedgov allows rogue state and local governments to publicly ignore and deliberately break fedral laws concerning illegal drugs, illegal aliens, the second amendment, and discrimination based on sex and race. Why cannot then states and local govenrments ignore fedgov court imposed gay marriage, obamacare, abortion, and god back in schools? Why is the left the only one who can say no to federal laws at state and local levels? We must start doing the same. They have no problem doing it when they want to. Either we are all equal and can do the exact same things or none...

President Donald Trump promised a large crowd of American governors that he would work to redirect power from the federal government to the states. “We’re going to give you back a lot of the powers that have been taken away from states and great people and great governors, and you can control it better than the federal government because you’re right on top of it,” Trump said. The president delivered a speech at the National Governors Association meeting on Monday. He explained that more states needed to compete for the best solutions around the country, citing the importance of citizens...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall said, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that of order and chaos.” -From The Life of George Washington, Revised Edition 1832. The chaos gripping our present society is certainly not the ‘balanced’ republic Marshall was referring to. Our system is functioning more like a plane crashing - like a democracy. Let’s explore ‘balanced republic,’ ‘democracy’ and ‘order and chaos’ by using an analogy. The U.S. government is comparable to a commercial aircraft. The pilot and co-pilot are the elected representatives. They are selected by qualified passengers (or U.S. voters)....

Congress has written some laudable policies into the Pet and Women Safety Act of 2017 (H.R.909) that are designed to protect domestic violence victims from “trauma caused by acts of violence or threats of violence against their pets.”There is one provision of the bill, however, that takes a familiar step too far: It would create a federal crime to harass or intimidate any person’s pet in a way that causes “substantial emotional distress.”Given the threats from cyberattacks, interstate and international crime cartels, terrorist groups, drug trafficking, and the criminal aspects of immigration issues, the resource-constrained federal law enforcement community does...

Yesterday the Trump administration preserved federalism, respected the principle of local control over local schools, and corrected one of the Obama administration’s many lawless and radical executive actions. With a simple, two-page letter, the Departments of Education and Justice withdrew and rescinded two Obama-administration letters that purported to unilaterally redefine Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The Obama administration had expanded Title IX’s explicit ban on sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions to encompass “gender identity” discrimination and then imposed intrusive “guidance” on every federally funded school in the nation, on matters ranging from pronoun usage to...

FULL TITLE: "California Goes One Step Beyond ObamaCare, Proposes Single-Payer Healthcare System to Include Illegal Aliens" California Democrats made a surprise move late Friday to foil President Trump’s promise to repeal ObamaCare—by introducing a stand-alone, single-payer healthcare system in California. The Mercury News reported that two California lawmakers Friday introduced legislation to replace private insurance with a government-run health care system covering all 38 million Californians—including its undocumented residents. {..snip..}

Congratulations to Secretary DeVos....It is time to resuscitate the Constitution of the United States vis-à-vis the responsibility for education. [huge snip] In 1866, Congressman Andrew J. Rogers, a Democrat representing New Jersey's 4th Congressional District, spoke eloquently against a bill to establish a federal Department of Education. Mr. Rogers declared that the bill: ... proposes to put under the supervision of a bureau established at Washington all the schools and educational institutions of the different States of the Union by collecting such facts and statistics as will warrant them by amendments hereafter to the law now attempted to be passed,...

Britain's biggest supermarket chain is cutting the cost of its female razors to match the same product sold to men. Tesco said it had come under pressure from British lawmaker Paula Sherriff after it was found to charge twice as much for pink disposable twin-blade razors as blue ones. The products are identical excepts for color and price. Tesco had defended the pricing by arguing that it sells many more men's razors, making it easier to keep prices low.

President Trump and the Republican Congress are going to do a lot and will likely act quickly and decisively to help the economy become strong, make the borders secure and the immigration laws effective, protect us from terrorists and rogue nations, and improve our education system. It is vitally important, however, to grasp at the outset that Washington cannot work. Federal solutions always fail. The best thing federal politicians can do is to get Washington out of the lives of ordinary Americans, their businesses, and their communities. This must happen fast, because Washington is crawling with folks who will work...

Headline of the Day Poll Should the Electoral College be abolished? Yes, direct democracy is the only fair way to hold elections No, it preserves the vital concept of Federalism

While Donald Trump resoundingly won the electoral college — the state-based “point system” we’ve used in presidential elections for more than two centuries — Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by about 780,000 as of a week out of the election. In other words, more Americans wanted Clinton to win, reason enough to revisit the wisdom of using the electoral college to determine elections. But a larger, more important argument is often overlooked in this ongoing debate.

In the last week since Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in a stunning electoral blowout, there have been calls from many on the left to abolish America’s unique presidential election system.It still hasn’t been settled whether Trump or Clinton won the popular vote, but many Democrats are upset about the possibility that their candidate may have won more total votes, yet lost the election.Progressives are taking aim at the Electoral College and want to replace it with a national popular vote. This would both remove the indirect mediation of the electors’ votes, and more damagingly, eliminate the power of states...

The Electoral College remains in place over two centuries after the framers of the Constitution empowered it to select presidents. Though occasionally maligned, this system of electing a chief executive has been incredibly successful for the American people. Many modern voters might be surprised to learn that when they step into a ballot box to select their candidate for president, they actually are casting a vote for fellow Americans called electors. These electors, appointed by the states, are pledged to support the presidential candidate the voters have supported. The Electoral College holds its vote the Monday after the second Wednesday...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument next Tuesday, September 27 on the Environmental Protection Agency’s so-called Clean Power Plan. The centerpiece of resident Obama’s climate policy agenda, the Plan establishes first-ever carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards for “existing” (already built) coal and natural gas power plants. The Plan will increase consumer energy prices and impede job and GDP growth yet have no discernible effect on global temperatures or sea levels. However, that’s not why the Court should strike it down. The Court should overturn the Plan because it is an unlawful power grab. The Plan will...

All of us know how politicized the Nobel Prize is, but many people falsely believe that it's only been politicized since around the time of Obama, perhaps since the time of Carter. It's been a tool for awarding statists for over a century. Don't forget, Wilson also won a Nobel. On May 5th, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt gave his acceptance speech for receiving his political prize. Here is how Roosevelt began the last paragraph of that speech: Finally, it would be a masterstroke if those great powers honestly bent on peace would form a League of Peace, not only to keep...

It's about the abuse of the tax code to undermine federalism and the constitutional separation of powers You probably saw yesterday - and maybe you celebrated - the news that a federal judge has ordered a nationwide halt to the Obama policy of requiring states, cities and school districts to accommodate “transgender” bathroom usage or face the loss of federal funds. It’s certainly good news that the transgender nonsense has suffered a defeat. But if you think that’s all this is about, you’re missing a much larger point. Obama and the Democrats don’t even really care all that much about...

Obama has asserted, by pure fiat, on no legal, medical, scientific, or commonsense grounds whatsoever, that he can dictate how children use school bathrooms around the country. This is an obnoxious and dangerous abuse of federal power, and it looks suspicious. What is Obama's motivation? Adults may not remember the deep shame and embarrassment children often feel, as early as age four, around toilet training. Sibling rivalry can get pretty intense. Being called a "poopy kid" by your brother or sister might look pretty harmless to parents, but young children can experience it as a sink-through-the-floor feeling of overwhelming shame....

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Republican leaders of North Carolina’s General Assembly defiantly announced Thursday that they would not meet a Monday deadline to suspend or repeal a state law limiting bathroom access for transgender people, setting up a potential legal showdown over what has become one of the nation’s most explosive cultural issues. “We will take no action by Monday,” said Tim Moore, the speaker of the State House of Representatives, referring to the deadline the Justice Department gave the state to tell federal officials whether the law would stand. “That deadline will come and go.” Though Mr. Moore criticized...

Republican Donald Trump says he'd be fine with Caitlyn Jenner using the bathroom of her choice at Trump Tower. (AP File Photo) (CNSNews.com) - Republican Donald Trump, appearing on Thursday's "Today" show, said transgenders should be allowed to "use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate." "So if Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?" host Matt Lauer asked Trump. "That is correct," Trump said. Asked for his view on the North Carolina bathroom controversy, Trump said the state has "paid a...