Free Republic

It was the first time in history that a country was based upon something other than place or ethnicity. The Founding Fathers built upon the thoughts and actions resulting from the Reformation and Enlightenment, deliberately crafting a government legitimized by a popular mandate. No longer did someone rule by Divine Right. Religion and the Divine were not possessed by a Chosen aristocracy and the coercive power of government was not used to impose it upon the populace. Political influence and economic success could be attained by other means than birth. For the first time in history, one could use hard...

In his inaugural address to Congress President Washington said, “It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States…No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the...

Greetings and salutations on this most patriotic of days. I hope that this Independence Day finds you all safe and well, with plenty of time to spend with friends and family, as well a chance to contemplate the past and future of our country. Given the importance which I’m sure most of you reading this place on the Constitution of the United States and its welfare going forward, perhaps we could start by revisiting the words of one of its chief proponents in the days of the Founding Fathers. Let’s hear from Alexander Hamilton in the opening volley of one...

When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under...

Yesterday was the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede. The “Great Charter” (actually, its full name was Magna Carta Libertatum, or Great Charter of Liberty) was the first codification in English history of the principle that the power of government had limitations. I attended a mini-conference to commemorate it on Sunday night and yesterday morning. Hosted by the American Freedom Alliance, in Bellaire (near the UCLA campus), it was an intellectual feast, with talks and panels from historical scholars and law professors (including Amy Peikoff, an Objectivist atheist who declared Ted Cruz to be the...

If Scott Cost thinks that Ted Cruz is scary because he declared in a speech, “our rights don’t come from man. They come from God Almighty,” then he would really be frightened of the Founding Fathers. Enshrined in our Declaration of Independence are terms such as the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” referring to God’s law written on the heart and God’s law revealed in the Bible, and “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” referring to rights bestowed by God and non-transferable to anyone else. Cost would be absolutely terrified of Martin Luther King, Jr....

The U.S. constitution has remained in place with occasional substantive amendments over more than 220 years. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in a foreword to the book Dollarocracy wrote that, “we cannot govern our own affairs when our national, state, and local debates are bought and sold by billionaires, who use thirty-second commercials to shout down anyone who disagrees…The money and media election complex, producing a slurry of negative ads, spin, and obstruction, is not what the founders intended.” [1] Sanders was right to suggest that the United States’ revered “founding fathers” would be scandalized by the plutocratic madness of the...

Excuse me, Mr. President, but the New Testament, not the Old (a historical account of the era's events and immoral practices), represents the true teachings of Christ. And exactly how is Sharia law - those tenets denying women basic human rights, condoning sex with children and killing gays for merely existing - the moral high ground or an acceptable alternative to anything? I too can tear apart politically convenient misconceptions but without resorting to distorting religious texts. America, our very laws and cultural norms - from liberty to marriage and our fabled work ethic - was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles....

It is well past time for the Vatican to yank Pope Francis from the classroom of Obama the Professor and to force him back into the Classroom of Christ, the Classroom of Saving Souls In an upside-down world where revisionists get to do the rewriting of history and truth, it seems that the ‘Star Pupil’ in the wicked classroom of President Barack Obama is none other than Pope Francis. This is the worldwide image of Pope Francis over the Internet. And if that image is the wrong one, then neither the Pope nor the Vatican is doing anything to try...

The Economist magazine recently published "What's gone wrong with Democracy ... and what can be done to revive it?" The suggestion is that democracy is some kind of ideal for organizing human conduct. That's a popular misconception. The ideal way to organize human conduct is to create a system that maximizes personal liberty for all. Liberty and democracy are not synonymous and most often are opposites. In Federalist Paper No. 10, James Madison explained, "Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an...

For those who didn’t know this, our nation was founded by brilliant, freedom-loving heavy weights. It’s hard to imagine that nowadays because our country is currently being deconstructed by moronic, liberty-choking, light weights also known as “politicians”. In particular…Liberal politicians. Liberals, you see, don’t mind what you do as long as they approve. They’re kind of like King George III and his inbred dipsticks in that regard. Or, for a more current example, they’re somewhat like Islam with their fascism, sans the billygoat beards and the suicide vests. That said, our current crop of freedom-stranglers aren’t entirely made up of...

We hear a lot about the United States' Judeo-Christian heritage, but according to President Obama, "Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding." That's what the president told a White House conference on "countering violent extremism" on Wednesday. Obama has said similar things in the past: "I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story,” Obama said in a June 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt. "Islam has always been part of America," he said in a 2010 statement marking the start of Ramadan. And in a 2014 statement marking Eid, Obama...

At the end of the American Revolution, King George III asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what George Washington would do next. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”“If he does that,” the incredulous monarch said, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”Colloquially we now call the federal holiday on the third Monday in February “Presidents Day.” Legally, though, it’s still “Washington’s Birthday.” Which is appropriate, because without Washington we might not have had any other presidents.George Washington was the man who established the American republic. He led the revolutionary army against the British Empire,...

The upcoming six-part miniseries, Sons of Liberty, follows a defiant and radical group of young men – Sam Adams (Ben Barnes), John Adams (Henry Thomas), Paul Revere (Michael Raymond-James), John Hancock (Rafe Spall) and Joseph Warren (Ryan Eggold) – as they band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation.Calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, they light the spark that ignited a revolution. Though their names have become American legend, this group of young rebels didn’t start off as noble patriots in powdered wigs. They were a new American generation of young men from...

Sons of Liberty Three-Night Event Begins Jan 25 at 9/8c on the History Channel. Video at source link. Topics will include Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, and more.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a fascinating op-ed by William A. Galston, "The Christian Heart of American Exceptionalism," much of which I agree with but some of which I don't. Galston argues that the idea of American exceptionalism should not be discounted and that its primary source is the "durability of American religious belief" -- mostly Christianity. Bravo. This will doubtlessly come as a shock to zealots for the blurry concept of multiculturalism, which on its face dictates that all cultures are equal and that all who disagree with the notion are more or less bigoted. At a deeper...

The oldest time capsule discovered in the country that dates back to 1795 will be opened Tuesday in Boston, ABC News reported.American Revolution patriot Paul Revere and then-Gov. Samuel Adams originally placed the relic under a cornerstone of the Boston Statehouse in 1795.

The coming clash between President Obama and Congress over immigration promises to light up what I like to call a constitutional moment. This is a moment in which our politics are so divided that we have scraped away the soil of legislation and are fighting on American bedrock. Rarely has it shone more clearly than in respect of who has the power to decide who can come here and be naturalized as a citizen.

On March 6, 1799, President John Adams issued a proclamation “Recommending a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer”--for “thanksgiving to the Author of All Good.” Among the things Adams wished Americans would ask God on this day was to make American schools teach not only sound science but also sound morals and religion. Americans, Adams said, should ask God to “smile on our colleges, academies, schools, and seminaries of learning, and make them nurseries of sound science, morals, and religion.”

For the last two days, Sen. Ted Cruz has been the guest on "Life Today," telling host James Robison that it is vitally important for Christians to vote so that America can continue to enjoy God's blessings. On yesterday's program, the Texas Republican declared that Christians are required by Scripture to vote and cast their votes based on biblical values. After praising his father's efforts to mobilize right-wing pastors and get them involved in politics, Cruz said that Christians could fundamentally reshape this nation is they simply voted according to the Bible. "Can you imagine how different our country would...