Free Republic

“Time and time again, the Federal government has breached its promises with respect to the public lands. Western states are moving to compel the Federal government to honor the same promise it made and kept with all states east of Colorado: to timely dispose of the public lands so they can be managed by those whose lives and livelihoods depend upon the wide management of those lands.” - American Lands Council When the western states were asked to join the union, they each agreed to sign a compact with the federal government much as the eastern states had done. The...

A contingent among those who oppose an Article V state convention to propose Constitutional amendments declare that all that need be done is just enforce the Constitution we have. Well, we actually have more than one Constitution to consider. There is the written, de jure Constitution that anyone can view through a simple internet search at any time. Its Preamble sets forth, in more particular terms, the broad purpose of having a government in the first place as expressed in our Declaration of Independence. Society came together to improve upon the Articles of Confederation, establish Justice, keep domestic peace, defend...

Conservative Republicans support for Sen. Ted Cruz indicates that the conservative movement is brain dead. If Cruz is the best candidate they can find, then conservatives obviously have nothing to offer. Cruz may be the only Republican presidential aspirant who is dumber than Hillary Clinton.

It is through Article V, and not the social justice whims of nine unaccountable lawyers that the Framers envisioned a free people would keep and improve their republic. Enlightenment philosophers and our Framers recognized that whereas power is aggressive, liberty is passive, and unless actively pursued, liberty will always fade in the face of encroaching power. Much of America has come to accept as final the often fanciful mutterings of the scotus. As illustrated in its Roe, Lawrence, and Obergefell opinions, scotus not only supplanted the supreme law of the land, it trashed the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God....

I’ve thought for some time that America might need a president like Theodore Roosevelt or Harry Truman. They were strong larger than life leaders who played a major role in making the United States a strong world power. Donald Trump is the only current candidate who comes close to the personality of those two.

Former Secretary of State and current Contender for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton told voters this week that "the right to an abortion is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the US Constitution" and that "neither Congress nor any state has the authority to abridge or limit this right." The Constitutional clause cited by the candidate was Article III, Section 2. "The Founders, in their wisdom, affirmed that under our government, 'judicial power shall extend to all,'" Clinton said. "This established the Court as the final arbiter of everyone's rights. Consequently, the Court's 1973 grant of the right to...

It’s hard to believe the resolve the United States once showed in defeating enemies. One wonders if in a 24/7 news cycle of “living room wars” whether this nation could have ever mounted the sustained effort it took to join the Allies in stopping Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Americans today would find such will to win at any cost difficult to comprehend. Perhaps with Easter just passed, it is fitting to remember Easter of 1945 when the invasion of Okinawa, the last battle of World War II and the largest sea-air-land operation in history, began. It would also be...

Karl Rove, former campaign adviser to President George W. Bush, suggested that "Republicans need to look outside the current crop of candidates vying for the Party's nomination and pick a 'fresh face' if we are to have any hope of winning against Hillary Clinton in November." "Look, the guy with the most delegates is a gaffe machine with little grasp of the way government works," Rove contended. "On top of that he has disturbingly negative favorability ratings. A majority of voters can't stand him. I don't see any way he can win in November." "As for the others who've run...

A recent post noted that the top-rated television programs in 1965 included “The Beverly Hillbillies” at No. 2. Since I am likely the only one among your readers who remembers viewing the first episode of that series when it was telecast one evening in September 1962, I would like to say a few things about its virtues. The intellectuals hated “The Beverly Hillbillies.” They hated it for the same reasons ordinary Americans loved it: It offered thirty minutes of simple, clean comedy, crisp writing, and characters who were decent, honest, happy, and had plenty of moral fiber. The critics just...

Wednesday, March 30, 2016 Surrendering to ISIS is the Only Way to Defeat It Posted by Daniel Greenfield If you’re keeping score, freeing Islamic terrorists from Gitmo does not play into the hands of ISIS. Neither does bringing Syrians, many of whom sympathize with Islamic terrorists, into our country. And aiding the Muslim Brotherhood parent organization of ISIS does not play into the Islamic group’s hands. However if you use the words “Islamic terrorism” or even milder derivatives such as “radical Islamic terrorism”, you are playing into the hands of ISIS. If you call for closer law enforcement scrutiny of...

The Framing generation was realistic about human nature. American constitutional law wasn’t to command the common good, but rather to promote it, which is to lead men gradually toward private and public virtue and subsequent happiness. To this end, the Framers crafted a constitution whose structure and enumerated powers encouraged subsequent congressional statutes that serve the general welfare, the common good. Consider: • The structural division of power, horizontally among the three branches, vertically between the states and the new government, prevented any faction from getting all that it desired. The virtue of moderation was built into the Constitution. •...

There’s a VA facility near my home and I pass by it about three times each week on the long runs I use to keep my body from stagnating as I grow older and achier. Seeing our American flag waving from a tall pole near the entrance to the veterans’ complex always puts a little bounce in my step. So I’m chugging by it last week wearing a sweat-stained PT shirt emblazoned with a replica of the Vietnam Service ribbon when a guy limping toward the entrance and leaning on a cane spots me. He smiles, waves and points to...

We institute government, the Declaration says, to secure our unalienable rights; among them is the pursuit of happiness. Elaborating upon this straightforward idea, the Preamble to the Constitution informs us that our government is to “establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty” So government has a role, a duty to ‘promote the general welfare.’ While there is certainly an element of ambiguity to the term, it cannot be far from the duty of our lawmakers to seek the betterment, the continual improvement of the civil society upon...

I'm hours late on this post, but better late than never. For National Vietnam Veterans Day A great episode from the CBS News Vietnam Series with Walter Cronkite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTcLw8l9rQQ

This week marks the centenary of a series of events which would forever change the future Ireland and Great Britain. Planned and set in motion by the Military Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood-a group of Irish republicans seeking a democratic Irish state free of British rule-and supported by James Connally’s Irish Citizen Army and the Irish Volunteers led by Patrick Pearse-the Easter Rising was a momentous historical event. April 29th was the date on which Pearse ordered his men-and all the other companies under his command-to surrender to General William Lowe of the British Army. Max Boot, despite his...

Last week, former President Bill urged voters to "escape from the awful legacy of the last eight years by electing Hillary." This week Chelsea Clinton blasted "the crushing costs of Obamacare" and hinted that her mother "would take executive action to amend the law that established this medical monstrosity." Observers of Secretary Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign may perceive an incongruity between her contention that "electing me will solidify the gains achieved by one of America's great presidents" and the less complimentary remarks of her immediate family members. Nonetheless, Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (Fla) tried to reassure everyone...

On September 11, 1962, a German scientist vanished. The basic facts were simple: Heinz Krug had been at his office, and he never came home.

By now, everyone with an IQ above that of roofing tar has heard of the allegations of sexual infidelity by Sen. Ted Cruz (Cuban - TX (by way of Canada)). I do not intend to review the entire timeline of this controversy, nor to engage in rumor mongering against Cruz, nor against Trump; still less to attribute the stories to any other candidate's campaign or shadow cabal or conspiracy. I just wish to note that last night, Sen. Cruz held a press conference with Carly Fiorina (ex-CEO, Lucent) in which he was asked to affirm that he had never had...

The Islamic State terrorist organization known as ISIS first outlined their strategy to attack the West in a 99-page manifesto issued in January of 2015 under the title of “Black Flags from Rome.” ISIS states that their strategy in the West is to do “hit and run tactics and then go into hiding in order to waste millions and billions of dollars on police while shutting down major cities.” The manifesto further notes that, “once the media attention dies down, the Islamic State will tell another ‘Sleeper Cell’ to carry out another attack again.” Their reason being that “this will...

By Oleg Atbashian | First published in the American Thinker Have you heard of the shocking and terrifying diaper gap that is now dividing this nation? It is said to be so dire that the White House is urging immediate government assistance to buy baby diapers. Philosophically, this puts disposable plastic consumer products in the category of inalienable rights guaranteed by the government: among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Diapers. When I lived in the USSR, our Soviet Constitution also guaranteed that our basic needs be provided to us by the caring socialist government. As a result,...