Free Republic

1. Transparency uber alles. One of the main reasons that Barack Obama's approval ratings are in the crapper is because of his epic failure to live up to his promise to run what he guaranteed would be the most transparent administration EVAH. That's especially true when it comes to national security issues. Even the most hardened anti-terror hawks have been shocked by revelations of widespread secret drone strikes, extra-judicial kill lists, a war on leakers and journalists, and ubiquitous snooping on Americans.... 2. Legal authority is not optional. Whether we're discussing the use of drones, metadata dragnets, or anything else...

Is Ron Paul a left or right winger? He is a Republican, so on the face of it you would say he's on the right. But his foreign policies, particularly his pacifist stance and opposition to American military interventions, place him on the left. Not only that. He, like other Republicans and conservatives, is a libertarian. Let me start with a little historical digression. The first time I came across the word "libertarian" it was in conjunction with "communist". Communist libertarians is another name for anarchists: that's how many anarchists in the 19th century were called, to distinguish them...

"I've lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that's a lot of folly to witness up close," says Washington Post columnist George Will. "Whatever confidence and optimism I felt towards the central government when I got here on January 1, 1970 has pretty much dissipated at the hands of the government." "In part, I owe my current happiness to Barack Obama," continues the 72-year-old Will, who "so thoroughly concentrates all of the American progressive tradition and the academic culture that goes with it, that he's really put the spring in my step."More recently Will has become a champion of...

Sen. Ted Cruz and his libertarian-leaning comrades in the Republican Party seem to be gaining support with the American people, according to a recent survey conducted by the polling company, inc. The economic conservatism paired with a socially moderate outlook that characterizes the libertarian wing of the Republican Party may be signifying a sift in the party’s politics in the years to come. “The perfect storm is being created between the NSA, the IRS, the implementation of Obamacare and now Syria,” said Republican pollster Kellyanna Conway who ran the poll, according to Politico. “People are looking at the government more...

Two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they want their member of Congress to “keep their promises and stick to principles” as opposed to “compromise in a bipartisan way to get things done.” “From Obamacare on down, sticking to principle is where the Republican base is today,” said David Kirby, vice president of opinion research at FreedomWorks. “It’s an example of how off the Republican establishment is from their base.” Social issues have become less salient to GOP voters: 41 percent said gay marriage is not one of their top 10 issues. Asked about abortion, about one-third said it is...

PHOENIX - U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that made a three-day visit to Afghanistan this week. The Arizona Democrat's office says the delegation went to Afghanistan to see the drawdown of the American military presence and the transition of security responsibilities to Afghan forces.

Let’s be clear – I don’t expect everyone to be a Libertarian. Just because so many of our founding fathers exhibited Libertarian principles that many of us continue to fight for today, I still do not expect everyone to climb on-board the solution-wagon and ride away into the sunset. But, I would at least hope that those who oppose Libertarianism would do the rest of us a favor and actually understand it before criticizing it. Libertarian_Party.svg An article published in the “Liberal” section over on NolanChart.com explains to us what the “problem” with Libertarianism is. Specifically, where it fails. Okay,...

Hey guys, I'm an aspiring Christian filmmaker from Southern Oregon. Just wanted to share my new short film with you! I thought it might be a nice change of pace from your typical Hollywood fare! It's a dark, action-packed, dystopian thriller about a near future where the government is persecuting and rounding up all of society's "undesireables." It's fairly violent, but not gratuitously so, and it has an explicitly Christian message that will become clear by the end. I hope you guys like it! If you do, please share it around! The more views it gets, the better my chances...

Now things were coming together. The Progressive worldview, and the Libertarian, Rand-worshipping worldview -- are all part of the same existentialist family tree containing Sartre and Alinsky. Rand's humanistic objectivism is as cold and Godless as Sartre's humanistic existentialism. These pseudo-intellectuals are the reason Christianity has been quietly erased line by line, year after year in the popular psyche. God was dead to Nietzsche, Sartre, and Ayn Rand. Even Sartre's famous cousin, Albert Schweitzer, denied the divinity of Christ.They were simply players in a full-court press for a total paradigm shift that has led us to the Mad Max dystopian...

He’s a criminal, Ron! Ron Paul tweeted this out earlier today about Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning. If anything, we need MORE brave Americans like Bradley Manning. RT if you agree! – http://t.co/KNZaGsFxm7 — Ron Paul (@RonPaul) August 21, 2013 Oh, and she wants to be called Chelsea, not Bradley.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura couldn't enumerate just how a Navy SEAL sniper's book defamed him, but he said he'd had a hard time finding work since the book came out. He also said his main complaint about it -- that the late Chris Kyle's tale that he decked Ventura for badmouthing SEALs was untrue -- left him worrying if people think he's a traitor. "Every day of my life, I walk around looking over my shoulder now, wondering who believes that and who doesn't," Ventura said in response to a question from Kyle's lawyer, John Borger.

So, I guess that means that Ron Paul isn’t a ‘real’ libertarian either? Huh. Who knew?CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO It’s fascinating to watch this. First of all, lesson number one, for Rand Paul, who is, by the way, not a libertarian. If you believe you ought to be able to tell women what to do with their reproductive rights you are not a libertarian. Lesson number one for Rand Paul, do not take on a guy from Jersey. Obviously this guy does not watch HBO, and, you know, you’re not going to win a fight like this with...

Sen. Rand Paul is upping the ante in his ongoing spat over national security with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, calling it “sad and cheap” for Mr. Christie to invoke victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to make his point. “It’s really, I think, kind of sad and cheap that he would use the cloak of 9/11 victims and say, ‘Oh, I’m the only one who cares about these victims.’ Hogwash,” Mr. Paul said Monday on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “If he cared about protecting this country, maybe he wouldn’t be in this ‘gimme, gimme, gimme all the money’...

Conservative columnist Tim Carney has written quite often how conservative populism is not just a winning  message for the GOP, but probably the best one.  He has a great understanding on how being pro free market and pro big business are not necessarily one and the same.  Unfortunately, they are oftentimes at odds.  He wrote on this theme again yesterday in the Washington Examiner.  Some highlights: When liberals talk about “fairness,” conservatives and libertarians often wince, suspecting the liberals mean more big-government redistribution.But fairness is actually a virtue in policy, and it doesn’t necessarily mean socialism. Also, if you can...

How the me-first corporate structure installed by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert helped ruin the retail giant Eddie Lampert, the legendary hedge fund manager, was once hailed as the “Steve Jobs of the investment world” and the second coming of Warren Buffett. These days, he claims the number 2 spot on Forbes’ list of America’s worst CEOs. He has destroyed Sears, the iconic retail giant founded in 1886, which used to be known as the place “Where America Shops.” America now avoids Sears at all costs, thanks largely to Mr. Lampert and his love of twisted economic logic. A bit...

Cultural conservatives can’t be too happy about the country’s growing tolerance for gay marriage and legal marijuana, both of which a slim majority now supports. This erosion of traditional moral codes, they fear, will put America on the highway to Gomorrah. But removing government from the business of enforcing morality doesn’t mean that individuals will celebrate their liberation by smoking crack and throwing orgies. It means that they’ll become active agents in choosing their own morality. The late Robert Bork famously warned in his 1996 jeremiad Slouching Toward Gomorrah that America would succumb to moral decadence if Uncle Sam didn’t...

Rand Paul is the most interesting contender for the Republican nomination. And when I say interesting, I mean that in the broadest sense. A case in point: Last week, the Kentucky senator hit some turbulence when the Washington Free Beacon reported that Jack Hunter, Paul’s aide and the co-author of his book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington, was once the Southern Avenger. Who’s that? Starting in the 1990s, as a radio shock-jock, Hunter would wear a wrestling mask made from a Confederate flag, while making jokes about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and having the South re-secede. “Although Lincoln’s...

Excerpted from "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces" Sal Culosi is dead because he bet on a football game — but it wasn’t a bookie or a loan shark who killed him. His local government killed him, ostensibly to protect him from his gambling habit. Several months earlier at a local bar, Fairfax County, Virginia, detective David Baucum overheard the thirty-eight-year-old optometrist and some friends wagering on a college football game. “To Sal, betting a few bills on the Redskins was a stress reliever, done among friends,” a friend of Culosi’s told me shortly after...

Self-proclaimed civil libertarians are up in arms over the National Security Agency's massive database containing information about whom we call and what we do on the Web. Defenders of the program say, "So what?" Unless you're a terrorist, no one in the government will ever bother to access that information. That's not good enough, say civil libertarians. "At least 850,000 people have security clearances that give them access to this information," Tiffiniy Cheng of Fight for the Future recently wrote on The Huffington Post. "That's the size of Boston. Imagine if they leak information about a politician or business leaders'...

DENVER (CBS4)- The taxes on recreational marijuana might go a lot higher than first thought. Smokers buying at shops in Denver may pay up to 35 percent in taxes. Colorado voters will be asked to approve two state taxes totaling 25 percent on all retail marijuana sales in the November election. They may be asked to approve an additional city tax for Denver. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock wants to add an additional five to 10 percent city tax on top of that. Hancock said the money is needed to pay the costs of regulating the drug. Critics complain severe taxes...