Free Republic

In a new twist to the snowballing #Metoo scandal in Scandinavia, sexual harassment accusations have even reached the Swedish Academy, which is responsible for choosing the Nobel Prize in Literature. In chorus, thousands of female journalists and representatives of other trades drafted joint petitions to protest sexual assault.

As John Locke related in his Two Treatises of Government, the legislative power is the essence of republicanism. Despite the lessons of the great Enlightenment philosophers and the Framers’ long experience in colonial and free republican affairs, they experienced much difficulty in designing a suitable, stable, effective legislature for a young and growing society. 1 Yesterday’s grand committee met to address the basis of representation in the legislature. What compromise could overcome large state objections to parity among the states in the senate? Recall that large states feared small state dominance over taxation, and that the small would disproportionately burden...

Subtitle: Gouverneur Morris Warns of a Uniparty. The convention slogged on as the large/small state standoff continued over the question of representation in the senate. I will follow a different course today and let a little-known Framer, Pennsylvania’s Gouverneur Morris take center stage. We can thank Morris for the precise text and prose of our Constitution. As chairman of the Committee of Style, he not only smoothed and connected resolutions, he occasionally inserted clauses on his own initiative, which the convention typically accepted as written. Where history tagged James Madison as the father of the Constitution, Morris was its acknowledged...

While we take for granted today that the Framers breezily agreed to a compound republic of the people and the states, the issue still was unresolved five weeks into the convention! Tempers flew as arguments ranged on the one hand, from forming a national, democratic republic which did away with the states, and on the other, to keeping the existing Articles of Confederation. In late June, delegates far more resembled steely political negotiators than a band of brothers. What kept them going through the long summer was fear of the future if they did not come up with an adequate...

Peggy Noonan’s observation in the Wall Street Journal that the most recent jihadist mass murderer is “an idiot”—unlike the men who perpetrated 9/11, but like all who have struck us since—provokes more thought than likely went into it. Noonan correctly notes that 9/11 led us to expect more attacks with comparable planning and execution. Instead, we’ve been hit by random idiots, the most sophisticated of whom (the Bataclan murderers) operate at an elementary infantry level. So what? Our ruling class concludes that more and better policing has precluded attacks on the scale of 9/11, limiting Islamist terrorism to a level...

Subtitle: Swamp-Creatures. Meeting in Convention, delegates once again considered the Fourth Resolution, which dealt with senatorial elections, term length, age qualification, salary, and eligibility to additional offices. The answers to these issues will frame the senators’ dual-loyalty to the general government and their states. Under the Articles of Confederation, allegiance to the states was so strong that state interests typically superseded the interests of the nation. In turn, this led in part to the deteriorating social and economic conditions which pushed reluctant states to convene in Philadelphia. On the other hand, too strong an attachment to the capital city was...

June 14. William Patterson (NJ), spooked by the developing Virginia Plan, asked for a one-day adjournment to work on an improved federal design. June 15. He submitted the New Jersey/Patterson Plan. The Committee of the Whole will take up the amended Virginia and New Jersey Plans tomorrow. June 16. Since I previously blogged my observations of the New Jersey Plan here, I intended to overlook the proceedings of June 16th. However, the day had an impact on the issue of proportional v. equal representation of the states in the senate and is therefore worth a look. John Lansing (NY) and...

As of June 12th, the evolving senate still had no powers beyond those of the Confederation. Additional powers arrived after delegates determined its institutional shape and characteristics. At issue was the senate’s relationship with the lower house and the executive branch. Governor Randolph reminded the committee “the democratic licentiousness of the state legislatures proved the necessity of a firm senate.” The best model was the senate of Maryland, which consisted of fifteen members appointed to five-year terms by an electoral college of two electors from each county and one each from the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Senate] Yet, even...

Salon’s Top 'Conservative’ List Is Nearly All 'Never Trump' Liberals Who Hate the Right Kristine Marsh October 16, 2017 Over the weekend, liberal online magazine Salon put out a highly mockable list of their top “25 Conservatives Actually Worth Following on Twitter.” The story made a splash on social media, because it seemed Salon’s only criteria for being a “worthy conservative” is that you had to be an outspoken “Never-Trumper” and a fierce critic of the right. Brownie points if you support Obamacare and spew profanities at the president. What didn’t count? Actually being a smart, thoughtful commentator on conservative...

On June 7th, John Dickinson (DE) motioned "that the members of the second branch ought to be chosen by the individual Legislatures." The separate question of proportional or federal (equal) representation in the senate carried over into July, and nearly wrecked the convention. Senatorial election by the states solved two unacceptable aspects of the Virginia Plan. First, the Lower House elected the VA Plan’s Upper House. Nearly all the convention delegates had served in their respective state houses or congress, and were aware of the out-of-doors deal making and corruption certain to occur under the VA Plan. An Upper House...

On the first and second days of June 1787, the Committee of the Whole grappled with the 7th Resolution of the Virginia Plan: "that a national Executive be instituted, to be chosen by the national Legislature-for the term of ------ years &c to be ineligible thereafter, to possess the executive powers of Congress &c." Along the way of debate on the executive, John Dickinson (DE) would segue into the composition of the second house of congress, the infant United States Senate. The Framers’ starting point was the British monarchy. It could not be otherwise. While a chief executive armed with...

Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Senate Democrats' Obstruction Is Damaging the Senate As Senate Democrats oppose President Trump’s judicial nominees for bad reasons and no reasons, they are damaging the Senate as institution long-term. A quick example of each. The Democrats are using procedural motions to delay the confirmation of NON-CONTROVERSIAL nominees: The Senate has confirmed just seven judges this year, including Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. There are 149 judicial vacancies right now, compared to the 108 Trump started the year with. Trump has so far sent nominees for 50 of the current vacancies. . . . The majority leader...

STEPHEN PADDOCK Born on April 9, 1953 Birth Name Stephen Craig Paddock Occupation Accountant / Auditor Net Worth $5,000,000 USD Hometown Sun Valley, California Parents Benjamin Hoskins Paddock(father) Girlfriend Marilou Danley Cause Of Death Suicide Siblings Eric Paddock (brother) Bruce Paddock (brother) Profiles Stephen Paddock Instagram Stephen Craig Paddock (April 9, 1953 - October 1, 2017) was an American mass murderer who committed a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 1, 2017, that left over 58 people dead and over 515 others injured. He resided in Mesquite, Nevada and was the partner of Marilou Danley Las Vegas Mass...

In a recent paper entitled “The case for colonialism” Bruce Gilley argued that “Western colonialism was, as a general rule, both objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate in most of the places where it was found”. Gilley then argued that colonialism should be “recovered” “by reclaiming colonial modes of governance, by recolonizing some areas, and by creating new Western colonies from scratch”. These are highly controversial claims. But it is unlikely that Gilley anticipated the antipathy with which they would be received. Two petitions were initiated—gathering over 15,000 signatures between them—demanding that the journal in which the paper was published (Third...

First Lady Melania Trump stunned at the United Nations conference in New York City Monday in her choice of off-the-runway American fashion. Melania, who arrived with President Trump as he addressed world leaders, chose an all-American look to represented the United States at the conference, opting for a Calvin Klein suit from the Fall 2017 collection.The grey suit, which features subtle black detailing, was paired with a black blouse and black stilettos, as Melania kept the ensemble simple and business-oriented.

Australia has one of the strictest firearms regulatory schemes in Western Civilization. It has not appreciably changed their overall murder or suicide or accidental death rates, which were already low and falling when the scheme was implemented. As Australia is an continent considerably separated from the rest of the industrialized world, it is a near ideal test case for the efficacy of gun control schemes. A figure from an Australian government report on sources of illegal guns shows that when guns are tightly regulated, criminals find ways around the regulation.

US President Donald Trump will host a meeting of world leaders at the United Nations this month to push for reform of the global body that he once dismissed as a "club" for people "to have a good time." World leaders at the September 18 event will be asked to support a 10-point political declaration that backs UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "in making concrete changes to the United Nations," according to the document obtained by AFP on Friday. Attending his first UN gathering of world leaders, Trump is scheduled to address the General Assembly on September 19, on the first...

Conservatives generally believe that the accumulation and maintenance of wealth is a good thing. We like money, we admire success, and we don’t view those who’ve achieved a significant fortune with contempt. We’re aware that well-funded bank accounts provide employment, stimulate the economy, and keep the country humming along. The left disagrees. If you’re rich, you aren’t paying your fair share. Heck, even if you’re not rich you should be taxed more. To them, the wealthy are like dragons - sleeping on a mountain of ill-gotten gold - lording over the peasants with filthy, probably-stolen, lucre that they couldn’t spend...

I wrote and published this article on December 27, 2011. Providing historical perspectives on the constitutional ramifications of the war, it has had more than 46,000 views. Perhaps it may provide useful perspectives now, as we seem to be heading toward another potentially more deadly and divisive civil war.Only we can prevent another civil war. Will we?Formerly great universities, once bastions of constitutionally protected free speech, are now trying -- often successfully -- to kill it. Fake news abounds increasingly in our "mainstream" media, which neglect or minimize legitimate news. Our history, good and bad, are being relegated to the...

I guess this is what we can look forward to for the foreseeable future. When the president of the United States decides to show up somewhere and say words, left-wingers will riot. And why not? The Washington Post is already building the narrative that conservatives who dare to say words are instigating the inevitable violence. The mayor of Phoenix, who is a Democrat, asked Trump to cancel the Tuesday night rally - mainly out of partisan motivation but also because he knew this would probably happen. When a left-wing mob threatens to wreak havoc and assault your police, give them...