Free Republic

Many social conservatives say they feel politically isolated as the country seems to be hurtling to the left, with marijuana now legal in Colorado and gay marriage gaining ground across the nation. They feel out of place in a GOP increasingly dominated by tea party activists and libertarians who prefer to focus on taxes and the role of government and often disagree with social conservatives on drugs or gay rights.

I’m a Democrat. I’ve been a Democrat my entire life. I used to utter those two sentences with pride and would shout them from the highest rooftops. Now, I’m almost embarrassed to say those words. I almost can’t articulate my political affiliation in public (or on the radio) without immediately offering an apology and an explanation. How did I get here? I’ve been asking myself that question a lot lately. The more I ask it, the more I come to the realization that I haven’t changed all that much. Sure, I’m a little older … OK, a lot older. I...

The past few years have shown us that our political system is operating like a well-oiled machine, assuming that machine's primary purpose is to function horribly while producing nothing of value.. Stubbornness and disagreement have been raised to art forms, and the American people have made it clear they rate Congress only slightly more favorably than "scorpions in pants." The president isn't viewed much better, with an approval rating hovering around a dismal 40 percent. There's ample blame to go around — leftward, rightward, centerward (which isn't a word, but should be) — but a new poll homes in on...

An electrifying midterm rallying cry on a slow summer news day. Boehner, incidentally, isn’t one of the crappy-asses, she says. She doesn’t name names there, but she’s been known to diverge from grassroots conservatives in these matters before.What would happen, though, if Boehner turned around and made a deal with Harry Reid on amnesty in September? One of the goals of Obama’s looming power grab over legalization is to scare Republican leaders with the thought that Latino voters will be so grateful, they’ll break even harder for Democrats in 2016. The only countermeasure, Dems would have you believe, is...

Recess is in full force in Washington, D.C., as national lawmakers vacation around the country, but both political parties are fighting intense political battles on the ground in states nationwide as several statehouses are up for grabs in what’s shaping up to be a landslide pro-GOP election year. “Republicans, who had appeared to hit a high-water mark in control of statehouses in recent years, are seeking to pick off another half-dozen chambers this year, taking advantage of President Obama’s persistent unpopularity, anxiety about the economy, and a history of anemic turnout among Democrats in nonpresidential election years,” the New York...

The decision by Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) not to seek election in November in the wake of a plagiarism scandal is the latest piece of good news for Republicans as they strive to take control of the Senate in less than three months. Walsh’s departure from the race came in the same week that two Republican senators — Pat Roberts in Kansas and Lamar Alexander in Tennessee — defeated tea party challengers in primary fights, ensuring that every GOP senator seeking reelection would be the party’s nominee. These past seven days typified the fates of the two parties this election...

Conservatives are literally praying that the Texas senator will be the 2016 nominee. The rest of the Republican Party isn't so sure. FORT WORTH, Texas—After finishing his speech, Ted Cruz announced he would take questions from the audience. But instead of asking him anything, they just wanted to tell the Republican senator how great he was. "When I look at you, I can imagine you would be just like one of the founding fathers of this country," one woman said from the microphone stand in the middle of the hotel ballroom. "Honor to you, Ted Cruz," said the next. "We...

The Tea Party didn’t knock off any incumbent GOP senators this year in primaries, but last night it proved just how riled up voters are against the Washington establishment. Tennessee senator Lamar Alexander won re-nomination last night with just 49.7 percent of the vote. His main opponent, state representative Joe Carr won 41 percent despite an erratic campaign and being ignored by the major national tea-party groups. Alexander was able to convince just enough conservatives to back him with his rallying cry: “I’m not in the shut-down-the-government crowd, I’m in the taking-over-the-government crowd.” Alexander becomes the third GOP senator in...

Has the time finally come that practical rather than political experience, a larger than life persona and sanguinary vision of both sworn enemies and fair weather friends should define the suitability for office of the next American president? Our elected representatives are charged with defense of the Constitution of the United States and the faithful execution of their office. But for decades the republic has suffered through an epidemic of irreconcilable political, economic, social, and media agendas which have transformed the US from a nation of prosperity into one of decay. We are becoming what our Founders feared most as...

The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority Forty years ago, on August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned the office of President; the first and only President to do so. I was just into my thirties in 1968, the year Richard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States. What I recall most of that year was the way the Chicago police, after enduring an onslaught of name-calling and insults from anti-war protesters aggressively drove them away from their effort to disrupt the Democratic Party convention that would nominate Hubert Humphrey. His...

On Tuesday conservative activist and commentator Steve Baldwin penned an article for the right-leaning website Barbwire calling for the emergence of a third political party in the US, one made up of religious and fiscal conservatives that could supplant the Republican Party. Baldwin even proposed a leader for this new political coalition – Sarah Palin, erstwhile governor of Alaska and, memorably, the vice-presidential Republican nominee in 2008. According to the activist, the thrust of this new political force would be to eliminate “all federal abortion funding, reversing Roe vs. Wade [the Supreme Court decision to legalise abortion], and prohibiting the...

Though I typically resist, my wife often tries to get me to put down the laptop and enjoy the Zen of gardening with her. So you can imagine her surprise when she returned from a trip to find a beautiful clump of nonwild flowers planted in her garden. She loved the welcome-home gift and was ready to bestow upon me many valuable (and increasingly elusive) good-husband points. The thing is, I have no idea how those flowers got there. And like George Washington, I could not tell a lie. But had I in fact been an actual president, I probably...

When one speaks with fellow Republicans about the future of the GOP, it is common to receive some negative feedback. This is because many conservative/libertarian Republicans feel the party has simply not done enough to challenge the Obama agenda. There is a widespread feeling among the rank and file that the country is hurtling toward socialism while Republican leaders sit on the sidelines and either do nothing or propose ways to manage socialism more effectively. ... I have given up on the GOP and am simply not sure it can ever be reformed. ... For a Third Party to be...

Michael Steele thinks House Speaker John Boehner needs to keep closer tabs on Sen. Ted Cruz. The former Republican National Committee chairman on Monday poked fun at reports that some House Republicans changed their minds on crucial border legislation last week after meeting with Cruz, the Texas Republican and tea party icon. “For John Boehner, whenever any of his members says, ‘Hey, I’m about to have pizza and beer with Ted Cruz,’ he should be concerned,” Steele joked. “Really look at the calendar and see if there’s a vote coming up,” he said, adding that Cruz “undermined” GOP leaders. Steele...

Former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) says Mississippi Republicans may need a regime change after the damaging primary fight between Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and state Sen. Chris McDaniel. “This has shown the fissures that are there and I do think the party leaders – it may cause the need for some change in the party leadership,” Lott, now the co-chairman of Squire Patton Boggs' public policy practice, told The Hill during a wide-ranging interview at the firm's Washington office. He warned that the Mississippi establishment is ignoring the Tea Party wing of the GOP at their own peril. “If they...

Crossing the Wrong Kind of Activists Friday evening About an hour after I first notice the Business Insider article, I check my email again from my phone. I see that the once laudatory President of the NYYRC has lost his nerve. He noticed the Business Insider article, and asked me to immediately remove the post from the site. The problem, he says, is the sentence that questions Obama’s relationship with the Emir of Qatar. (Which, I may add, linked not to anything sexual, but purely policy/political.) I’m not home when I receive this email. The article on BI quoted mine...

What’s the fastest way to admit guilt? Censor the truth. Reader, you put the pieces together on this one, and trust your instincts. What follows is a true account of the events of 48 hours, and more broadly, of several years. It is a microcosm of everything that is wrong with American politics in the Age of Obama, where both parties are complicit in a national suicide pact. Beyond the corrupt politics of petty corruption, the political establishment is not only silent about an ongoing genocide in the Middle East and North Africa, but actively providing support, weapons, and training...

Nance Pelosi takes crossing the aisle to the extreme …Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) certainly did hit a nerve to say the least when he addressed the House regarding the debate on the border funding bill Friday night. Marino called out former Speaker of the House Nanncy Pelosi why when Democrats had control of the House, Senate and White House they did nothing about the border issue, but now with to make it a political issue. Needless to say, San Fran Nan then did something she never does, she came across the aisle. However, it was to confront Marino. After Pelosi...

As soon as the House GOP leadership fumbled its border bill, Democrats started blaming Ted Cruz. "Blaming" might be too strong a word -- Democrats were practically vibrating with delight at another chance to portray John Boehner as a simpering loser who keeps getting dunked on by a freshman senator from Texas. .@SenTedCruz Just thought I'd go right to the source, will the House be voting tonight? — U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) July 31, 2014 Democrats do this because Cruz is famous, and -- they believe -- primarily associated with the 2013 government shutdown. The press doesn't do much...

Republican lobbyists are working to persuade GOP lawmakers to change their position on same-sex marriage and revise the party's official position that "traditional marriage" is between a man and a woman. Gay marriage advocates say their efforts are paying off as an increasing number of members of the congressional delegation are diverging from the party line, The Hill reported. "The issue is losing its toxicity, from a Republican perspective," Kathryn Lehman, a top GOP lobbyist and partner at Holland & Knight, who helped write the Defense of Marriage Act, told The Hill. She has been visiting dozens of Republican offices...