Free Republic

Kennedy thought government could solve all of our problems By Sheldon Richman Last update: August 30, 2009 - 11:17 AM Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is gone. No one in the last 40 years stood as a larger symbol of “liberalism,” the view that government is the answer for everything. A great deal has been said in recent days about his compassion and generosity. But bear in mind that in public life, his compassion consisted in spending other people's money and authorizing government bureaucracies to interfere with the social cooperation that takes place whenever life, liberty, and property are respected. We...

Japan’s historic election Sunday gave the Democratic Party an overwhelming victory over the Liberal Democrats that have dominated Japan’s government for 55 years.  The Liberal Democrats oversaw Japan’s industrial policy that supported Japan’s dominant firms during Japan’s rise as a major economic power during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.  Indeed, many American economists argued the U.S. should do more to emulate Japanese industrial policy and have the government actively involved in supporting dominant corporations to enhance their international competitiveness.American support for industrial policy, where the government actively picks the winners in economic competition, died off in the 1990s when the...

^ Rand Paul speech in Nicholasville, Kentucky [Click Here]

Obama Health Care leads to forced indenture. Can’t any one see where Obama Health Care is headed? The monetary costs are trivial compared to FORCED INDENTURE. Forced indenture will follow single payer healthcare, as night follows day. Do those who demand health care for all know what they are asking for? No, they don’t. If they did, they would be embarrassed. Read all

Watch this video. It is the most important video you will ever watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feat... George Soros and the progressive democrats he has in his pocket have a goal to destroy the dollar and to push for a global currency. As a result, George Soros would make billions just as he did from his attempt to destroy the British Pound. To accomplish his goal, George Soros and his team of democrats have chosen a messenger who via teleprompter will spread their message and will not oblige to his constitutional obligation to prove that he is a US citizen. Please view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE...

In an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal on August 11, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey outlined a seven-point plan for healthcare reform that sought to marginalize the role of government. Conservatives asked themselves: 'Why didn't Republicans think of that?' Mackey's editorial highlights a very disturbing question with the Republicans' "Road to Recovery:" Where are Republicans? It's one thing to take some time off from the political spotlight to get one's priorities in order, but to disappear completely during this perfect opportunity leaves one to question how serious Republicans are about coming back from the political wilderness. Read the...

During August recess, many legislators have heard an unexpected amount of discontent from their constituents about what is happening on Capitol Hill, particularly regarding healthcare. Some people are justifiably terrified at what the government could do to healthcare, should it get its claws even further into it. Others demand a public option for health insurance and are adamant that healthcare be treated as yet another absolute entitlement. One thing everyone agrees on is that the final bill needs to be read and understood by all legislators before a vote is taken. To any American, this is common sense. In Washington,...

Undercover Baltimore police officer Dante Arthur was doing what he does well, arresting drug dealers, when he approached a group in January. What he didn't know was that one of suspects knew from a previous arrest that Arthur was police. Arthur was shot twice in the face. In the gunfight that ensued, Arthur's partner returned fire and shot one of the suspects, three of whom were later arrested. In many ways, Dante Arthur was lucky. He lived. Nationwide, a police officer dies on duty nearly every other day. Too often a flag-draped casket is followed by miles of flashing red...

Since the bailouts last fall, lawmakers have been behaving as quasi-owners of the bailed-out banks and businesses, leading to calls for increased regulation of executive compensation and other wasteful expenditures. We have heard much about bonuses and executive pay packages that sound more like lottery winnings than an honest salary. Many lawmakers voted in favor of these unconstitutional bailouts, believing that these corporations were too big to fail, and allowing them to go under would precipitate widespread economic disaster. This second wave of citizen outrage at the bailouts has left these lawmakers with a bit of egg on their face,...

Judge Andrew Napolitano Speech at Ron Paul BBQ August 15 2009, enjoy!

The Townhall Game, it’s all bait and switch How can the President turn away the tide rising against his health care plan? (How can he turn the lemon he currently is burdened with into lemonade? Easy. It’s bait and switch followed by propaganda. The bait is the promise of an open forum for “discussing issues.” The propaganda portion comes a day later in the newspaper, in stories proclaiming the soundness and “democracy” of the “open forum.” Here is the “forum” I attended. Think of it as a play with actors, reading scripts. Cast: Congressman (Lord Claptrap) Toadies (A doctor, an...

The US Patriot Act was used AGAIN to incarcerate the juvenile & model citizen for months without being charged with a crime! Arrested March 5 not indicted until July 9 10th He is detained on the basis of "good faith" beliefs on the part of the investigators, as permitted under the Patriot Act, rather than the normal legal standard of "probable cause" to suspect his commission of a crime. Fact: Ashton has an airtight alibi for the night he supposedly made a threat against Purdue University in Indiana; while the real perps go free to brag about hacking his skype...

Syndicalism is alive and well in Washington. Syndicalism embraces the notion that labor unions should have leadership roles in all aspects of a society whether it be banking, business, science, the arts, manufacturing, or politics. Syndicalism seeks the establishment of a communist state. The bolsheviks, led by Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky, used as a rallying cry: “All power to the Soviets,” wherein the word “soviet” means council, (but was widely understood as labor union). The new nation that emerged once the Bolsheviks had seized power from the Romanovs in Russia (1917) was Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). [Continue in...

It is every American's patriotic duty, if they are over the age of 65, an active exploiter of Medicare or any other government services, and not contributing retribution, to plan for their departure from American society. If you are over 65, a burden, you should feel duty bound. Now which of you folks here feels patriotic, raise your hand--Barack Obama

Despite the advances in technologies and solutions, the concern that remains central to the objective of providing security to the nation is the question of “who is who?” The federal homeland security laws directed toward enhancing the security of the United States — and the federal government’s confidence in the adequacy of such efforts — is, at the most basic level, grounded in the process of identity determination and the use of powerful databases to accurately determine individual identity to best evaluate threat and risk. Much of government’s effort to protect the borders, minimize the risk to infrastructure and ensure...

The Cash for Clunkers program has received a lot of attention this week on Capitol Hill and across the country. The program offers a voucher of up to $4500 in federal funds to anyone who trades in a working used car for a new one with better fuel economy. Congress was shocked at how quickly people responded to promises of free money and drained the program, while car dealers have been equally shocked at how slow and arduous the government’s website to claim the rebates has been. It’s not a shock that people respond to incentives. The program has been...

Stupidly. If "stupidly" were an industry, the Obama administration and the Democrat Party leaders in Congress would be in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. It is apparent, in the past six months, that Obama and Congress are in league to acquire a monopolistic consortium on "stupidly." Obama and the Democrat Congress have validated, with absolute certainty, that they have, in tandem, stupidly interpreted the Constitution and possess a stupidly unsophisticated aptitude for economics; Obama continues to brandish his nugatory knowledge of history.

The donors who poured millions into Ron Paul's presidential campaign coffers aren't done yet. On Saturday, libertarian financier and commentator Peter Schiff raised more than $200,000 in a 24-hour "money bomb" as he continues to explore a bid for the Republican nomination to run against Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Having now collected more than $790,000 in campaign contributions since mid-July, the Ron Paul Republican Schiff is competitive financially with the frontrunners for the GOP nomination. Former Congressman Rob Simmons raised $754,000 through June 30 while former ambassador Tom Foley has taken in $528,000 since mid-June. Schiff's fundraising haul wasn't the...

How sick and sad that Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed today by the US Senate for a seat on the US Supreme Court! Anyone who cares about individual rights and true justice has to be in despair. Sotomayor is a racist, sexist, bigot, and lowlife. Her "identity politics" philosophy, and "wise Latina" persona, violate the Greek ideal of "impartiality before the law," and the American ideal of "e pluribus unum." She's a drop-dead enemy of civil rights and neutral, impartial justice -- the only justice that even exists. Sotomayor reduces America to the level of savage, tribalist Afghanistan wherein the great...

(An open letter from the Chairman of the RLC to liberty activists attending health care townhall events this month)I've been studying videos of the Townhall protests which have taken place so far, have talked to participants and have been tracking the media coverage and the spin which the left is trying to put on the protests. As a result I have some suggestions for Republican Liberty Caucus activists who attend these events which I hope you will also share with others who go with you. The line of attack against the protests is to try to discredit them as "astroturf"...

The world today would be a helluva lot better place if only we would get the government to mandate everyone everywhere go to Tolerance Camp at least once a year -- especially all our impressionable children. We could all go there for various communalist- and identity-type group lessons, particularly Diversity Seminars and Sensitivity Training. Clearly this kind of far-minded, progressive education for all mankind would significantly promote the brotherhood of man, just as it radically enhanced planetary social harmony and worldwide public unity. After graduating from this universally-obligatory Tolerance Camp -- as run by the best of inclusive, egalitarian, truly-enlightened...

Healthcare continues to dominate the agenda on Capitol Hill as House leadership and the administration try to ram through their big government healthcare plan. Fortunately, they have been unsuccessful so far, as there are many horrifying provisions tucked into this massive piece of legislation. One major issue is the public funding of elective abortions. The administration has already removed many longstanding restrictions on abortion, and is unwilling to provide straight answers to questions regarding the public funding of abortion in their plan. This is deeply troubling for those of us who do not want taxpayer dollars funding abortions. Forcing pro-life...

Republican Senator Bob Corker apparently goes on record as one of the most vocal congressional opponents of Federal Reserve transparency.

Doing no harm is the ancient tradition of Western civilization, stretching from ancient Greece to the present Judeo/Christian world. Doing Good requires a “problem” needing a remedy. Doing No Harm has no such trigger. Revolutions always crash and burn, if modeled after the French Revolution, anyhow. The people suffer, and the leaders of the revolution install themselves as all-powerful despots. The American Revolution was different, because it applied the concept of Doing No Harm. The American Revolution also contained a mind-set typified by Edmund Burke’s conservatism. See previous Freeper post. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-rlc/2205205/posts The current Revolution promulgated by the president and the...

Political philosopher Richard Weaver famously and correctly stated that ideas have consequences. Take for example ideas about rights versus goods. Natural law states that people have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A good is something you work for and earn. It might be a need, like food, but more “goods” seem to be becoming “rights” in our culture, and this has troubling consequences. It might seem harmless enough to decide that people have a right to things like education, employment, housing or healthcare. But if we look a little further into the consequences, we can see...

Congressman Ron Paul’s H.R. 1207, calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve, has attracted 270 cosponsors in less than five months. The Republican congressman's bill has received strong bipartican support, and approximately 100 of the bill's cosponsors are Democrats. Support for H.R. 1207 has frightened some of the Fed’s champions in the academic world, Fed officials themselves, and, of course, many of the Fed's friends in the financial world. There are obviously some who don’t want the American people to know what the Fed has been doing ever since it was launched in 1913. Secrecy, of course, is completely...

Congressman and two-time presidential candidate Ron Paul tells Newsmax the economic stimulus plan is a "total failure," and he's pushing a bill requiring the Federal Reserve to disclose its dealings so Americans can find out who the "culprits" are behind the financial meltdown. The Texas Republican also said the U.S. is on course to "destroy the dollar," the healthcare reform plan is "dangerous" and could bankrupt the nation — and he is fighting against those who "would socialize the country."

Connecticut Republican Peter Schiff is using donation levels over the next few weeks to gauge support for a potential Senate run in 2010. But he might want to make a note of the experience of political mentor, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose 2008 presidential campaign experience demonstrated that a huge number of donations do not necessarily denote electoral viability. Schiff alerted supporters Tuesday that his campaign Web site is now accepting donations. "My decision to run is largely dependent on the level of early support and contributions I receive from people like you," he wrote in the e-mail. Recent polling,...

Last week I was very pleased that hearings were held on the independence of the Federal Reserve system. My bill HR 1207, known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, was discussed at length, as well as the general question of whether or not the Federal Reserve should continue to operate independently. The public is demanding transparency in government like never before. A majority of the House has cosponsored HR 1207. Yet, Senator Jim DeMint’s heroic efforts to attach it to another piece of legislation elicited intense opposition by the Senate leadership. The hearings on Capitol Hill provided us with a...

To Reject nihilism and Revive Liberty, Conservatives must lead the charge. How will we regain our lost liberty and our prosperity? How can we claw our way out of the depths of nihilism back up to our perch in the “Shining City on the hill?” All Americans must reject the something-for-nothing vision of Hope and Change. We must come to terms with ourselves and recognize that a people cannot live free, if they constantly prey on each other. Similarly, we cannot live free, if we lose our will to live free, and sit idly while organized groups of nihilists overwhelm...

Why is America Discussing Sonia Sotomayor? President Obama is within his Constitutional purview to nominate anyone he wants as a Supreme Court nominee, even Sonia Sotomayor. He could have nominated Bozo the Clown or a “died in the wool” Communist like Bill Ayres, which he would have been more inclined to do. The fact is that that during the space of time between Obama’s announcement of her as a nominee and her confirmation hearings, she has, very publicly, had her judgment overturned regarding the firefighters in Connecticut. Those who overturned Sotomayer’s verdict knew exactly what they were doing and were...

    EMERGENCY ALERT - Stop the NEW Real ID - S.1261 - The PASS Act Our Freedoms and Liberty under Attack  The act links the biometric body to be able to buy or sellPlease contact all senators below for a one minute call that's just sixteen minutes of your time for Freedom and LibertyMedia   Clip very informative:       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kE8xDMokpM   Two international agencies (AAMVA and the ICAO, an agency of the United Nations) were involved in U.S. policy and law - the Real ID Act 2005 and the newly proposed PASS Act. DHS has called AAMVA the hub and backbone of the Real...

There is no area in which Republicans have further strayed from our traditions than in foreign affairs. Generations of conservatives followed the great advice of our Founding Fathers and pursued a restrained foreign policy that rebuffed entangling alliances and advised America, in the words of John Quincy Adams, not to "go abroad looking for dragons to slay." Sen. Robert Taft, the stalwart of the Old Right, urged America to stay out of NATO. Dwight Eisenhower was elected on a platform promising to get us out of the conflict in Korea. Richard Nixon promised to end the war in Vietnam. Republicans...

Democracy -- or rule by majority vote -- is a genuine political good. So is republicanism -- or rule by legitimate representatives. Both have considerable social and economic value to the individual and the nation. Similarly, autonomy and self-rule are governmental goods and values which a given society finds very much worth having. And it's even worth while for that civilization to enjoy non-violation of their national soverignty and non-interference in their internal affairs by non-citizens. But none of these political goods and values are anywhere near as important as freedom. In the life of the person and his nation,...

As the focus turns from rebuilding the Republican Party in 2009 to winning elections in 2010, look to three savvy women to lead the way for liberty next year. Sharron Angle is a former member of the Nevada Assembly who was narrowly defeated in a Congressional primary two years ago. At her website, she sharply criticizes the national debt, the continued growth of government, and mounting Congressional spending. In 2010, Angle is likely to run against the vulnerable U.S. Senate Speaker Harry Reid (D-NV). Terri McCormick is a former State Representative from Wisconsin. Elected in 2000, she self-imposed a term...

“No one’s going to save us dude. It’s up to us and us alone.” These are the words of a text message I received from a fellow conservative upon the revelation that South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford had disappeared for a few days to spend time with his mistress in Argentina. After the cumulative disaster that were the 2008 GOP primaries, conservatives desperately thought that, for once, we might have an ardent conservative – particularly a fiscal conservative – run and actually capture the White House in 2012. And this was not your garden-variety, self-proclaimed “conservative” Republican who interpreted conservatism...

James Madison's [the original writer or author of Bill of Rights, also known as the father of the Constitution], version of the Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press Clause, it provided that ["the people shall not be deprived or abridged of the right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."] This version was introduced into the House

Religious freedom is under attack in Britain The Catholic Herald ^ | 12 June 2009 | Neil Addison

Last week Congress passed the war supplemental appropriations bill. In an affront to all those who thought they voted for a peace candidate, the current president will be sending another $106 billion we don’t have to continue the bloodshed in Afghanistan and Iraq, without a hint of a plan to bring our troops home. Many of my colleagues who voted with me as I opposed every war supplemental request under the previous administration seem to have changed their tune. I maintain that a vote to fund the war is a vote in favor of the war. Congress exercises its constitutional...

No-Brainer choice for Latinos Much is heard about the competition between the Republicans and the Demo/Nihilists for the so called Latino vote. From the standpoint of the average Latino, this should be a “no-brainer,” the Republicans are stewards of two bright and shining beacons: Truth and Morality. The Demo/Nihilists are racists, constantly seeking to put Latinos on the same plantation where they are holding the blacks captive. Author and social observer, Star Parker has examined this phenomenon thoroughly in her book, Back on Uncle Sam’s Plantation. Visit her site at, http://www.urbancure.org/article.asp?id=3141 Here are some brief snips from Ms. Parker’s site:...

Today [June 19th] marks the 64th birthday of 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. Burma's leading freedom-fighter celebrates it inside notorious Insein Prison, near Rangoon. Here's another House Of Cards dictatorship the sissified, self-hating Western states don't lift a finger to topple. America, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and even Israel are all pretty much feckless, impotent, "paper tigers" by now. Tigers waiting for some crippled, retarded, diseased Communist or Muslim mouse to slaughter them.

With the fate of 70 million desperate, miserable, and mostly-enslaved Iranians hanging in the balance, now is the time for Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and others to declare that freedom is an absolute, undeniable, and irrevocable birthright of man. They need to come out unambiguously on the side of the Iranian people and against the Iranian dictators. These Free World leaders -- if they are leaders, and if they do champion freedom -- should loudly and pointedly make the case that all individuals, everywhere on earth, have an utter and untouchable right to liberty and justice....

Tough Love for California.House Chamber, Washington, D.C.June 11, 2009 M. Speaker: Gov. Schwarzenegger of my home state of California has called for the federal government to underwrite as much as $15 billion of Revenue Anticipation Notes that the state has to issue to avoid insolvency. I think that would be a colossal mistake, and that such an act would not only dig the nation deeper into the hole it is in, but would actually make California’s fiscal condition worse. Today, California faces a paradox: despite record levels of spending and borrowing, it can no longer produce a decent road system,...

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul United States House of Representatives Statement on Global Warming Petition Signed by 31,478 Scientists June 4, 2009 Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, before voting on the "cap-and-trade" legislation, my colleagues should consider the views expressed in the following petition that has been signed by 31,478 American scientists: "We urge the United States government to reject the global warming agreement that was written in Kyoto, Japan in December, 1997, and any other similar proposals. The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare...

The United States has ceased to be a constitutional republic. Our country was established by the adoption of a constitution that is no longer in force in any real way. Our social structures are failing; our foreign policy is an embarrassment; our financial institutions are a giant Ponzi scheme. Since the end of the first world war our country and its commitment to the rule of law has been getting progressively weaker, but at a slow rate and for such a long time that few thought to do anything about it. But now, as the poet says, “The times, they...

Caucus says governor protects taxpayers. BY ROBERT BEHRE At least one faction of the Republican Party thinks South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford should run for president. The National Board of the Republican Liberty Caucus passed a resolution encouraging Sanford to seek the office in 2012. It cited the way Sanford has voted his conscience on tough issues. Dave Nalle, chairman of the California-based caucus, said: "In his two terms as governor of South Carolina, Sanford has shown independence and creativity and acted as a vigilant guardian of taxpayer interests." The caucus is far from the highest profile organization within the...

Link to the two part video of Jamie Glazov summarizing his new book "United by Hate".

Today marks the dolorous 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown and heartless massacre of Tiananmen Square by the loathsome, evil, Chinese dictators. It was a truly black day for world freedom. The idealistic, noble, and quite-brave student-led protest was basically advocating overall reform, less corruption, democracy, and liberty. But it was called a pro-"democracy" demonstration, and now it is almost exclusively remembered as being part of a pro-"democracy" movement. Well, democracy has advanced only minutely in the past two decades. Only to a scattered, inconsistent, and tiny extent do the Chinese people actually get to elect their leaders, and decide...

Grassroots call for lawmakers to KILL loaded TxDOT sunset bill Trans Texas Corridor to proceed despite repeal of corridor (Austin, TX – May 28, 2009) The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) sunset bill, HB 300, now over 1,500 pages long, has too much baggage for taxpayers to swallow. HB 300 ends the private toll moratorium (which hands our PUBLIC highways to PRIVATE, foreign toll operators), keeps the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) alive, opens a new loophole to toll existing freeways, allows counties a 10 cent gas tax hike, raids public employee pension funds to invest in risky private toll roads...

Yesterday judge Nadia Sotomayor was nominated for the US Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in a profoundly bigoted way, for notably racist and sexist reasons. And she has ruled in a profoundly bigoted way, with massive racism and sexism in her judicial decisions. One can't help but ask: What about the concept of a neutral, impartial, objective rule of law -- one in which no-one is a second class citizen? What about the notion that "justice is blind?" What about the ideal of equality before the law? And if this loathsome, anti-white, anti-male bigot is promoted to the United...