Free Republic

Why in the hell is Karl Rove on my TV? Why is Karl Rove on my radio? Why is Karl Rove on anywhere? Unless he’s on trial or being interrogated, I can’t imagine of what possible use this George W. Bush relic could be to conservatives and yet he’s everywhere, hocking his book “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” a title as credibly right-wing as Stephen Colbert and as historically accurate as the movie “Titanic.” Craig Shirley and former Reagan official Donald Devine summed up Rove’s duplicity well in this week’s Washington Post: “From William...

During a question-and-answer session at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., one man opined, "One thing I've learned here at CPAC is that the 'C' actually doesn't stand for 'libertarianism.' It's not 'L'PAC." When Congressman Ron Paul won the annual straw poll at CPAC, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh made a point to tell his listeners that CPAC wasn't conservative this year because a libertarian had won. Both men are worse than just wrong. They're out of their minds. Arguably the most popular history of American conservatism, George H. Nash's book The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America...

The bigger the government, the worse the government. The more powerful the government, the worse the government. The more the government taxes and regulates -- the more it spends and controls -- the worse the government. That government which guides and directs us -- unifies and leads us -- is that government which destroys us. All these recent government "bail-outs," "rescues," "recovery packages," and "stimulus programs," are machetes thrust directly into the heart of the economy. All are heartless and brutal backstabs of the society and the nation. All of them devastate our businesses, finances, lifestyles, and civilization. It's almost...

“The federal government did not create the States. The States created the federal government.” – Ronald Reagan “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” – Alexis De Tocqueville ******************************************************************************************************************************** AMENDMENT 28. Title: Congressional Powers of Taxation Restricted and Revised. The Congress shall not have power to lay and collect income taxes, excise taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and capitation taxes within the borders of any State. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect a revenue-tax which shall be based solely on a State’s accrued revenue....

It's sloppy and incorrect to call Obama and his radical leftist allies "socialists." A handful are, no doubt. But most of them don't want to nationalize anything. Not even health care! They do, however, seek to significantly expand the size and power of the state. They do quietly seek to have a friendly, European-style Leviathan monitor and control business and the Individual a great deal more than currently. And it's all for our own good. The Obamanites fundamentally think they know more than the citizenry who elected them, and whom they theoretically serve. And, of course, they're morally superior. So...

An article by a conservative named Cliff Kincaid, who serves as editor of the Accuracy in Media (AIM) Report, provides a perfect example of how different libertarians are from conservatives and, well, for that matter, how there ain't a dime's worth of difference, when it comes to individual freedom, between conservatives and liberals. The article concerns the drug war and is entitled, "Dopey Conservatives for Dope." Ardently defending the continuation of the drug war, despite some 35 years of manifest failure, Kincaid takes fellow conservatives to task who are finally joining libertarians in calling for an end to the drug...

Crowds cheered former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul's claim that "the revolution is alive and well in Idaho," in a speech Saturday at the Morrison Center that at times took on the feel of a revival meeting. Americans, he said, have misunderstood the definition of "rights," which are God-given and include "life, liberty and the right to keep the fruits of our labor." Those rights include neither education nor health care. "Amen!" came a voice from the crowd. That crowd included perennial political candidate Pro Life, a group wearing buttons that read "Charter Schools are Statist," and the Collett family...

With passage of last week’s bill, the American people are now the unhappy recipients of Washington’s disastrous prescription for healthcare “reform.” Congressional leaders relied on highly dubious budget predictions, faulty market assumptions, and outright fantasy to convince a slim majority that this major expansion of government somehow will reduce federal spending. This legislation is just the next step towards universal, single payer healthcare, which many see as a human right. Of course, this “right” must be produced by the labor of other people, meaning theft and coercion by government is necessary to produce and distribute it. Those who understand Austrian...

John Colbert for Congress. California’s 29th Congressional District Congress will be immensely improved by the replacement of the nihilist Adam Schiff with the conservative, moral John Colbert. Colbert is seeking the a spot on the ticket as a Republican to replace Democrat Schiff this November. To make a comparison,Go to the John Colbert web site:Colbert link Then visit an eyewitness report on the so-called Townhall Meeting, staged by Schiff: Report on Schiff JWThinkwright

Imagine Congress trying to pass an expensive and unpopular healthcare bill by twisting arms, cutting backroom deals, refusing transparency and politicians mysteriously changing their votes, only to finally pass the controversial legislation at the last hour by a paper thin margin. This is what happened in 2003 when the “Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act” was passed by a Republican controlled Congress with the minimum 216 votes and was signed into law by President George W. Bush. It was the largest government healthcare entitlement expansion to date, estimated at about $400 billion, but has exceeded over half a trillion...

Most Americans know who Thomas Jefferson was. He was the principle author of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most influential of the founders of this nation. He was Governor of Virginia, the first Secretary of State of the United States, and the nation’s third president, serving eight years beginning in 1801. As a major figure in the founding of the United States of America he fully understood the reasons the colonies split from Great Britain, and his beliefs were fairly representative of the people of the times who decided the oppressive and tax-crazed British government was destructive...

Following months of heated public debate and aggressive closed-door negotiations, Congress finally cast a historic vote on healthcare late Sunday evening. It was truly a sad weekend on the House floor as we witnessed further dismantling of the Constitution, disregard of the will of the people, explosive expansion of the reach of government, unprecedented corporate favoritism, and the impending end of quality healthcare as we know it. Those in favor of this bill touted their good intentions of ensuring quality healthcare for all Americans, as if those of us against the bill are against good medical care. They cite fanciful...

Dear anyone who will listen to me. Trying to Explain Quantum Mechanics to a heroin addict with your life savings at stake if you fail, is the same feeling I got tonight. When watching C Span and seeing Shirley Chisholm talking in an empty chamber to the empty headed man holding a gavel who was one notch stupider than she was spewing irrelevant and mindless thoughts for sake of exacerbating. I thought her time would have been much better spend in the vernacular of my expression. I have my Bottle of Rolling Rock not yet opened and my blind dog...

The current American federal deficit (as of March 2010) is about $30,000 per person -- including children, the sick, crippled, homeless, and retired. For people who work, the deficit amounts to $60,000 each. Government debt grew by a sickening $5,000 per head last year (2009). And it's scheduled to grow by slightly more this year (2010). The current national debt ceiling is 14.3 trillion dollars, or one full year of America's income. Now this is an evil almost beyond compare. Whatever government "investments" this amount represents, and however many irresponsible Big Businesses were recently rescued by it, and however much...

Last week Congress voted to encourage participation in the 2010 census. I voted "No" on this resolution for the simple, obvious reason that the census- like so many government programs- has grown far beyond what the framers of our Constitution intended. The invasive nature of the current census raises serious questions about how and why government will use the collected information. It also demonstrates how the federal bureaucracy consistently encourages citizens to think of themselves in terms of groups, rather than as individual Americans. The not so subtle implication is that each group, whether ethnic, religious, social, or geographic, should...

When the City of Chicago banned all handguns recently, countless Americans rightly cried foul. When it looked like the Supreme Court might overturn the ban, gun-rights advocates cheered the decision. But while their heart is in the right place, their enthusiasm is not, as what gun-rights advocates are really cheering is the federal government assuming even more power. The Bill of Rights was never intended to be a list of individual rights, but a list of things the federal government could not do to the states. Patrick Henry and his anti-federalist friends did not want an all-powerful “national” government and...

In 2007, USA Today reported. “Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It’s expanding by about $1.4 billion a day – or nearly $1 million a minute. What’s that mean to you? It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.” Three years later Congress has raised the national debt ceiling yet again — to an unprecedented and even more astronomical $14 trillion. From healthcare to climate change, stimulus to war, virtually every conversation coming out of today’s Washington, DC-regardless of which party is in...

The key to highest quality and lowest cost in doctoring is this: No Welfare State mandates on health care. No "helpful" regulations on doctors, medicines, medical procedures, or overall treatment plans. Let people buy any kind of drugs, health care, or medical insurance they want, from anyone they want, from anywhere on earth. It's called freedom. Case closed. Nothing else to discuss or debate.

The government-school establishment has said the same thing for decades: Education is too important to leave to the competitive market. If we really want to help our kids, we must focus more resources on the government schools. But despite this mantra, the focus is on something other than the kids. When The Washington Post asked George Parker, head of the Washington, D.C., teachers union, about the voucher program there, he said: "Parents are voting with their feet. ... As kids continue leaving the system, we will lose teachers. Our very survival depends on having kids in D.C. schools so we'll...

When Ann Coulter praised Ron Paul at the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., the right-wing author and provocateur said she supports everything the congressman stands for except foreign policy. This wasn’t the first time Coulter made this point. Said Coulter at CPAC in 2008, “I must say I love Ron Paul on everything but Iraq.” Comparing Paul’s foreign policy stance to that of the congressman’s fellow non-interventionist Pat Buchanan, Coulter added “Whenever I listen to Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan I always think ‘I can’t listen too long or they might convince me.” Coulter is essentially saying...