Free Republic

It’s called “democracy.” It may be surprising to us, but there have been thinkersdown through history who didn’t believe democracy is the optimal system of government. Here is a quotation from one of them: “Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would...

Despite our best efforts, we occasionally stumble along the way of life. On the discovery of our mistakes, we correct them, learn, move on, and hopefully avoid repetition. As our capacity to learn improves with age, we learn from the mistakes of others as well. But, perhaps the wisest among us learn from the successes of others. To avoid as many of life’s natural pitfalls as possible, pay attention to the examples of the successful, good, and virtuous. That which applies to our personal lives extends to society and that expression of society, republican government. Few republican governments of any...

We often hear about the United States having a “republican form of government.” That comes directly from Article IV, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution, which emphatically proclaims: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” The ultra-conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to make a slight variation in that language. That is, to impose a Republican government on the country by allowing state legislatures to set election rules on their own, without any pesky interference by their governors or state courts. The Supreme Court will hear arguments later...

From Charles de Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws, “When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils, but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles.” There is a fundamental contradiction in the structure of our government that is responsible for the increasing turmoil we’ve witnessed these past few decades. Media pleas to “get along” and compromise reflect snowballing social and political tensions. Unimaginable only a decade ago, our rulers in Washington, DC prepare for societal collapse. Rather than deal with the sickness that afflicts our republic, they respond to the...

Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution in an op-ed published Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal. Proposed in 1912 and ratified by 36 state legislatures on April 8, 1913, the amendment required U.S. senators to be elected by popular votes in each state. Prior to its enactment, Article I of the Constitution mandated that each state legislature vote to send two senators to Washington. Sasse’s op-ed, titled, “Make the Senate Great Again,” suggested several Senate reforms “aimed at promoting debate, not ending it.” “What would the Founding Fathers...

Reflections on the anniversary of the Seventeenth Amendment “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.” - Constitution of the United States of America, Article 1, Section 3 And so it was, for about 124 years, from the implementation of the Constitution in 1789 through the implementation of Amendment XVII, on April 8, 1913. With the Seventeenth Amendment, the progressive era reached its pinnacle. Direct election of United States Senators forever severed the tethers by which the state...

States as states do need representation in the federal government. Under the Constitution, they have far too much. The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court spurred a lively discussion about institutional design. After the vote, some noted that the 50 senators who voted to confirm represent about 45 percent of the population. A number of astute constitutional historians quickly spoke up to point out that of course that happens, because the Senate represents states and not people. If you want to see the people represented, look to the House. But of course, the fact that the Constitution does...

Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 – July 3, 1918) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as Governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894, and a United States Senator from 1895 until his death in 1918. A white supremacist who opposed civil rights for black Americans, Tillman led a paramilitary group of Red Shirts during South Carolina's violent 1876 election. On the floor of the U.S. Senate, he frequently ridiculed black Americans, and boasted of having helped kill them during that campaign. In the 1880s, Tillman, a wealthy landowner, became dissatisfied with the Democratic leadership...

“No taxation without representation!”That was a popular phrase during the decades leading up to the Revolutionary War. Colonists thought it was unfair to be taxed and subjected to English rule without consent.Today Washington DC hands down laws and taxes to every one of the 320 million people living in the United States.And just like under English rule, we are not represented in the federal government.Now I know what you’re thinking… we have the right to vote for our leaders.Our votes send Representatives, Senators, and the President to Washington DC. And they represent our interests in government. US Representatives are...

The 17th Amendment, which allowed the popular election of U.S. senators, “disenfranchised” state legislatures and altered the U.S. Constitution's checks and balances, Chapman University Law Professor John Eastman told an audience of state legislators in Washington, D.C. last week. The amendment made it easier for Congress to pass legislation, which eventually led to the massive growth in federal power that the states are still grappling with today... “What the founders did is come up with this counterintuitive notion that adding an extra layer of government would provide less government and greater liberty. And it only worked if those governments were...

The Washington Post today published an interesting photo essay about the small number of people who are still members of the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee and Maryland. The photos reveal them to be mostly a bunch of pathetic outcast losers. However, the real reason for this essay wasn't to demonstrate what we already know about the Klan. Just after the introductory paragraph, the true purpose of this entire photo essay was revealed...to slam Donald Trump.

Our previously Free Republic continues to reel from a one hundred and three year old mistake: the 17th Amendment. Pardon me if I don’t celebrate today’s anniversary. Republican theory demands the consent of the governed. From ancient Greece, republican Rome, Saxon Germany, and even in the English kingdom from which we declared our Independence, the component members of their societies had a place at the lawmaking table. Greek ecclesia, Roman tribunes and senators, Saxon Micklegemots, English commons, lords and king, encompassed the totality of their societies. By this, the consent of the governed was present in every law. Unlike simpler...

Our governing system no longer serves its intended purpose, to secure the blessings of liberty. Any casual read of the Constitution reveals our government’s wholesale departure from it. Congress gaffs off or assigns its duties to craft legislation, determine spending, ratify treaties, oversee the executive branch, and regulate the judicial branch. Not being content with rewriting statutes, Scotus increasingly elevates itself above God; its Obergefell v. Hodges ruling is only the latest outrage among many. Executive branch agencies reflect the will of one man, Obama, and not congressional statutes. In response, there is a small but growing minority of Americans...

WAAAAAAH!!! I don't like my Windows 8 so I think I'll dump it! Okay, no big deal. Most of us are not pleased with that operating system. However, Dylan Matthews of General Electric Vox displays the same glibness which, while perhaps appropriate to switching computer operating systems, is completely absurd when wanting to toss over 200 years of constitutional federalism overboard by deciding to abolish the U.S. Senate because he has decided it is "anti-democratic." Here is Dylan making the case that the Founding Fathers were in error:

Edward Brooke, the Massachusetts Republican who was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the US Senate, died on Saturday at the age of 95, the state Republican Party said. Brooke was Massachusetts attorney-general when he was elected to the US Senate in 1966, at a time when the country was gripped by racial unrest. Before his election, there were two other African-American senators shortly after the Civil War. But until early in the 20th century, senators were picked by state legislatures and not by popular vote. In the Senate, Brooke joined a small band of liberal Republicans who...

Few Americans who entered polling booths for the Nov. 4 election and pulled the lever for their favorite candidate for Senate realize that for most of American history, senators were chosen by the state legislatures. It wasn’t until 1913 that the 17thAmendment was passed, granting American voters the constitutional right of directly electing their senators.While this important amendment may seem innocuous, the reality is that few other changes to our Constitution have had the same detrimental effect on our nation than this single, nearly forgotten alteration.The passage of the 17th Amendment was driven largely by the populist movement of the...

Published on American Thinkerby Enza Ferreri I'm not sure how conservative Americans will view the recently-published book Democracy as a Neocon Trick (Amazon USA) (Amazon UK) by Alexander Boot. It’s a very unusual work, in that, whereas critics of America are generally on the Left end of the political spectrum and those on the Right tend to unquestionably defend the “land of the free”, this is a criticism of the US from a non-Leftist viewpoint, indeed from a traditional, conservative, Christian, pre-Enlightenment viewpoint. I don’t agree with everything the author says about America, but he’s such a brilliant philosopher...

Defunding Obamacare is a great idea and I'm not just saying that because I was the first one to promote the concept in March of 2010. Back then, the GOP Leadership agreed with me with no arm twisting required. John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Cathy McMorris Rodgers all vowed to defund Obamacare if the GOP took back the House. Today, it's finally going to happen, but only because Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have forced the GOP to stand up and fight. That being said, it is admittedly unlikely that Barack Obama will agree to defund Obamacare. To make that...

Before the Left came to dominate K-12, I learned in high school social studies that patriots risked their lives and property for eight years to avoid the expense of a few percent in stamp, sugar, or tea taxes. What rubbish. Review our Declaration of Independence. It complains of George III’s abuses, usurpations, despotic and tyrannical intents, veto of our laws, suspension of our assemblies, appointment of judges loyal to him alone, and creating multitudes of offices to control us. In the decade beginning with victory over the French and Indians, George III was determined to influence thirteen colonial legislatures as...

Americans may be able to regain control over their federal government by moving their respective individual state legislatures to invalidate the 16th and 17th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Essentially, this is a vote to reverse ratification of an Amendment without a Constitutional Convention. Repeal of the 16th Amendment starves the federal beast by depriving it of its consumption of money from the states and the taxpayers through income. States could exercise better control over how or even if their money is spent. Repeal of the 17th Amendment makes United States senators directly appointed by the state legislatures, as...