Free Republic

I’m not a socialist. I could just leave my argument there but this article has to be at least 500 words so I will provide specific examples. 1. College shouldn’t be free. College is a privilege, not an entitlement. It should be an investment by the student for his or her future. Making college free for everyone will cheapen its value and make a master’s degree essential to be competitive in the job market. Are we going to make graduate degrees free as well? Stop being ridiculous. This is the point where Bernie supporters usually start to attack me during...

For many people on the left, especially my fellow white liberals, looking into the mirror is either uncomfortable, or an experience akin to amnesia. However, imagine if Barack Obama had fabricated a story about surviving sniper fire, only to say that he misspoke. The Atlantic has a recap of at least eight controversies and scandals involving Hillary Clinton. Do you think a person of color in America's political system could have overcome or circumvented this list of controversy? That's called white privilege at its height. Furthermore, although Bernie Sanders has also benefited from white privilege, could he have survived politically...

The problem with socialism, Margaret Thatcher is credited with saying, is that you eventually run out of other people's money. But the late Mrs. Thatcher - heroic conservative prime minister of Great Britain - was too well-mannered to tell people what actually comes next. So I'll have to do it. After socialists run out of other people's money, the people eventually run out of something almost as precious as money: Toilet paper. It's happening right now in Venezuela, once a socialist, oil-rich paradise and land of great shortstops. But Venezuela is fast becoming a thoroughly failed state. Let's just hope...

I wanted to briefly mention a few observations of discussions about the Holy Father's latest plane interview. 1. Astoundingly, when Catholics raise concerns about Pope Francis suggestion to women that they can use birth control pills and condoms to prevent perfectly healthy babies from being conceived because of a remote chance of birth defects, I am still seeing Catholics claim the press is misinterpreting what is being said. I will not cite the dozens of examples, suffice it to say that the Father has accountability for his own words and actions. His contradiction of Humane Vitae was as clear as...

The hugs from John Kasich and even Hillary Clinton offered a small bit of authentic humanity to relentlessly packaged presidential campaigns. However, this grab at ersatz identity in the middle of the MSNBC townhall last night by Bernie Sanders exposes the more mundane lack of authenticity seen on the trail. When asked by a woman how “a white male” like Sanders could understand the “intersectional identities” faced by minorities, Sanders responded that he’s actually an honorary woman. Ohhhhhhhhhhh-kay:"Gloria Steinem once made me an honorary woman many...Transcript included for full context: UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good evening. Thank you, Senator Bernie Sanders. My...

The homeowner got the idea after he saw photos of other Sanders supporters painting fences, roofs and walls online.A man in Castro Valley has painted the Bernie Sanders campaign logo on the roof of his home. For some people, professing their political allegiance with a lawn sign just isn't enough. A man in Castro Valley painted his roof with the Bernie Sanders campaign logo. "It's bold and it's big. It gets people's attention. It gets people to talk and think and go home and go, 'Why did he do that?'" said Daren Wilkerson, a high school English teacher, as...

SILVER SPRING M.D. - There's a female candidate currently running for office who refuses to answer questions about shady dealings, promotes ability to accomplish legislation while knocking Republicans, and denies her wealth. But it's not Hillary Clinton, it's Chris Matthews' wife Kathleen Matthews, who is running for Congress in Maryland's eighth district. During a Sunday candidate forum at the Democratic Club of Leisure World in front of crowd of mostly seniors, Matthews revealed that her husband spends time calling Rep. Chris Van Hollen's office because, "he's not getting his social security check." This is despite his reported $5 million annual...

Anyone have strong enough stomach and information junkie brain to dare watch with me?

An ideological construct that exploits envy and resentment for political advantage. Throughout this primary season, Hillary Clinton and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders have both been flogging the “crisis” of “income inequality,” which is “at the center of their campaigns,” according to CNN. Both have scourged the “greed” of the “1%,” called for higher taxes on the “rich,” and promised to expand and multiply government programs to rectify this injustice. Yet like other slogans progressives rely on, the idea of “income inequality” is an ideological construct, a statistical artifact that exploits envy and resentment for political advantage. The first problem with...

Socialism: Like a skyscraper crane about to topple in high winds, Venezuela is teetering on the brink of a horrific economic collapse. It was brought on by one thing: socialism, taken to the hilt. Yet incredibly, neither Bernie Sanders nor his voters make this connection. It’s worrisome that so many Americans see socialism in a favorable light these days. A May 2015 YouGov poll showed that socialism was viewed favored favorably by 43% of Democrats, while a June 2015 Gallup poll showed that 47% of Americans would vote for a socialist. It points to a collective loss of memory. After...

Responding to one of Anderson Cooper’s softball questions, socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told the CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night that he lives a frugal life and indicated that he doesn’t care about money or status. “I have a small Chevrolet,” he said. “It is one of the smallest Chevys that they make.” He said it was about five years old.But James O’Brien, a political consultant and former publisher of Campaigns & Elections magazine, says the career politician, who has been a mayor, member of Congress and U.S. senator, has achieved the financial status of a millionaire.O’Brien has analyzed the...

HILLARY CLINTON first grabbed the national spotlight 47 years ago as an idealistic young feminist, chiding the paternalistic establishment in her Wellesley commencement speech. So it’s passing strange to watch her here, getting rebuffed by young women who believe that she lacks idealism, that she overplays her feminist hand and that she is the paternalistic establishment. Bernie Sanders may be a dead ringer for Larry David, but Hillary is running the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” campaign. She can’t fire up young voters by dwelling on what can’t be done in Washington and by explaining that she’s more prose than poetry.

If Bernie Sanders becomes the Dem nominee, the GOP might wind up having to pay royalties to Chris Matthews . . On this evening's Hardball, Matthews aired what he himself said could be an anti-Bernie Republican ad, cobbled together from clips of various radical statements Sanders has made over the years. In Chris' commercial, Sanders is seen saying he's a socialist, confirming he's not a capitalist, admitting that he applied for conscientious objector status, indicating that he would raise taxes to somewhere between 50 and 90%, and preaching political "revolution." Workers of the world: unite behind Bernie! View the video...

Hillary Clint was asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper during last night's Democratic town hall if she still believed in a "vast right wing conspiracy" working against her. The answer she gave is fairly chilling if you care whether the next president of the United States is a paranoid loon. The Hill: During the New Hampshire town hall debate on Wednesday night, CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Clinton if she still believes there is a "vast right-wing conspiracy" as she said there was during the late 90s to initially explain the Monica Lewinksy scandal. "Don't you?" Clinton replied, as the audience...

A coming change in accounting standards could do irreversible damage to community banks, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., said in a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board. An accounting-standards update due to be issued by the board would change the way all lenders set aside reserve funds in anticipation of possible losses. The board, wrote Tipton and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., should take "utmost caution" in proceeding because it has the potential to "irreversibly damage community banks' and credit unions' ability to continue to adequately serve their customers/members and communities and sustain the economic recovery." ... Tipton, a member...

It was getting on toward 2 o'clock on Tuesday morning after the bewildering Iowa caucuses, so I can't be too sure about anything. As the TV coverage wound down into nothingness, Chris Matthews of MSNBC became increasingly disgruntled about the lack of clear winners and losers in the Hawkeye State, at least in the Democratic photo finish between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Getting to hear the losers make concession speeches is what makes our democracy exciting, he insisted. Iowa in 2016, according to the Matthews worldview, was not exciting. "This was just vague," he muttered. He may actually have...

Before he achieved political office, Bernie Sanders never had a steady paycheck in the first four decades of his life. Now, he aspires to the highest office in the land where he could play a decisive role in shaping the circumstances under which the rest of us work and receive (when we can) our paychecks. It is a sobering record, as Investor's Business Daily explains it:

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday shot back against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) comments that Democrats aren't "running on any platform of raising taxes." Sanders said the U.S. is spending "far more than other countries on healthcare." "My proposal will save middle-class families thousands of dollars a year on their healthcare costs. Most people tell me, 'Yes, they would be happy to pay $1,000 more in taxes if they're paying $5,000 less in healthcare premiums,' " he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Sanders said the U.S. needs to follow every other major country in controlling healthcare...

Embracing gun control has always been a toxic issue for Democrats.  It has played well deep in their darkests bases, like New York City and the District of Columbia, where ignorance about guns and gun law is pervasive and cherished.  On the national stage, they have been careful to approach it sideways, with code words like “gun safety” and “common sense”.   In 1994, when Bill Clinton pushed it the hardest on the national stage, the Democrats suffered one of their most emphatic defeats; the Republican revolution of 1994.  President Clinton even acknowledged that his gun control push was a...

Europe, whose economic struggles have grown that much greater with recent problems in crucial markets like China and Russia, is rushing to do business with a newly accessible and eager, if still problematic, partner: Iran. With the lifting of sanctions after its nuclear deal with the West, Tehran has gone shopping this week, bringing its checkbook and a long list of items it had been unable to acquire for years. Despite lingering animosities and the United States' designation of Iran as a sponsor of terrorist groups, European governments and corporations have made it clear that economic opportunity is going to...