Free Republic

...an if so what were/are they?

Very busy day. Remember the political ideology exposed within the M-DSPD investigation, and the sunlight avoided by the MSM? Factual information, sworn affidavits etc., knowledge is leverage. Changes in approach are ideologically connected.

Submitted by Johnny Kampis via The Foundation for Economic Education,Migration patterns for 2016 show that Americans tended to move away from high-tax states and into states where residents keep more of what they earn.United Van Lines, the nation’s largest moving company, recently released its annual movers study report showing that South Dakota overtook Oregon as the top inbound destination. Generally, more people moved toward the West, and states in the Northeast saw the largest exodus of residents. The top four outbound states in 2016, in order, were New Jersey, Illinois, New York, and Connecticut.(Photo: Tax Foundation)The Tax Foundation pointed...

Which state gets the biggest share of its budget from the federal government? Is it California, the left’s bizarre alternative universe?Is it Illinois, the poster child for big-government excess? Nope, not even close. As a matter of fact, those two jurisdictions are among the 10-least dependent states.And if you’re guessing that the answer is New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, or some other “blue state,” that would be wrong as well.Instead, if you check out this map from the Tax Foundation, the answer is Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, Tennessee, Montana, and Kentucky. All of which are red states! So does...

Thursday, I laid out the case for why Obamacare should be repealed, instead of propped up and tinkered on by additional top-down, boardroom thinking. It’s clear that whatever replaces Obamacare must focus on quality and incremental local solutions, not one-size-fits-all government mandates.In this respect, the federal government’s biggest task for replacing Obamacare is to get out of the way and let state policymakers and health care providers innovate.First off, let’s get clear what Americans want: They’d like many choices of affordable health insurance plans that allow them to choose their doctors. They want to buy a plan when they are...

A California GOP lawmaker is challenging the hiring of former U.S. Attorney Eric Holder to fight the Trump administration, saying it may violate the California Constitution. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley has asked the California Attorney General’s office to investigate whether legislative Democrats ran afoul of the law by retaining Mr. Holder and his law firm, Covington & Burling, for $25,000 per month to do a job that can be performed by state employees.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes will sue President Barack Obama for designating over 1.6 million acres as national monument land, he said Wednesday, according to The Hill. Obama designated land in Utah and Nevada, including the Bears Ears area in southeastern Utah, as national monuments, which would protect two areas that are rich in Native American artifacts from mining, oil and gas drilling.

The John Locke Foundation just published its First In Freedom Index, a report that compares and ranks the relative freedom of all fifty states.

Because Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College, there are now voices clamoring for America to abandon the Electoral College and become a pure democracy with the winner of the presidential election by popular vote. Not a good idea. In fact it is a very bad idea. Americans should remember that the United States is not a democracy — it is a federated form of government where the role of the federal government is limited to delegated powers by the Founders. This action was then solidified by the 10th Amendment that declares “The powers not delegated...

The Obama administration took steps Wednesday to block states from cutting off federal family planning grants to Planned Parenthood, finalizing a rule that is to take effect just days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. The rule stipulates that states may not prohibit an organization from participating in Title X — the state-federal program that gives out tens of millions of dollars for family planning — for any reason other than the organization’s ability to provide services. It is designed to undercut efforts in some states to withhold taxpayer money from Planned Parenthood, which offers a variety of health-care...

With the massive influx of Muslims immigrating to the United States, more and more state and local courts face the introduction of principles of Sharia law in their courtroom, with the result that some states are taking action to ensure that the Constitution continues to be the law of the land. Alabama has become the most recent state to prohibit consideration of foreign or religious law that might violate the constitutional rights of its citizens. The states have addressed the issue using various methods including ballot measure, constitutional amendment or legislation. In November, Alabama voters passed “The American and Alabama...

**SNIP** A flyover state is the huge region between the coasts. As opposed to the eastern seaboard, northern post-industrial states and Pacific Ocean states. They’re overwhelmingly Republican, stanchly conservative, regressive right wing, evangelical Christian and working class, well, the loudest, most ill-informed of them are. The term wasn’t commonly used in a political manner until recently with the emergence of the Tea Party and the election of Obama. **SNIP** Since the inception of the term silent majority almost 50 years ago, and all of its iterations since, this block of voters was hardly a majority and never silent. This group...

Of all those whose predictions were dashed by this year’s presidential outcome (“Trump is headed toward a major loss” his Oct. 19 headline blared), few have been more exercised than the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne (“white identity politics and male self-assertion triumphed” he railed the day after). Yesterday, in a piece titled “America will soon be ruled by a minority,” he joined the chorus now condemning the “undemocratic” Electoral College—in the name of the Founders, no less, the very men who created it. Ever the good progressive, he fails to appreciate the role states were meant to play in ordering...

All: Thanks for responding. Paul, I agree with you, but there is a part of me that believes there might be something we can do. Dan, I agree with some of you your points, mainly the first, which is where I see my effort moving toward. Though, I am not sure how you measure the “corruptness” of the states verses the federal government. I consider the states nothing more than vassals of the federal government, some more than others. Lee, I am serious only to a point. In that I agree with Dan and I see this as first an...

Before the dust had even settled on Hillary Clinton’s defeat we were already hearing rumblings from liberals about the urgent need to do away with the electoral college. That’s a given, since she won the popular vote while still taking a beating in the EC. But not everyone thinks that a “simple” shift to the popular vote model is enough of a change. Some are mulling over doing away with that whole “States” part of “The United States of America.”When I first began reading Lawrence Samuel’s essay on this subject at the Washington Post I was almost certain that...

In the last week since Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in a stunning electoral blowout, there have been calls from many on the left to abolish America’s unique presidential election system.It still hasn’t been settled whether Trump or Clinton won the popular vote, but many Democrats are upset about the possibility that their candidate may have won more total votes, yet lost the election.Progressives are taking aim at the Electoral College and want to replace it with a national popular vote. This would both remove the indirect mediation of the electors’ votes, and more damagingly, eliminate the power of states...

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the combatants in America's long-running culture wars, the triumph of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans was stunning - sparking elation on one side, deep dismay on the other. Advocates of LGBT rights and abortion rights now fear setbacks instead of further gains. But the outcome emboldened the anti-abortion movement and breathed new life into the religious right's campaign for broad exemptions from same-sex marriage and other laws. Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a legal group that specializes in religious freedom cases, said that, for his cause, the environment will transform from "brutal" under...

Thankfully, the 2016 election is over. The states have instructed the national government about the direction in which they want it to go, and their directive is as clear as it is resounding: Get the heck out of our business! Yes. It was the states that delivered the message on election night. If we look at the popular vote, no candidate got a majority. In fact, Clinton edged Trump by a slim margin on the popular vote (~0.16% of the vote), but only achieved a plurality (47.69% to Trump’s 47.45%). Moreover, a substantial amount of Clinton’s popular support was concentrated...

With two elections still too close to call, Democrats have lost power in three states, including traditionally blue Vermont. Going into Election Day, Republicans made up a historically large 31-18 majority of governors. (There's one independent, Alaska's Bill Walker.) In Missouri, Eric Greitens won a Democratic-held open seat to replace term-limited Jay Nixon. In Vermont, the normally blue state opted for a moderate Republican governor, Phil Scott, to replace Peter Shumlin, who chose not to run for re-election. And in New Hampshire, Republican Chris Sununu flipped the Democratic-held governorship that's currently held by Maggie Hassan, who's in a tight race...

The GOP successfully defended its majorities in most chambers, and also picked up chambers in Kentucky and Iowa, giving the party full control of those states. Democrats went into this election controlling the governorship, Senate and House in just seven states...Now, they control just four states. "In short, Republicans bested expectations," Republicans not only picked up the Kentucky House and the Iowa Senate, but unseated the top Democratic leaders in both... The Kentucky House was the last chamber controlled by Democrats in the South. Their gains in Iowa and Kentucky mean the GOP has won the trifecta in those states,...