Free Republic

What Is Government Supposed To Do Questions can expand political discussions beyond the topic discussed. The topic in this case was what the government is supposed to do about asset forfeiture corruption. Remove the topic from the question and simply ask, what is the government supposed to do? The thoughtful answer is that the government is only supposed to do one thing. Protect our rights. The founders gave government only enough legislative powers to protect us and our property. I know that doesn’t address asset forfeiture corruption but it does illustrate that the founders didn’t grant government legislative powers to...

In January, President Barack Obama outlined his strategy for 2014. "I've got a pen, and I've got a phone," he said. The president planned on using his pen to sign executive and administrative orders and his phone to call outside groups -- not Congress -- to rally behind his pet programs. Obama forgot to mention his third favorite instrument -- the teleprompter. Rather than working with Congress, Obama's second term is all about blaming Congress for whatever goes wrong. In that can't-do spirit, Obama mocked House Speaker John Boehner's threat to take legal action against the White House's imperial ways....

In response to Donna Brazile: Why did my health care premiums go up? : I understand her disappointment considering the president made some rather incredible predictions when he was campaigning for "what critics call" Obamacare :

Preparing for a final showdown on the massive $1.1 trillion spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended the thousands of earmarks in the measure as the basic function of Congress. "That's our job. That's what we're supposed to do," Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said as he chastised fellow senators who, while having requested pork-barrel spending earlier this year, are now decrying their inclusion in the spending bill.

I don't see how the president's position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president's political judgment and instincts. There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don't see...

Those in government tell us exactly what they want us to hear. They often twist the facts, and sometimes even tell outright lies. But, other than the vote, we citizens usually have little recourse. There is, however, a federal law (18 USC 1001), titled "Fraud and False Statements," that is sometimes used against citizens lying to those in government. The full text of the law is short, but rather interesting: "Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals or covers up any trick, scheme, or device a...

If Iraq attacks Israel in response to a U.S. assault, Israel's citizens will not be expected to sit in sealed rooms or shelters on and off for weeks, as they did in the previous war in the Gulf in 1991. This time, the defense establishment is determined not to have a repeat scenario of the Gulf War. "What happened last time will not happen again," the heads of the defense establishment stress. At the most, IDF officers predict, the authorities will declare an emergency situation for a few days, after which the United States will eliminate the missile threat from...