Free Republic

It is difficult to define a whole school of political ideology precisely, but one may reasonably define liberalism (as opposed to conservatism) in the contemporary United States as the genuine concern for the welfare of genetically unrelated others and the willingness to contribute larger proportions of private resources for the welfare of such others. In the modern political and economic context, this willingness usually translates into paying higher proportions of individual incomes in taxes toward the government and its social welfare programs. Liberals usually support such social welfare programs and higher taxes to finance them, and conservatives usually oppose them....

On Thursday January 29, 2015, famed mass murderer Henry Kissinger was once again scheduled to address the US Senate Armed Services Committee. Because the tradition of allowing some of the most bloodthirsty killers, traitors, and psychopaths to address members of Congress or provide them with marching orders is par for the course in Washington, Kissinger’s appearance should have come as no surprise to anyone. Nor should it have come as a surprise that this committee boasted a terrorist sympathizer and notorious color revolution artist like John McCain as a member. What was surprising, however, was that this particular address saw...

We have been seeing America go to the "dogs" for 6 years now and still some "brain dead" fools cling to the idea that they will stay home rather than vote for a "Pubbie" that they deem a RINO.

Conservatism in Mississippi faces a rocky and critically defining period ahead after the GOP Senate primary bloodbath. There are many good people - red, yellow, black and white, tea party and establishment - in Mississippi who are concerned about better public policy that will involve, among other things, - and most importantly - smaller, limited government. If anybody can bring us together, Thad can. He's spent his entire career building and tending relationships like a master rose gardener. But the party must step up, too. The next six years will shape the future of America, and Mississippi needs to be...

Within a few days, a federal district judge in my home-state of Virginia will likely rule on the constitutionality of the commonwealth’s Marshall-Newman Amendment, which only permits marriage between one man and one woman. Frankly, as a conservative Republican and as a Christian, I hope that the amendment is struck down. Republicans value marriage so highly because it encourages people to live according to conservative values. For instance, by enabling two people to share resources, marriage makes couples more financially secure, thereby reducing their dependence on government. In addition, marriage binds people into permanent, monogamous relationships, enabling couples to more...

For any who might have missed the debate Tuesday evening, it may be seen on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kgvhG3AkI What I was listening to was more of a debate on the age of the Earth than on evolution although the two topics are related. Ham is well schooled in the arguments against evolution, but he believes in a literal intgerpretation of Genesis and a roughly six thousand year old universe; that is pretty much impossible to defend. Nye, on the other hand, strikes me as a sort of a yuppie and an acolyte of Carl Sagan's who has not made any sort...

<p>Wal-Mart’s wages are so low that many of its workers must rely on food stamps and other government aid programs, costing taxpayers as much as $900,0000 at just one Wal-Mart Supercenter in Wisconsin.</p> <p>So how did the report’s authors come up with the $900,000 figure? First, they took into account the number of Wal-Mart stores and employees across Wisconsin and the per-person costs of Badgercare, the state’s health care program, estimating that the cost of the publicly funded health care comes to $251,706 per year for a Supercenter that employees 300 workers.</p>

Rhonda Swan, a Cox Newspaper columnist wrote a column that appeared in the Chattanooga Times Free-Press in which she defended same-sex marriage and attacked the Bible and common sense. The column was riddled with assumptions, speculations, distortions, and mistakes dealing with the Bible and same-sex marriage. You know–the normal thing that passes for journalism today. She is an author and accomplished journalist and received the “reporter of the year” award from the National Association of Black Journalists’ New England chapter. So she is not a novice; however, she is mistaken, misinformed, and malicious. It is a misnomer to characterize same-sex...

Electoral trends show America's large cities growing more and more liberal, meaning urban conservatives are becoming more and more isolated. However, there are a handful of cities out there that buck the trend and still provide friendly habitat for city-dwelling conservatives. We scoured the country for large cities with populations over 200,000 that offer a combination of conservative values, a high quality of life, and plenty of big city activities to enjoy. We looked into recent voting trends, tax rates, business-friendly grades, locals who identify as "highly religious," gun-friendly laws, conservative local politicians, and more. Then we combined them with quality...

I hope that our elected officials will start to pour their efforts and energy towards legislation that is pragmatic. This showmanship and posturing from the junior senator from Texas is ill conceived and ultimately detrimental to the Republican party. Ted Cruz does not care about Obamacare, it does not affect him. He cares about advancing his political career, and he seized the opportunity. Can we really blame him?

In December 2012, the Red Cross and an affiliated organization known as the Water Reference Center (WRC) performed a medical field test in the African country of Uganda. The test was to determine if a popular “Miracle Cure” had any impact on malaria, a disease that is estimated to kill one child every minute in Africa alone. To the surprise of the Red Cross and their staff, it cured all 154 malaria patients that took part in the test―with no side effects.

"Homosexuality is incompatible with the priestly vocation. Otherwise, celibacy itself would lose its meaning as a renunciation. It would be extremely dangerous if celibacy became a sort of pretext for bringing people into the priesthood who don't want to get married anyway," the pope said. The pope cited a 2005 Vatican document that drew a sharp line against priestly ordination of homosexuals. He said the document emphasized that homosexual candidates cannot become priests because their sexual orientation interferes with "the proper sense of paternity" that belongs to the priesthood. The pope said it was important to select priestly candidates very...

Who is blocking comments on the Free Republic I used to love. (Used to being the KEY WORD here). Has Jim been warned not to let anything controversial (anti Obama - anti government) pass? Have we lost our right of free speech? Yes. It definitely has been or is being enforced on FR this past month or so.

Although I’ve been attacked by fellow conservatives, FINALLY someone is speaking the truth about Paul Ryan lack of true fiscal conservatism. And John Boehner’s reply – together with complicit cover ups by some conservatives – had better damn well wake the rest of you up who are partying as if the Ryan nomination means the election is over.The entire 50 second video is here, but I will paraphrase it:Greta Van Susteren: Ryan’s supposed to be a fiscal hawk. How does he explain his vote for the stimulus in ‘08, the auto bailout, and TARP?Speaker John Boehner: He’s not a knuckledragger...

Except for his unfortunate go along to get along support of TARP, bailouts, stimulus spending and the increased credit limit, etc, Ryan is a pretty good choice. Probably the best choice of the RINOS that were on Romney's short list. I support Ryan for the vice presidency. Wish he were at the top of the ticket, though. But I still cannot and will not support the grand father of ObamaCare. Romney still loves and brags about his bastard brainchild, RomneyCare, even today when he knows what an anti-liberty socialist POS it is. And the fact that he advocated that abortion...

Countries of the “Russian world” are capable of changing the globe within ten years, believes top cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church Vsevolod Chaplin. ­By the “Russian world” he means states with a historically strong tradition of Orthodox Christianity which, apart from Russia, include Ukraine, Belarus, Greece, Romania and several others. “Our Orthodox civilization may not be that large, but today it has a key role in the world as it knows how to find a way to a better life for the whole world and especially Europe,” Chaplin said on Monday during a videoconference between Moscow, Kiev and Minsk....

I have to wonder if all the Romney haters on this site were the same people who ran home to mom when they lost at games as kids. I did not vote for Romney in the primaries. If you asked anyone that knows me, they would say I am right of Reagan. What I don't understand is all of you that love this country,which I truly believe you do, that are willing to not vote for Romney and potentially allow this country to fail by re-electing Obama!, how does that make sense?

Many of my fellow conservatives have an almost knee-jerk hostility toward gay marriage. This does not make sense, because same-sex unions promote the values conservatives prize. Marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our neighborhoods and our nation. At its best, it is a stable bond between two individuals who work to create a loving household and a social and economic partnership. We encourage couples to marry because the commitments they make to one another provide benefits not only to themselves but also to their families and communities. Marriage requires thinking beyond one's own needs. It transforms two...

...I thought Huntsman would be my ideal candidate. And indeed, his tax reform proposals--modeled on Bowles-Simpson--are dead-on.... On foreign policy, Huntsman also favors a more realist correction to neocon excess, and would build on Obama's remarkable successes.... And his sanity on climate change--certainty that it is man-made but real skepticism about how to tackle it--is, in my view, the conservative position. And, almost alone among the Republicans, he acknowledges that gay people exist and that our committed relationships merit recognition in the law. So why not Huntsman? The sad truth is: he simply hasn't connected with the voters, generates little...

As the merry-go-round of the GOP primary continues, the present darling of fickle voters is Newt Gingrich, Like a phoenix he’s risen from the ashes to claim, with typical humility, “I’m going to be the nominee,” dismissing all other candidates as a trifling irrelevancy. Unfortunately the belated choice of Gingrich is no choice at all, for there can be little doubt how the questionably conservative and enormously polarizing Gingrich would fare against a personally popular Obama in the General Election. There is, at present only one real choice to make regarding the next president. It’s either Romney or Obama. A...