About Free Republic

Who are we? Free Republic is a loosely organized group of grassroots Americans who support our Constitution and look for honesty, integrity and honor from those in government. Like millions of Americans, we are fed up with our out of control federal government. Therefore, we are working together to roll back decades of liberal/socialist public policy and eliminate the waste, fraud, abuse and corruption pervasive in Washington today.

Most of the visitors to the Free Republic website are attracted to our very popular (and addictive) conservative forum for two basic reasons: First, this is a fast moving forum where you can often find breaking news and up to the minute updates. But, most importantly, visitors are encouraged to comment on the news of the day here, and especially to contribute whatever information they may have to help others better understand a particular story.

"FReeping" at the March for Justice

Free Republic is the group who put on the nationally televised "March for Justice" rally in October 1998 at the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. and the "Judgment Day" rally on the Capitol steps in December. The events were viewed by many in Congress and caused quite a stir in Washington and the press. We feel that they, along with the dozens of smaller events put on by Free Republic Chapters all around the country, helped change the tide against the President which eventually led to his impeachment.

Be sure to attend our next national rally, the "Tribute to the House Managers" Dinner and Rally which is scheduled for May 4th, 1999. There will be a rally during the day and a dinner honoring the House Impeachment Managers in the evening. This will be an unique, once in a lifetime, opportunity to meet and discuss the impeachment with the Congressmen involved.

Free Republic was founded in 1996 by Jim Robinson, a private citizen from Fresno, California. Funding for Free Republic is provided strictly by donations from our membership and readers. We have close to 20,000 registered members as of this writing (March 1999) and we are receiving an average of 50,000 to 100,000 "hits" per day to our web site from tens of thousands of people throughout the country and around the world.

Incidentally, we have been told that "everyone" on Capitol Hill reads Free Republic everyday. Some notables who are "FReepers" or who have participated in our rallies or activism events include: Dr. Alan Keyes, Gary Aldrich, Larry Klayman, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Congressman Bob Barr, Dr. Paul Fick, Matt Drudge, Bob Tyrell, "Peter the Lawyer", James Golden (Bo Snerdley), Reed Irvine, Joyce ‘ReJoice’ Smith, Rev. Jesse Peterson, Linda Tripp, Juanita Broaddrick, L.D. Brown, Patrick Knowlton, Billy Dale and many, many others.

Free Republic is a grassroots organization and we are forming chapters in all states. Please check our Chapters page for the Free Republic Chapter near you. And please feel welcome to join Free Republic today. You will be among great friends and patriots, and together, we will make a difference.

Free Republic is not affiliated with any political party, news source, government agency or any other entity.

Presenting the Colors at the March for Justice

What is our mission? Free Republic is dedicated to reversing the trend of unconstitutional government expansion and is advocating a complete restoration of our constitutional republic. Listed below are some of the issues we feel strongly about.

Basically, we believe that the Founders designed our system of government in the form of a constitutionally limited republic, with maximum freedom intended for the people and minimum government control or interference into our personal lives and business affairs.

The united states of America was intended to be a federation of sovereign states, each with its own constitution and state government. Governments at all levels -- federal, state and local -- were to be controlled by the people. Our Constitution explicitly restricts the power of our federal government; and our Bill of Rights guarantees that NO government may infringe upon our God given unalienable rights. This is to ensure that the real power remains close to home, with the states, the local governments and always in the hands of the people.

We the People have granted our federal government limited powers to oversee certain things, such as national defense, interstate commerce, the postal service, the coining of money, and the operation of a court system. Most other powers now in the hands of the federal government were illegally usurped from the states and from the people.

Somehow, over the years, our guiding principles of law, as set forth in the Constitution, have been eroded to the point that the federal government now has total control -- leaving the states impotent and the people as captive servants to the federal government. This must be reversed if we are to survive as a free Republic and a free people.

We at Free Republic are determined to return the Constitution to its rightful place as the Supreme Law of the land as the Founders intended.

It is not necessary for everyone to hold the same views to be members of Free Republic, however, many of us do share many of the following as common beliefs and goals:

The preservation and complete restoration of our Constitution and Bill of Rights with special emphasis on the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth and tenth amendments and, of course, our right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness -- free of government intervention.

We call for the repeal of the 17th amendment, which will reverse the independence of the Senate and reestablish the Senate as a representative of the State governments, as intended by the Founding Fathers. This arrangement was intended to be a critical check against illegal federal expansion over the States, and the people residing in the various States, and will act to return the powers not granted to the federal government, as enumerated in the Constitution, to the states.

We call for the repeal of the 16th amendment and to abolish the income tax and the IRS. Revenues to the federal government should come from excise taxes and tariffs.

We call for the repeal of the Emergency and War Powers Acts, an end to all national emergencies and a ban on the unilateral creation of law by Presidential edict. We are also working for the repeal all laws created by unconstitutional and extraconstitutional devices, such as Executive Order or Presidential Directive.

Repeal of the war and emergency powers acts and the various states of national emergencies will allow the abolishing of all unconstitutional federal law, agencies and departments. This will return us to a Federalist system of government and return many responsibilities to the States and personal rights to the citizens.

A return to a strictly Constitutional form of federal government will automatically repeal and abolish all unconstitutional federal involvement in states issues such as: crime, health, education, welfare and the environment. The Tenth Amendment will again be in effect, which will bar all federal attempts at legislating social issues. This will also require that social programs such as Social Security, welfare and Medicare be repealed. So too, will most federal subsidies.

We further call for the rescinding of all treaties and/or International Agreements which are not in perfect agreement with the federal government’s Constitutionally mandated task of protecting the rights of the people.

We believe that the United States should disassociate itself from the U.N. and that the U.N. should be forced to leave the United States. Furthermore, we demand that the federal government refrain from meddling in the business and squabbles of foreign nations, unless there is an imminent threat to the people of the United States.

We also call for the strengthening of our military and defenses; the effective control over illegal immigration and smuggling; the paying down the national debt; and strict control over federal agencies like the CIA and the FBI.

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NOTE: Free Republic does NOT condone bigotry or violence and does NOT advocate an overthrow of the government.

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The Free Press, Free Speech and Copyright Law

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

-- The U.S. Constitution

We the people own the government and we are its masters. We are the free press.

Any man, corporation or government entity who wishes to challenge our right to discuss news accounts (copyrighted or not) of public policy issues or political events or of government corruption in our non-commercial, not-for-profit, public electronic townhall forum should first examine each and every word of the First Amendment above and then tell us which words they don't understand.

The federal government has overstepped its Constitutional limits and the complicit media is acting in concert to continue the illegal government expansion and to strengthen its own stranglehold on truth and to continue its agenda of projecting the socialist government propaganda slant on the news.

The Framers did not intend for the federal government, through regulation and copyright law, to restrict the right of the people to free speech. In fact, they explicitly prohibited it. They also did not intend for a few major corporations to achieve a virtual monopoly on the news. They intended for the people to maintain a free press and for that free press to be a watchdog over the government and to expose any attempts at tyranny or illegal expansion.

Fair use in the electronic age: Serving the public interest

The primary objective of copyright is not to reward the labor of authors, but "[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts." To this end, copyright assures authors the right to their original expression, but encourages others to build freely upon the ideas and information conveyed by a work. This result is neither unfair nor unfortunate. It is the means by which copyright advances the progress of science and art.

-- Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499 US 340, 349(1991)

"The genius of United States copyright law is that, in conformance with its constitutional foundation, it balances the intellectual property interests of authors, publishers and copyright owners with society's need for the free exchange of ideas. Taken together, fair use and other public rights to utilize copyrighted works, as confirmed in the Copyright Act of 1976, constitute indispensable legal doctrines for promoting the dissemination of knowledge, while ensuring authors, publishers and copyright owners appropriate protection of their creative works and economic investments.

The fair use provision of the Copyright Act allows reproduction and other uses of copyrighted works under certain conditions for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research. Additional provisions of the law allow uses specifically permitted by Congress to further educational and library activities. The preservation and continuation of these balanced rights in an electronic environment as well as in traditional formats are essential to the free flow of information and to the development of an information infrastructure that serves the public interest.

It follows that the benefits of the new technologies should flow to the public as well as to copyright proprietors. As more information becomes available only in electronic formats, the public's legitimate right to use copyrighted material must be protected. In order for copyright to truly serve its purpose of "promoting progress," the public's right of fair use must continue in the electronic era, and these lawful uses of copyrighted works must be allowed without individual transaction fees."

(The above statement was developed by representatives of the following associations: American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors, Association of Research Libraries, Medical Library Association Special Libraries Association in a working document dated 1/18/95)

Instead, what has happened is, the government and the corporate media have created, through regulation and policy a liberal propaganda machine whose goal is to continue the expansion of a collective state and to control every aspect of our lives and fortunes. Dissenting views are stifled by selective interpretation of copyright law and unfair litigation leveled at whistleblowers and those who would attempt to use the news media's own copyrighted "news" stories to expose the lies, spin and half truths therein.

We, on Free Republic, are determined to speak out against this illegal alliance and to peaceably work toward reestablishing the Constitution as the supreme law of the land as our Founders intended, and to petition our representatives to force the government to operate within its Constitutional limits. We are determined to stand up for our Constitutional rights, for liberty, truth, justice, and the rule of law.

We, the People, are exercising our Constitutional right to freedom of speech and peaceable assembly to demand that our elected representatives fulfill their Constitutional duty.

~~ Jim Robinson, March 1999