Free Republic

We view dealings with Iran from one election to another, whereas Iran views its wars as a global matter that affects everything and runs on a cosmic timetable. Recently, I watched the 1966 epic Khartoum, with Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier. Khartoum dramatizes the struggle between British General Charles Gordon and the Sudanese religious leader Muhammad Ahmad (the Mahdi) during the 1880s siege of Khartoum. In the film, the Mahdi informs General Gordon that Allah has commanded him to pray at every major mosque in the world and kill all who refuse to submit to him. Whether entirely accurate or...

Being an American citizen used to mean something; now, not so much. We are on the decline, lacking focus and unable to answer the most important question that matters: what is an American? By 1800, America was largely an established and cohesive nation. We had an almost industrialized process of taking people in and producing fundamentally similar people, thoroughly American, within a generation or two. This process continued for the next 160 years with laws and policies aiming to integrate immigrants into a predominantly Anglo-Saxon, Protestant identity. Laws were enacted to encourage English language learning and cultural conformity. ... An...

My first blush takeaway from the mid-terms is how disaffected so many of us are. Feeling poorer through inflation is just depressing. This includes the psychological damage felt when your loved ones are also hurting. Our society is inarguably in steep decline with no end in sight. But what if there was a way to immediately change such a negative outlook? I can conceive of a way to fix the most basic problem that led us to where we are today. One which won’t have the Treasury print more worthless dollars in an attempt to make you feel better or...