Free Republic

The tragic mishandling of the situation in Afghanistan has, ironically enough, given D.C. politicians plenty of cover to sneak through other measures that would be opposed by a majority of Americans. One of those was passed by the Democrat-controlled House last week. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would give Joe Biden's Justice Department the ability to police new changes to voting laws in states that have racked up a series of “violations,” drawing them into a mandatory review process known as “preclearance.” In other words, states would be unable to pass election integrity laws without getting the say-so...

Thomas Jefferson famously adapted key passages of John Locke’s Second Treatise in his draft Declaration of Independence. An 18th century gentleman could hardly regard himself as learned without the ability to quote a few Lockean passages from memory. Yet, what of the average colonial? Books were expensive imports. How were the yeomanry educated well enough in Lockean concepts to readily understand and accept this radical document, the Declaration of Independence? Through newspapers. Like modern Americans, our colonial forebears were also political junkies. Freewheeling editorials, letters to the editor that criticized parliamentary and colonial governments were standing features of public life....

A common concern among Article V opponents is fear that a convention of the states to propose constitutional amendments will result in an oppressive constitution. Instead, all we need to do is enforce the constitution we have. Elect the right people to implement our written constitution and all will be well. As logical and appealing as that approach appears to be, it ignores some horrible realities, and actually promotes our headlong dive into tyranny, for the anti-constitution, the unwritten constitution rules. First, aside from the occasional heat politicians take from an outraged populace, our legislative, executive and judicial branches in...

The first objection from Anti-Federalists was that the extensive territory of 1780s America could not support republican government. Citing a widely respected Charles De Montesquieu, republican government requires the consent of the governed across a small territory with a relatively homogeneous population. James Winthrop of Massachusetts expressed a common belief when he said, “The idea of an uncompounded republic [the size of the United States,] containing six million inhabitants all reduced to the same standard of morals, of habits, and of laws, is in itself an absurdity, and contrary to the whole experience of mankind.” Liberty under a single code...

There is a parallel conservatism shared by the framing era Anti-Federalists and today’s Article V opponents. Conservatism in this sense is the tendency to hold on to what is known and to resist change.We may take it for granted, but thirteen heterogeneous societies joining in common defense was not inevitable. By 1787, both Federalists and Anti-Federalists foresaw approaching dissolution of the union under the Articles of Confederation (AC). A decade of experience with state constitutions had revealed their defects and induced among many Americans an inclination toward change. Either the independent republics must join in a more perfect union, or...

In a 1792 column in the National Gazette, James Madison* briefly touched on Charles de Montesquieu’s three operative principles of government: fear in despotisms, honor in monarchies, and virtue in republics. From this starting point, the genius Madison divided governing principles into three species which reflect their predominant spirit. Madison:May not governments be properly divided, according to their predominant spirit and principles, into three species of which the following are examples?First. A government operating by a permanent military force, which at once maintains the government and is maintained by it; which is at once the cause of burdens on the...

Regarding thoroughly corrupted republics, Machiavelli found that even when a few wise laws are passed, corrupt institutions in society and government will turn the law away from their intended, good purposes.To possibly recover, one of two things must happen. Either prudent men along the way step in to introduce reforms as incremental corruption is detected, or a large single stroke of reform is necessary when the debasement of society and government is evident to all. Since the republic in his discussion is already thoroughly corrupt, it would appear that the first of his possible solutions has been overcome by events.Still,...

Should I be charged with a felony, I know that as an American I am presumed innocent. This presumption of innocence means I will remain in possession of my God-given liberty until a jury of my peers finds me guilty, and a judge determines that I shall forfeit an element of my liberty, my freedom to move about in society as I please. In a larger sense encompassing the presumption of innocence, there is the presumption of liberty. Liberty comprises all of the enumerated, unenumerated as well as implied rights and privileges of our Constitution. Until I prove myself unfit...

What if just two states set a time and place for delegates to discuss amendments to our Constitution? Several states have submitted applications to congress that call for limiting the size and scope of government. Since they have publicly expressed similar concerns over the trajectory of our freedoms, why not? Why should they not convene? Skeptics might point out the states do not have this expressed power in the Constitution. They might further say the states cannot convene unless and until congress calls all the states to convention. Well, that contradicts the retained power concept of our Constitution: that which...

Subtitle: John Adams Reconsiders Republican Government. The American Revolution wasn’t a simple colonial rebellion against English imperialism. It was first and foremost a social revolution. We can hardly imagine today the leap in men’s minds from a stratified social order in which all honors were gifts from a King, to that of free and equal republican citizens. In his 1776 Thoughts on Government, John Adams viewed politics as a straightforward struggle between rulers and the people. Cast off monarchy, and indeed all executive authority, and let a virtuous people govern themselves. The Articles of Confederation reflect this reliance on public...

While our Constitution famously set up a government of divided powers, the powers within each branch are not absolute. Each is subject to various checks from the others. Congress is responsible for lawmaking, but the president has a qualified veto over congressional bills. It is not absolute, for congress may override on two-thirds majority vote. As a theoretical check on the judiciary, scotus is subject to Article III congressionally determined “exceptions . . . and regulations.” Scotus has developed a habit of going far beyond its duty to adjudicate between parties and protect the constitutionality of law. Instead, it often...

There isn’t a worldly creation that doesn’t need continual upkeep and renewal. Examples abound. Without regular maintenance to our autos, homes, marriages, bodies and souls, they will degrade and eventually cease to operate, or will ill-serve their intended purposes. As applied to government, look no further than a congress that rarely serves its designed Constitutional purposes. Our government in general, and congress in particular, are in dire need of renewal, of restoration to their free government designs. Patriots know their forebears created the world’s best free government, yet the American republic is not the longest lived. At about 450 years,...

Our 18th century Framers were precise grammarians. They spent months debating in the stuffy Philadelphia state house to thrash out every concept, idea, detail, clause and yes, punctuation, that ended up in our beloved Constitution. From James Madison’s notes, there is no question that every detail had to first pass a committee composed of a few members, and then survive withering examination by a committee of all state delegates. Article I § 8 elaborates the declaration of limited legislative powers in Section 1: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall...

A common remedy among conservatives for the ills of our nation is to just enforce the constitution we have. Elect enough Tea Party conservatives and freedom will be restored. If only the solution was that simple. From the moment of our independence, the first question as posited by Mercy Warren, was “what government consistent with the Declaration of Independence can be designed by men too proud for monarchy, too poor for nobility, and it is to be feared, too selfish and avaricious for a virtuous republic?” Republicanism was in our blood. Despite the efforts of the British Crown, all of...

The Framers envisioned a free people would keep and improve their republic through Article V and not through the social justice whims of nine unaccountable lawyers. Enlightenment philosophers and our Framers recognized that whereas power is aggressive, liberty is passive, and unless actively pursued, liberty will always fade in the face of encroaching power. Much of America has come to accept as final the often fanciful mutterings of the scotus. As illustrated in its Roe, Lawrence, and Obergefell opinions, scotus not only supplanted the supreme law of the land, it trashed the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God. Its June...

Attention state legislators: The South Carolina legislature is considering SCR141, a resolution calling for a convention of states to discuss, debate, and decide on proposing a constitutional amendment to require the federal government to adhere to defined fiscal responsibilities.A number of respected Article V scholars believe that if this resolution is adopted, it will constitute the 34th such application and the U.S. Congress shall be obligated to call for a convention of states where the merits of such a proposed amendment can be determined.Senator Rex Rice is proposing an amendment to SCR141 that would name the other 33 specific states...

Conservatives tout the importance of the traditional family to our society. Father, mother, children, the family is the building block, the foundation of society. This isn’t news to any civilization. Radical Leftists tell us it doesn’t matter. A family is whatever one or two or more people of any sex wish it to be. After almost fifty years of the Great Society, in which many fathers were replaced with a monthly stipend, we know the results. Directionless, violent and barbaric boys grow into felonious men. Absent the proven institution, the structure of traditional marriage, women still have babies, but our...

Conservatives must get beyond their heartfelt belief that electing fellow conservatives is sufficient to restore republican free government. Electing only Godly, virtuous people to office is of course the ideal. While no republic can survive a government of crooks, it is unreasonable to expect all angelic politicians any more than our society at large was ever composed entirely of angels either. Our constitutional Framers knew this, that men at large were neither entirely good nor bad. Family, society, churches, and even government institutions of the founding era openly promoted the Christian ideal. Still, society had its share of criminals and...

Free Government is that happy condition wherein government respects and protects the unalienable, Natural Rights of the nation, and makes no law without its consent. In the twilight of free government: People believe voting alone can restore free government. The outward institutional structures of a free people still exist. No matter how corrupted our system becomes, there will always be a congress, federal court system, and a president. Despite the fact that these institutions no longer serve their intended purposes and are thoroughly disconnected from any constitutional restraint, they give the patina of legitimacy to tyranny. Unknown, faceless, unaccountable people...

Our governing system doesn't serve its intended purpose, to secure the blessings of liberty. A casual read of the Constitution reveals our government’s wholesale departure from it. Congress gaffs off or assigns its duties to craft legislation, determine spending, ratify treaties, oversee the executive branch, and regulate the judicial branch. Not being content with rewriting statutes, scotus increasingly elevates itself above God; its Obergefell v. Hodges ruling is only the latest outrage among many. Executive branch agencies reflect Leftist priorities and not congressional statutes. In response, there is a small but growing minority of Americans who believe revolution is our...