Free Republic

Part I – The Origin of Liberty The United States became a nation through a grand self-declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. The American colonialists-turned-revolutionaries fought a valiant and victorious battle against Great Britain to back up the audacious claim made in their Declaration of Independence. In 1788 the Constitution of the United States was ratified. A new nation was born that would stand as the bastion of liberty for centuries to come because of its religious influence. Ironically, many citizens of this very same nation today writhe at the suggestion that religion is, or could be, responsible for...

Headlines from the week of October 10, 2011 The United States of America is now a Dictatorship Photo by Steve Jurveston Facing mounting Congressional gridlock, President Obama realized his dream by declaring the United States a dictatorship – of which he is the dictator.  Although toying with the idea since the time of his youthful interactions with Marxist mentors and bringing it into fruition via his cornucopia of regulatory czars, his sagging poll numbers and uncooperative legislature finally pushed him over the edge, “My instruction to…all the advisers sitting around the table is…identify all those areas in which we...

The protestors participating in Occupy Wall Street are expressing their First Amendment right to free speech, one of the privileges of a free society. For this I applaud them - provided they do so lawfully. In addition, I find some common ground with their objections to the bank bailouts and their apparent desire to eliminate the Federal Reserve. I am also likewise dismayed at the weight and influence large corporations (and other special interests) carry with the government. However similar our objections might be, the protestor's motivations and end-game couldn't be more dissimilar and, once again, the liberals and left-wing...

I sat forlorn in a discount haircut franchise watching as my hair fell to the floor whilst what remaining on my head began looking similar to unwanted patches of crab grass in my lawn. I handed over my $5.00 off coupon and grimaced as the total still came to $12.00. Why was I paying money for a haircut I could from a chance encounter between my head and the weed whacker in my garage?

Recent headlines have pondered the apparent paradox of economic recovery without corresponding increases in jobs – called the “jobless recovery” by some. I believe I have resolved the apparent conundrum using a detailed analytical technique. Don’t blame your politicians because few of them are familiar with this methodology, and no liberal has ever heard of it. I like to call this special technique…common sense.

Imagine for a moment the government determines owning a late model automobile is the right of every American (actually, this isn’t too hard to imagine). Congress and the President rationalize that it isn’t fair for only a small percentage of the population to afford a new car. They believe it is their prerogative to introduce and pass legislation establishing a government car-buying program to grant every American the “right” to own a new car. Further, they defend their position by asserting the Founding Fathers couldn’t have even dreamt of modern automobiles when they wrote the Bill of Rights; if they...

The Obama Administration pulled out its favorite, and only, tool for dealing with a crisis: file a lawsuit. Responding to Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law, the Administration filed suit alleging usurpation of the Federal government’s Constitutional role in foreign affairs, namely immigration. For those of us with a clue, this move is as idiotic as it is transparent. President Obama’s disdain for our nation and its founding documents is no secret. Therefore, his abject failure to secure our borders is no surprise; in fact, his motivation for the suit is solely to draw attention to his latest proposed legislation: immigration reform.

For 56 days crude oil has been streaming into the Gulf of Mexico through a failed Blow Out Preventer situated on the ocean floor. President Obama is not responsible for the accident that caused the oil spill, nor is he responsible for fixing the leak; however, he is responsible for his ardent failure to lead the Executive branch of our Federal government in the performance of its duties. Recently, Obama struck out against small government supporters saying (paraphrased), "Some of the folks who have been saying they want government to do less are now complaining that the government isn't doing...

Several times during his presidency President Obama has espoused the virtue of a balanced budget and enforcing pay-as-you-go for Congressional bills. Moreover, he revels in chiding the "previous administration" for not doing so. Not only are these vitriolic criticisms and notions of fiscal responsibility entirely laughable coming from the biggest deficit spending president of all time, they are not what the United States of America needs. ...America doesn't need pay-as-you-go nor do we need a balanced budget because both imply the same, or greater, government engorgement upon our hard-earned money...

Climate-Gate has certainly dealt a tremendous blow to the validity of the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory, but some die-hard ignoramuses continue to assert it is true. Aside from outright reductio ad absurdum, AGW enthusiasts also frequently justify their belief using logical fallacies. I will cover a few of the more common logical fallacies (note that these are commonly used to defend many other ill-contrived ideas):

I finally read the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Having read several commentaries on Marxism I felt it time to read the actual Manifesto. Considering the nexus of all communist ideology is the Communist Manifesto, and given the vast number of its "followers," I prepared myself for a deeply intellectual assault on my capitalist ideals. Surely, the bastion of all communism would be based upon solid reasoning, keen economic knowledge, and adept sociology...right? Let's just say I was grossly over-prepared. For those more accustomed to Twitter than Tolstoy, I will provide my synopsis in two sections: one...

In my home state of Colorado we have a little thing called the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, or TABOR. TABOR is a ballot measure that was passed in 1992 by the citizens of Colorado to limit the State from imposing new or higher taxes on Coloradoans without the consent of the citizens via referendum (taxes can escalate based upon population growth and inflation). Herb Fenster, an attorney in Boulder, Colorado, is now suing the citizens of Colorado over TABOR claiming that it violates Article IV, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution which requires the Feds to ensure the States provide...

While doing research for an upcoming book, I came across an interesting bit of economics research from UC Berkeley which I believe may explain President Obama's continuous Bush blaming...If my accusation is correct, then the Obama's constant Bush blaming is not just representative of a pitiful lack of accountability, it's also a completely asinine attempt to affect an economic outcome by wrapping increasing tax burdens from his overspending into a psychologically more pleasing package. Of course, the approach will be a miserable failure because it is based upon even more miserably misguided economists.

Emails from a number of high profile climate scientists (e.g. Phil Jones at University of East Anglia) were leaked to the world revealing intentional efforts to manipulate climate data and report results inaccurately for the sake of globalism. Any self-respecting individual who has been told with a straight face that science is and objective methodology for obtaining knowledge should now be questioning how it is possible that something so profoundly objective could produce "Climate Gate." The answer is quite simple: it's the Religion of Science.

The final Senate vote on the "Health Care Bill" is tomorrow (Christmas Eve). It is imperative that you contact your Senators and tell them to vote against it, particularly if your senator is a Democrat up for re-election in 2010! Let them know you will campaign tirelessly against them during the 2010 election cycle if they vote for the bill, even let them know you have (or will) sign the Liberty Petition and boycott their campaign donors. It is a last ditch effort, but still worthwhile.

If we are to be successful in our revolution to rid the government of its corrupted politicians (I think that's just about all of them) then we must separate the politicians from their money supplies. The fundamental problem in American Politics today is that our politicians are completely dependent upon; therefore, subservient to big money donors and lobbyists. To win a political campaign you need money, and lots of it, because people vote based upon name recognition and image. We, the ordinary folks, a.k.a. "We the People," don't offer any value to a politician because we don't hold the key...

Are you watching, horrified, while our elected politicians transform our country away from how it was constituted and proceed to spend your hard earned income into oblivion? Do you feel helpless? Wondering how you can possibly stop our country's death spiral? Signing the Liberty Petition is what you can do to put a stop to the deliberate destruction of the United States. However, it is not just a petition you sign and forget, it represents your commitment to combating the corrupted and self-serving politicians who are ruining our country.

Given the Obama Administration’s lack of transparency and honesty, not to mention Congress’ similar failure to act honestly and responsibly, it should be no surprise that America was lied to about abortion coverage in the Health Care Bill. HR 3962 was passed by the House of Representatives after promises spewed from Congressional leaders that the American public would not fund abortions (directly or indirectly) via their tax dollars. A reading of the Bill (available here) exposes blatant misrepresentation of the “compromise” sold to Americans and members of the House.

In the last weeks, two recommendations have come from government sponsored panels that suggest the current standards for mammograms and pap smears, those supported but the American Cancer Society, encourage women to get these screenings too frequently and too early. There has been significant push back from the public and various organizations, but the government is downplaying the recommendations as mere suggestions based upon scientific inquiry. However, if you care about the women in your life and their ability to get these important cancer screenings you need to be very concerned because the Health Care Bill proposes to incorporate these...

We would probably laugh out loud if a participant in a formal debate contest accused the other team of being racist. Why? Because it would be a clear indication the participant had no viable counter to the other team - a sure sign of defeat - and was using the charge at a hail mary attempt at humor. Yet I watch aghast at the spectacle of no less than Jimmy Carter accusing all people who have oppositions to Obama's policies of being racist. Of course Carter is not alone; he is in the company of many other Democratic politicians, columnists,...