Free Republic

Generational power dynamics are why we’re in this position. I’m a late Gen-Xer. By some accounting, I’m an early Gen Y/Millenial. I refuse to be lumped into that group of individuals, personally, but that’s not why I’m writing this. Growing up, our parents pressed us to reach for our dreams. I think every good parent would want that for their kids, but I believe every generation’s motivations for that message are different. The Greatest Generation wanted their kids to not repeat the mistakes of the world at the turn of the 20th century. So many died for freedom, and the...

Wolves in Humanitarian Skin: The Hidden Elite and Their Long GameIt is tempting to believe that world events unfold organically — that wars, economic shifts, and social upheavals are the chaotic result of human nature, poor leadership, or bad luck. But patterns emerge. Leaders across Western nations increasingly act against the interest of their own people, pushing policies that seem disconnected from cultural roots, economic realities, or popular will. At the same time, these same leaders speak the language of morality, of global responsibility, and of saving humanity — whether through climate policy, economic equality, or pandemic management. The message...

When Manners Disappear: A Society Without RestraintManners are often dismissed as superficial — just a list of rules about saying “please” or chewing with your mouth closed. But at their core, manners are much more than that. They are the quiet architecture that holds a civilized society together. They are the social grease that allows people to live near one another, work together, share space, and not come to blows over every disagreement.It’s my belief that societies create manners not just to promote politeness, but to control human emotions — especially the more destructive ones: anger, resentment, jealousy, and cruelty....

Cousins, Not Strangers: The Illusion of Difference Between Communism and Parliamentary Government by CIB-173RDABN At first glance, communism and parliamentary democracy appear to be opposites. One is often portrayed as authoritarian, centralized, and controlling, while the other wears the cloak of liberalism, freedom, and public accountability. Yet when you peel back the layers — particularly the economic mechanics, electoral systems, and long-term outcomes — the two begin to look less like strangers and more like cousins. Let’s begin with economic control. Communism is blunt: the state owns the means of production. Businesses, land, and industry are centralized under state authority....

A Generation Betrayed By CIB 173rd Abn We were the children of victory—the generation born in the aftermath of World War II, raised in what may rightly be called the Golden Age of the United States. We lived in a time of abundance, opportunity, and freedom. Our parents returned from war to build lives in peace, trusting in the strength and righteousness of the nation they had fought to preserve. We inherited that trust and that faith. But somewhere along the way, we were betrayed—not suddenly, but slowly, insidiously, by those entrusted to lead us. The clearest fracture came with...

Thanks in part to Kirk’s tireless efforts, the left has been steadily losing the war of ideas, and with it their hold on the mass mind. They no longer have the ability to define the boundaries of the Overton window, because every single one of their claims has been shown to be baseless, deceptive, and destructive of both individual lives and society itself. Since the advent of mass media the left has had the ability to delineate the acceptable boundaries of discourse; since the rise of social media, and the advent of the meme war, this power has slipped through...

In her recent address to the American Bar Association, Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke not as a neutral jurist interpreting the Constitution, but as a partisan urging mobilization against the sitting administration. Her remarks, delivered with careful modulation, carried all the marks of political rhetoric under the guise of moral urgency: "This is our time to stand up and be heard." To the untrained ear, these words may sound like little more than civic encouragement. But context clarifies tone, and tone unmasks motive. Coming from a sitting Supreme Court Justice, in a polarized environment, during open legal battles between the ABA...

There is controversy at George Mason University after Nicholas Decker, an economics PhD student published an essay asking “When Must We Kill Them?” in reference to Trump and his supporters. The essay captures the growing violent ideation on the left, fueled by rage rhetoric from politicians and commentators. The danger is that, for some on the extremes of our society, the question is not “when must we kill them?” but “when can we kill them?” On his Substack “Homo Economicus,” Decker warns that “evil has come to America” and that Trump is “engaged in barbarism” and seeking “to destroy the...

RICHLAND -- Those who knew Naveed Haq said Saturday that to them he was an enigma, a puzzle that they wish they could have solved before his deadly rampage in a Seattle Jewish center. (snip) He held a degree in electrical engineering and was the son of a successful engineer, yet he couldn't keep a regular job. He was smart, creative and skilled as a writer. He recently won an essay contest for a U.S. Institute of Peace scholarship. Yet Haq was frustrated at his lack of friends and female companionship.He told friends he felt alienated from his own family,...

The night was electric, pulsing with the raw energy of a nation clawing its way back from the abyss. Donald Trump stood at the podium, a lion surveying his den, commanding the chamber with the weight of history pressing against his shoulders. The air was thick with expectation, with defiance, with the unshakable spirit of America refusing to be broken. And then, the moment came—the kind of moment that strips away the political filth and reveals the soul of a country. A boy named DJ, clad in the crisp uniform of a police officer, stood proud and unwavering, though the...

The Trump administration, pushed by the Department of Government Efficiency and deployed by the Office of Personnel Management, has sent another email to all federal employees with a normal request to present five tasks accomplished in the last week. It’s an easy task. It takes 5 minutes. In the service industry, this is entirely normal, even routine. Taking inventory of the workforce is standard for any new management in the private sector. Oddly, absolute mania broke out among the pundit class. Government unions are preparing lawsuits. The panic and frenzy is palpable. As it turns out, no new president has...

Bernard-Henri Lévy takes on the Israeli crisis. Born in 1948 in French Algeria to a family of Sephardic Jews but raised from infancy in France, where he has spent his long and productive life, Bernard-Henri Lévy has led a distinguished career as a philosopher, war correspondent, and prolific author and commentator. Unlike many members of his generation in France, he was not seduced by Marx, and has in fact spent much of his life criticizing Communism and other forms of tyranny, championing oppressed peoples around the world, and defending Israel and the United States at a time when most of...

There is a creeping sense that our society has turned upside-down. Healthy debate is replaced by activist hysterics. Speech is declared violence; violence is excused as speech. Masculinity is condemned as “toxic,” while men in dresses are celebrated in the public square. It feels as if we are in the midst of a society-wide mental breakdown. … A strange new pattern of psychological dysfunction has infiltrated all our institutions, from humdrum bureaucracies to the highest offices. Wherever we turn, that creeping feeling sets in: our society is sick; our institutions are out of balance; our public life has been consumed...

I have been around FreeRepublic for over 26 years, and one thing I notice is how the more things change, the more they get worse, not better. Everyone needs to understand that we the people are the inmates, and what ultimately happens to us is of no concern of those running this asylum we call America. I have learned that while there are good people elected to office, the vast majority of them are in it for themselves. After all, the days of the citizens getting elected to do their civic duty, then going back home after a few terms...

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has had to defend his stance on Israel after an op-ed he penned more than three decades ago, in which he wrote of being an Israeli army volunteer and disparaged the Palestinian people, resurfaced. “Since he wrote this piece as a 20-year-old student, Gov. Shapiro has built close, meaningful, informative relationships with many Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian Christian and Jewish community leaders all across Pennsylvania,” Shapiro’s spokesman Manuel Bonder told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The Governor greatly values their perspectives and the experiences he has learned from over the years – and as a result,...

If you secretly admire Trump, now’s the time to admit it. Shock your coworkers. Scandalise the wife. Today a grace period descends over politics in which even people who’ve labelled him Hitler and called for him to be removed must grit their teeth and say, “I-guess-he’s-kind-of-admirable.” Try awesome. Like Moby Dick or the Terminator, Trump is a force of nature. Think of all this man has gone through in eight years. He’s been been impeached (twice), accused of rape, arrested, condemned in court, labelled a traitor, survived Covid and now shot in the ear. Who can doubt he will win...

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That saying attributed to 19th-century British politician Lord Acton should have an addendum: Absolute power is all but impossible to wrest from an unwilling subject. In fact, when President George Washington decided not to seek a third term and voluntarily handed power over to John Adams, it represented one of the most momentous acts by a leader in world history: the willing surrender of absolute power without coercion, imprisonment, or assassination. These days, Joe Biden has become the anti-George Washington, refusing to bow to reality for one reason and one reason only: because...

1 John 5:14-15 (King James Version) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. How desperate do you have to be to Virtue Grandstand for a group of bloodthirsty savages as if they are an oppressed person. Never mind they just had a sneak attack to gang rape and murder two thousand innocent victims; the innocent victims are the problem. You have...

Colossians 1:27-28 (King James Version) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Moderate Hamas terrorists only want to kill Christians and Jews. Ratical Hamas want to kill moderate Hamas terrorists too. This is who the National Communist Party supports over Christians and Jews. You must be so proud of your Party, now Jews know they have...

No current topic is hotter, more divisive, and perhaps more determinative of modern election outcomes than abortion, but few understand more than bits and pieces of the issue. The broader contexts for the abortion debate have eluded the American public for decades, leaving most people with inadequate resources for engaging in it competently or confidently. Because their knowledge is fragmented, they can’t assemble the interlocking pieces to create the bigger picture, but must rely on the guidance of “experts” to show them the path to progress, wherever that may lead. But many of these “experts” are similarly ill-equipped for the...