Free Republic

Confederate monuments and others would be protected from removal, defacement and historical contextualization. Legislation in the House and the Senate would protect monuments of war from not just defacement and removal, but attempts to offer historical context. The “Historical Monuments and Memorials Protection Act” (HB 1607) was filed in the House by Rep. Dean Black, a Jacksonville Republican. It is the House companion to SB 1096, filed last month by Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Republican from Fort Myers. “We must defend and learn from our history,” Black told Florida Politics Tuesday. This includes protecting historic monuments across the state of...

Marjorie Taylor Greene says the country needs a national divorce. “We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government,” she tweeted. “Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.”Generally speaking, I’m sympathetic to the idea that the political left is congenitally unable to accept a truly diverse nation. Virtually every legislative policy proposal from modern Democrats — and every policy issued by edict — strengthens federal power and economic control over states. Modern Democrats...

Can an extensive nation keep free government and avoid centralization? In 1787-1788, the Anti-Federalists didn’t think so and the Federalists couldn’t be sure. Charles de Montesquieu (1689 – 1755) wrote in The Spirit of the Laws, “It is natural for a republic to have only a small territory; otherwise it cannot long subsist. In an extensive republic, the public good is sacrificed to a thousand private views.” Only in small republics, ideally of the Greek city-state size, are private interests and abuses minimized and the general welfare of the public is better understood and within the reach of every citizen.1Free...

There’s an ages-old problem with republics: majoritarian tyranny. If the law is whatever the fifty percent plus one of the people or their reps determine, then the legislative body is little different in practice from the typical Florida Homeowners Association, and the nation should expect similar results. Thanks to the 17th Amendment, the Senate long ago abandoned its deliberative nature and adopted the passionate, popularly reflexive nature of the House. It is why party interests, rather than those of the nation, came to dominate congress. We see this regularly when Senator Schumer joins Speaker Pelosi in wild proposals that threaten...

NEW YORK (AP) — Time was, a television reporter assigned to “democracy issues” would have a quiet time on election night sets, occasionally popping up to talk about broken voting machines at a polling place or two. That’s not the case in 2022. Between election deniers and threats to voting rights, news organizations have emphasized the beat. That will continue next Tuesday, with coverage plans for the midterms rounding into shape. CBS News will have its first-ever “Democracy Desk” to look at those issues and how law enforcement is dealing with threats. NBC News’ “Vote Watch Unit” is looking at...

A Supreme Court case that will decide the power state legislatures wield over congressional and presidential elections could have far-reaching implications for American democracy, some voting rights experts said. The Supreme Court said Thursday it would take up a North Carolina case that centers on whether the state's Republican-led Legislature is the only entity that can set the rules for federal elections. That argument is often referred to as the independent state legislature doctrine, a legal theory that says only state legislators have the authority to set rules for federal elections. Some conservatives have advanced that position in recent years,...

You've gotta listen to this analysis by Tammy Bruce. She says the real fear of the Left is taking the fight back to the states again - federalism. This is the real reason why they wanted abortion to be "settled law" and hang it over the rest of the nation. Now, when people start seeing states banning abortions, you're going to see the remaining conservatives in blue states start demanding for change too at the state level. This is the way that it's supposed to be folks.

The new American government of 1788 served God’s kingship proxy within His creation to maintain the liberty of His people. But, as fallen beings, we can never govern at any level remotely on par to God’s kingship. The ancient Hebrews, God’s chosen people, were not able to perform in this regard either. James Madison acknowledged this in Federalist 51: “God’s rule of the universe may be monarchical,” explains Dr. Edward Erler, “but from the point of view of the Declaration of Independence it is impious to believe that God’s omnipotence can be translated into merely human hands.” Hence the necessity...

JUST IN - U.S. Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe vs. Wade, an initial draft majority opinion by Justice Alito shows.

Those drunk with power in Washington, DC might want us to forget that at the heart of our republic is a radically simple notion: federalism. Now, perhaps when we need it most, federalism is in trouble – but we can still get it back. Federalism goes something like this, per the 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” That is to say, except where the Constitution gives the greenlight to Washington, federal busybodies and bureaucrats should be...

While political parties ideally represent the common interests of their members, a contradiction has developed within the GOP over the past twenty years. Leadership and rank-and-file members work toward irreconcilable ends: the retention of power, wealth and status at any cost on the one hand, and change that restores economic prosperity and social cohesion on the other. For years, GOP leadership worked handily with democrat leaders Obama, Pelosi, Reid. Behind closed doors, this common senior leadership develops many thousand page omnibus spending bills. In turn, these assaults on the traditional appropriations process are presented to a membership that is cajoled...

You may have seen that map of nearly half the states in the union resisting Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. It almost feels like the GOP realized its true power, but no, their largely symbolic actions should only make all America Firsters demand more. From the outset, let’s be clear that any and all state and local pushback against the vaccine mandate is welcome. Even symbolic action can grow popular support and morale. The real point, however, is that without the rightful and duty-bound exercise of power on top of what’s already in motion, the traditional American life will die and...

Not long after the November 2020 election, it seemed federalism in America was finished. Not only had the state legislatures in 2020 rolled over to the governors on the lockdowns and mask mandates, but Republican legislatures folded faster than overcooked pasta when it came to addressing the fraud in President Donald Trump’s election. In Georgia and Arizona, governments stood aside or willingly pitched in to ensure that Joe Biden “won” their states. Courts did nothing, whiffing on dozens of fraud suits. I thought federalism was finished. But the old line from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” comes to mind....

States that consistently grew faster than the national average over the past ten years are in line to gain representation in Congress. Democrats will work to undermine people's vote with their feet.The U.S. Census Bureau released its once-in-a-decade national census on April 26. Most of the discussion about the census has focused on states losing or gaining seats in the U.S. House, a process known as reapportionment.For the 2022 midterms, seven states will be down one member of the House: California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon each gained one...

There’s a powerful argument to be made that a majority of Americans -- despite labels -- share similar values and virtues, and that they’re most amenable to living and letting live… that they might welcome a reset that significantly decentralized government, if doing so meant appreciably decreasing tensions and minimizing conflicts. A majority may be open to re-empowering states and the flourishing of localism. Lift the heavy hand of national government. Let Californians and Texans live as they wish. Allow local communities to be reflections of their citizens and, therefore, each unique in the constellation of communities. Give Americans the...

President Ronald Reagan used to refer to our country as "these United States," not "the United States." That may seem to be an inconsequential grammatical difference, but a whole different philosophy of our system of government is embedded in that phraseology. Reagan reinforced the traditional notion of American federalism: that the states created the federal government, not the other way around. The states are to serve as "laboratories of democracy." Our Founding Fathers' ingeniousness was recognizing that healthy competition among the states was the best way to devise policy solutions. This brings us to President Joe Biden. No president in...

Despite numerous arguments against the effort, the push to make Washington, D.C. a state just won't die./em>D.C. statehood is not a novel idea. As the Department of Justice concluded in 1987 in a highly detailed report totaling more than 80 pages: “Efforts to admit the District of Columbia to the Union as a state should be vigorously opposed.” Still, the idea lingers, although never nearing 60 votes in the Senate (or a constitutional amendment for that matter).The passage of time has not brought D.C. statehood closer to 60 votes. But statehood has suddenly become plausible to propose. Indeed, the forceful...

Given the depth of the cultural and political divide, there is only one hope for healing our nation: A return to our foundational principles—for if there is no federalism, there will be no unity.Last week’s decision by Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to the passage of the Election Integrity Act, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s defiant response, provides but the latest proof that our country is no longer the “United” States of America. Given the depth of the cultural and political divide, there is only one hope for healing our nation: A...

Source: Townhall Media/Julio Rosas"This is not politics," President Joe Biden said last week. "Reinstate the mandate if you let it down." Give him credit for consistency: When Gov. Greg Abbott ended Texas' mask mandate last month, Biden called it "Neanderthal thinking." But maybe the Neanderthals got it right. COVID-19 deaths in Texas plunged in March, and as National Review's Philip Klein points out, there's no relationship between mask mandates and coronavirus levels. Biden is clearly wrong on another point. This is not "not politics." America's constitutional federal system, and the latitude that both former President Trump's administration and the Biden...

The modern movement to rationally deal with accelerating tyranny picked up steam in 2013 upon publication of Mark Levin’s Liberty Amendments. Between the thunder of his radio show, and eleven prescriptions to restore free government, Levin reminded us that federalism was the foundation of the unique and proven American system. Federalism is the means to put the ends of the Declaration of Independence into practice. The bold declaration that government exists to secure unalienable rights was refined in the Preamble of the Constitution: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice,...