Free Republic

Do you like having rights the government cannot take away? Do you like being equal? Do you like a country with few laws? These ideas have origins. RIGHTS To have individual rights the government cannot take away, rights must come from a power "higher" than government. The Declaration states "all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men" In other words, rights come from God and government's job is to protect your rights. In his Inaugural Address, 1961, President John F. Kennedy put it...

Missouri state representative-turned-aspiring congressman Russ Carnahan should have it made. His father, the late Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, cast a huge shadow over state politics for three decades. His mother, Jean Carnahan, most recently was a U.S. Senator. And since age 8, he's been canvassing precincts, stuffing envelopes and building a get-out-the-vote machine. Not so fast. Between now and the August 2004 Democratic primary, Carnahan, 44, must craft a public persona distinct from the man whose shoes he'd like to fill, retiring Rep. and presidential candidate Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.); piece together the same coalition of working-class Catholics and black city...

<p>William Federer, who lost a contest for Congress in 2000, sued Rep. Richard Gephardt and two others Tuesday, claiming they violated his civil rights by directing break-ins at Federer's campaign offices and provoking a conflict during a parade.</p> <p>A spokeswoman for Gephardt dismissed the accusations as frivolous. She noted that an assault charge in the county is pending against Federer for his scuffle with a Gephardt aide during that same parade.</p>