Free Republic

At first glance, the new nationalism of conservatives will seem benign and even uncontroversial. In his book “The Case for Nationalism,” Rich Lowry defines nationalism as flowing from a people’s “natural devotion to their home and to their country.” Yoram Hazony, in his book “The Virtue of Nationalism,” also has a rather anodyne definition of nationalism. It means “that the world is governed best when nations agree to cultivate their own traditions, free from interference by other nations.” There is nothing particularly controversial at all about these statements. Defined in these terms, it sounds like little more than simply defending...

"No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other." (St. Matthew 6: 24) *** (1) Either John Paul II and all the Popes who came before him are right, by emphasizing the "absoluteness" of the Church's moral law and by classifying as a "very serious error" that the doctrine of the Church is only an "ideal"... >>It would be a very serious error to conclude... that the Church's teaching is essentially only an "ideal" which must then be adapted, proportioned, graduated to...

Egypt is loss; Yemen is a mess; Syria is going even more radical; Somali Islamists are gaining ground everyday; Sudan is a lost cause. Libya is a stupid civil war and will go for sometime. The only ME western supporting nation of Jordan is also in trouble. Once it falls, Israel is in big trouble. We know about Egypt's long-time peace agreement. Well, that no longer exists. If Jordan falls to the Islamists, then it is war. I don't need to be a historical scholar to realize that WWIII will start in the ME.. Reason: Israel will not go without...

Prior to the founding of the United States, political theorist and philosopher John Locke developed the theory that government derives its power and authority from the consent of the governed. Benjamin Franklin once wrote that "in free governments the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." These are the principles that are fundamental to the American system and that have helped shape the nation we know and love today. Flash forward to the current setting and context. President Obama has made his intent clear on health care: Medical decisions will no longer be made by doctors...

A Rasmussen Report released today, July 3, concludes that Americans in general still hold the ideals reflected in the Declaration of Independence.

The Tax Day Tea Parties may have been a surprise to some conservatives, but the groundwell is very real. A few months ago, as bailouts were booming and budgets were busting, I wondered how long it would take for conservatives to actively respond. Outside of the world of talk radio and opinion columns, I felt the American public needed a voice, a venue, and a vindication for the debt-multiplying and partisan-flaunting policies imposed upon us by our new president. To my dismay, however, my questions were largely ignored. As one conservative colleague told me, protesting is "not something we do."...

VetsCoR Founding Ideals VetsCoR was founded in 2002 because the original members believe, as did our Founding Fathers, in individual Freedom and Liberty, with the individual solely responsible for his or her life. The vision of the Founding Fathers of this great nation was one of free men and women, pursuing life, liberty, and their own vision of happiness, constrained only by their responsibility to do no harm to others. To this end, the Founders wrote one of the most important documents in the history of mankind! Wisely, it specifically limited the role of centralized government and maximized the power...

A few days ago, in searching for the full version of the famous Calvin Coolidge quote that "the business of America is business," I came across another line from the same Coolidge speech that is not as well known, but probably should be—especially in light of the result of this year's presidential primaries. Coolidge's statement about business, by the way, is very good and provides a nice answer to John McCain's jibe, in one of the Republican debates, that he was motivated by patriotism instead of profit. As Coolidge points out, "After all, the chief business of the American people...

To be American is not just to live in America, or even to just be born in America. Like all nations, America has given birth to many un-American or anti-American citizens, some of whom have been tried, convicted, jailed or put to death for acts against American interests. Not every individual born or residing in America is an American and that is where the problem begins. To Be American To avoid being accused of single handedly defining what it is to be "American," I won’t define the term at all. Instead, I’ll simply rely upon our founding documents to define...

Conference joins business, environmental idealsGore encourages corporations to address global warming before climate changes accelerate By Rick Jurgens CONTRA COSTA TIMES OAKLAND - Former Vice President Al Gore called for immediate action to avert global warming, which threatens to spread disease, make species extinct and turn tens of millions of coastal dwellers into refugees from rising ocean levels. Speaking Thursday morning in Oakland at the annual conference of a network of environmentalists and sympathetic investors, Gore quoted Winston Churchill's 1936 comment that the world was "entering a period of consequences." Churchill's remark addressed the threat posed by fascism. Gore's message,...

WASHINGTON - OK, so now what? If after last year's election you asked a Democrat how they would like to see the next 12 months unfold for the Bush administration, it would have looked a lot like the way things actually went. Oh, they wouldn't have wished for a national disaster like hurricane Katrina or hoped for more deaths in Iraq, but Howard Dean probably had a few dreams of the wheels coming off this administration in the way that they have. And up until now the Democratic Party has done the cautious and politically smart thing. When your adversary...

HONOLULU, Aug. 24, 2005 – Like the patriots of the Revolutionary War, Americans must realize that the "ideas and ... ideals in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are just words on paper unless men and women are willing to risk their lives to preserve them and to fight for them," the nation's highest ranking military leader said here Aug. 23. Speaking at the National Convention of the American Legion, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Americans must hold on to their resolve to win the war against terror. Myers,...

Sex, Love, and Marriage by Reginald Firehammer These notes are distilled and reworked from a number of posts to a thread dealing with marriage. It occurred to me that the principles described in those posts are largely unknown or misunderstood, and that a single source for them is needed. This is an attempt to provide that source. In short, this is a defense of marriage, not as it is practiced nor as it is usually understood, but as it ought to be practiced and understood. I regard romantic love as the highest good achievable by man, the ultimate value that...

It is at this time of the year that some sentimental Americans reflect on the greatness of the Founding Fathers. Albeit, in the face of “political Correctness,” the “pop culture” mindset, and a government school system that has abandoned American history, the numbers who ponder such topics is shrinking. Nevertheless, several profound essays have been written on the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and their fates in the wake of that momentous occasion. It is worthwhile to consider just a few from among those perhaps greatest of Americans, how their examples spoke to the nation at its inception, and...

There is a huge rock near a gravel pit on Hwy.25 in rural Iowa. For generations, kids have painted slogans, names, and obscenities on this rock, changing it's character many times. A few months back, the rock received it's latest paint job, and since then it has been left completely undisturbed. It's quite an impressive sight. Scroll down and check out the multiple photos (all angles) of the rock. It seems the flag was draped over the rock, but it's not. It's actually painted on the rock too. Here's the artist Ray "Bubba" Sorensen. Directions to the Freedom*Rock Approx. 37...

There’s a reason that our forefathers were wise enough to declare that this Republic’s future and fortune be decided by the majority of Americans rather than any of the individual groups of minorities. This was a new nation then, filled with the rejects, the hopeful, the wounded, the ambitious from many lands, and it was important that we come together and start thinking like a united and unique country. For anything to be accomplished in this great experiment called America, people were going to have to be capable of coming to a consensus, regardless of their roots, and voting accordingly....

Over Thanksgiving I had very little to do. I was ahead of schedule on a consulting project, which is where I like to stay. I accepted an invitation to a great cook’s home for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, which meant I would not need to cook for several days. This hostess always invited six or seven friends over and prepared enough food to feed everyone that came to the Salvation Army’s Thanksgiving dinner. Well as luck would have it the guest list included mostly liberal Democrats who were still depressed and complaining about the election their candidate and party had...

<p>There is a principle in logic that states once a contradiction has infected an argument, anything can follow. Another way of putting it is that once a viewpoint has contradictions in it, nothing reasonable can be expected from it, except by accident.</p>