Free Republic

The nightmare of collectivism is the defining battle of our age. It is in this era that we will decide whether or not individual liberty and freedom of thought are more important than the illusory security and “harmony” of the collective. Collectivism and individualism cannot coexist; confrontation is inevitable. Recognizing this, and preparing for it, is our duty as free human beings.

What is Piety and How Does the Modern Diminishment of it Spell Doom for Us? By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the modern world, the word “piety” has come to be associated with being religious. And while it does have religious application, its original meaning was far wider and richer. The English word “piety” comes from the Latin pietas, which spoke of family love and by extension love for one’s ancestors,  one’s country, and surely God. Cicero defined pietas as the virtue “which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations.”For the ancient Romans,...

Individualism, like traditional values, is infinitely more than skin deep Anyone with eyes can see that I’m a dark Black man. That and a couple dollars might buy you a cup of coffee at a trendy shop. Two terms of Obama-inflamed identity politics makes me reassert a lifelong commitment to individualism. I’m not a one-size-fits-all person. The fact I voted contrary to 96% of my ethnicity in the last two presidential elections is one of many proofs. The lemmings of liberalism marching off the cliff aren’t made cuter because many share my hue. Old school groupthink falls short of meeting...

Oath Keeper Patch: Wordlessly making a statement supporting freedom, individualism, free speech, and anti-establishment views Almost cut my hair It happened just the other day It was getting kind of long I could have said it was in my way But I didn’t and I wonder why I feel like letting my freak flag fly I feel like I owe it to someone I’m not giving in an inch to fear Cause I promised myself this year I feel like I owe it to someone David Crosby (CSN&Y)—Almost Cut My Hair Many readers won’t remember this, but before liberals became...

It is critical for us who would preach the Gospel to ponder what sorts of presuppositions our listeners bring to the conversation. Today, sadly, there are many trends that have poisoned the culture and make our task much more difficult.But difficult does not mean impossible. And thus it helps to describe modern mindsets, not to despair of them, but to describe them with some insight, rather than be vaguely aware of them. And being more clear on the presuppositions that people bring we can better speak our message and also go to work on those presuppositions and ask people to...

In the history of politics, there is only one fundamental, abiding issue: It is individualism vs. collectivism. Do individuals have the right to pursue their own happiness, as Thomas Jefferson thought and as the Declaration of Independence deemed self-evident? Or do we have an obligation to live our lives for the community or the state, as most societies have claimed throughout most of history?Yet if this is the paramount political issue, why is it not forthrightly debated in presidential elections and in other contests for public office? The reason is that American political debates tend to be dominated by...

EW Jackson's comments last summer, similar to those of Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Elder, and Kira Davis.

In this insightful reflection on Robert Nisbet’s classic 1953 book The Quest for Community, New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat examines the human impulse toward community and its connection to the rise of statism. This essay is adapted from Douthat’s introduction to ISI Books’ critical edition of The Quest for Community. The intellectual conservatism that flowered unexpectedly, like a burst of tulips from a desert, in the aftermath of the Second World War was preoccupied above all else with revising the story that modernity told about itself. Twenty years of totalitarianism, genocide, and total war had delivered hammer blows...

House Republican efforts to push the American Health Care Reform Act (HR-3121) were denounced by leading Democrats as “unfair” and “unpatriotic.” The bill would fully repeal Obamacare, allow consumers to purchase insurance across state lines, permit small businesses to pool resources so they can bargain for better deals, modify malpractice rules, expand access to health savings accounts, give individuals the same tax break on insurance that corporations enjoy, and provide funding to help insure those with pre-existing conditions. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called the GOP bill “a stab in the back. These opportunists are using the failures...

This week’s most important lesson does not involve the failure of Obamacare. There’s no lesson there. If you thought the government was capable of competently executing the roll-out of this abomination I have a timeshare deal you might want to buy into. The place overlooks a unicorn ranch; it’s awesome.This week’s most important lesson does not involve the so-called government shutdown. Calling the furloughing of a few glorified DMV clerks and the closing of parks to war heroes a “shutdown” is a total fraud. Don’t tease me – I want to see welfare cheats going EBTless, D.C. pencil-pushers lining Pennsylvania...

A report issued by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Warned against the dangers posed by the “far right” in America. “There are elements in America that are excessively concerned with possible corruption or tyranny stemming from government,” wrote Arie Perliger, author of the report. “These elements place individual freedom and self-government ahead of respect for those duly authorized to govern them. They cannot be counted upon to obey directives designed for the public good and may evolve into a serious internal opposition to the government.” The report contrasted “the obstructionist nature of...

In "Liberalism and Social Action" (Excerpts only), John Dewey explains the following: The idealistic philosophy taught that men are held together by the relations that proceed from and that manifest an ultimate cosmic mind. It followed that the basis of society and the state is shared intelligence and purpose, not force nor yet self-interest. The state is a moral organism, of which government is one organ. Only by participating in the common purpose as it works for the common good can individual human beings realize their true individualities and become truly free. The state is but one organ among many...

OptimismRevolution   h/t Vince

President Obama inadvertently reveals his true post-Marxist colors at every turn, but perhaps nowhere more starkly than inhis irresistible impulse to look Americans inthe eye and say, "This isn't about you." What is sometimes (correctly) described as his coldness is, more precisely, the lifelong leftist's pathological habit of converting concrete human lives into an abstract, "composite" humanity which, tohis corrupted intellect, seems more real than life itself. Examples of this reality-defying collectivist mechanism abound in Obama's public statements. Consider the first question of the second presidential debate. A twenty-year-old college student, Jeremy Epstein, asks, "What can you say to reassure...

This article will give greater meaning to Barack Obama’s outrageous declaration in Roanoke that, “If you own your business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” (didntbuildthat.com) Obama’s minions in the press claim that highlighting the president’s Roanoke quote is ripping an incidental remark out of context or bungling his intended syntax. Taking together all the president’s actions since assuming the throne in the Oval Office, it’s easy to see his remark in Roanoke fits quite well with his agenda: ATTACK THE INDEPENDENT INDIVIDUAL. When people perceive their society is being infiltrated and taken over by Collectivism, how...

Scott Walker's win in Wisconsin was magnificent for many reasons. Big Labor was given a fatal blow. Our homosexual agenda pushing president was handed another stinging rebuke. The Sit-Down-When-They-Pee-GOP-E saw that sticking to Conservative values can lead to landslide victories, even in the birthplace of the Progressivik Movement. If I wasn't so darn manly, I'd say I got a thrill up my leg. (Or is that diabetic neuropathy ? Maybe the death panels will let me find out if they deem me worthy of life, but I digress.) Most of important of all, the individual won. You see ladies and...

Gearing up for what promises to be a difficult campaign, President Obama laid into his critics saying “they want you to be on your own.” He contrasted this “social darwinism” approach to his “on us” philosophy. “The idea that Americans want to be left alone to pursue happiness on their own is clearly out-of-step with the way most Americans think,” Obama maintained. “People only go to work because they have to, not because they want to. When they’re on the job they’re watching the clock waiting for the workday to end. They look forward to the weekend, not the workweek....

There are many reasons to think Ron Paul is a bottom feeder. He refuses to support a Constitutional amendment to protect normal, heterosexual marriage. He voted to turn the United States military into a San Francisco bath house by repealing DADT. He wants to see drugs and prostitution legalized. He thinks Islamo-Nazi Iran should have a nuclear weapon. He surrounds himself with lunatics like Cindy Sheehan's love slave, Screwy Lewy Rockwell. In general, there isn't a sewer RuPaul (H/T: Mark Levin) isn't too proud to hunt for food in. Then, there's this. From CBS News: *********************************** "Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul...

"Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythologies, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that at least he won his own kingdom — Lucifer." Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky "A radical programme of social legislation, particularly unemployment insurance; the shifting of the burden of taxation to the wealthy classes; free popular-education — all these and similar measures, which in themselves do...

As we look back on the horrors of the dictatorships and autocracies of the past, one particular question consistently arises; how was it possible for the common men of these eras to NOT notice what was happening around them? How could they have stood as statues unaware or uncaring as their cultures were overrun by fascism, communism, collectivism, and elitism? Of course, we have the advantage of hindsight, and are able to research and examine the misdeeds of the past at our leisure. Unfortunately, such hindsight does not necessarily shield us from the long cast shadow of tyranny in our...