Free Republic

Well, folks, in the wake of this disastrous election, the year 2012 cannot end too soon. But, as it winds down, it is incumbent upon us to ask just what kind of nation we have left, and from just what reservoir of fortitude and courage we conservatives can draw the strength to continue. As the shock of Tuesday night lingered into Wednesday, the depression I experienced reached depths I have rarely known, as did the sheer existential angst and fear, so evident, as well, in various conservative chat rooms and blogs that I visited. We were told so often that...

IN his encyclical letter Libertas, Pope Leo XIII warns that there are certain so-called liberties which modern society takes for granted that every man possesses as a right. These are the liberties "which the followers of liberalism so eagerly advocate and proclaim." (The terms freedom and liberty will be considered synonymous for the purposes of this article; the Latin word libertas is expressed by either, depending on the translator.) The essence of liberalism is that the individual human being has the right to decide for himself the norms by which he will regulate his life. He has the right to...