Free Republic

My thought is certain recreational drugs, such as marijuana, should remain off legal limits for the under 18 year olds, but become legally available when used in the proper environment. In many ways, pot is quite similar to alcohol, in that they should be used responsibly. My thought is to make the sale of marijuana less profitable by making it legal for home use. Personally, I don't smoke anything now, and do not want the smell of tobacco or pot on my clothes should I visit a public place, such as a shopping mall or bus stop. I know this...

The modern day tea party movement took shape in 2007. Yet, it is hardly a reflection of the anti-war, anti-deficit, pro-civil liberty message that propelled its early popularity. During a time of impending recession, a government that had taken us to endless wars on false pretenses, and an unprecedented expansion of government under eight years of “conservative” leadership, the tea party began as a fundraising rally cry for a then relatively unknown dark horse candidate, Representative Ron Paul. The first “modern day tea party” was held on the anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party, December 16, 2007. In a...

Glenn Beck✔ @glennbeck Newest member of the Westboro Baptist Church: Ron Paul. I am with Marcus Latrell & grieving family members. Will respond tomorrow. SHAMEFUL. 1:30 AM - 05 Feb 13 289 Retweets 96 favorites Tell us what you really think, Glenn. Glenn Beck wasn’t the only one making that comparison after Ron Paul launched a repulsive Twitter attack on murdered American hero Chris Kyle. Derek Ryan @longhornderek Ron Paul is now no better than the Westboro Church protesters. (Let's hear it, Ronulans. Lets hear you defend your dear leader.) 6:28 PM - 04 Feb 13(continued)

Rep. Ron Paul’s defense of Iran’s nuclear weapons program should surprise no one. The same resentment motivates Ron Paul and the Iranian leadership — a paranoid hostility toward a world that is swiftly changing and has little mercy, and a Millenarian desire to return to a mythical, untroubled past. Get rid of the Federal Reserve, scourge the bankers, return to a gold standard and erect a wall around the United States — and we will return to when? To 1957, when the Russians launched the first space satellite, alerting the United States to the danger that it might lose the...

The latest Ron Paul revelation is that, apparently, he would not have sent American troops to Europe in World War II to stop the Holocaust. I mean, we’re getting to the point where this sort of thing isn’t even surprising anymore. To me, the key passage in this particular story is this: Paul then looked at me, and I politely thanked him for his time. He smiled at me again and nodded his head, and many of his young followers were also smiling, and nodding their heads in agreement. Clearly, I was the only one in the room who was...

Last night in his post debate interview with Sean Hannity, Ron Paul was asked once again about the racists newsletters that were published in his name in the early 1990′s. I have heard this subject discussed multiple times and have come to a personal conclusion about his answer to questions and his responsibility for those words. However, this time in his answer, Paul cited a source with information about them that I wasn’t familiar with, a piece done in a magazine called Texas Monthly a decade ago. Here is the portion of the transcript with the relevant question and answer...

Republican congressman Ron Paul says the US is aiding and abetting Israel in Gaza through its financial and military support for Tel Aviv. "The weapons being used to kill so many Palestinians are American weapons, and American funds, essentially, are being used for this," said the congressman Friday. Israel launched an all-out war against the Gaza Strip and its democratically-elected ruler, the Hamas movement, to put an end to rocket attacks against southern Israel. At least 821 Palestinians have been killed during the operation and some 3,330 others are reported wounded. At least 10 Israeli troops have been killed during...

The 2012 presidential election cycle is underway. With the Democratic candidate a foregone conclusion, there is not much uncertainty about where the Democratic Party is going. For better or worse, Democrats will likely continue to “dance with who brung them,” meaning Barack Obama and his brand of 21st century liberalism. Not so on the Republican side. After historic defeats and victories in the past two elections, respectively, the Republican Party has yet to define itself for the future. It must come to grips with the fact that its miraculous comeback in 2010, after crushing defeats in the presidential and congressional...

"The Ron Paul people are closer and closer to our talking points with each election," Code Pink activist Liz Hourican told FoxNews.com.

As I've noted, the 2012 Republican presidential primary will be vastly different from the 2008 race. Back then Ron paul was roundly derided for endorsing the traditional conservative approach toward foreign policy. This time around, a lot of the others are going to have to make a choice between conservatism and the liberal internationalism of the so-called "neo" conservatives. This piece on Haley Barbour from The Hill shows that the debate has begun: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) may have set the tone for the foreign policy debate in the Republican presidential nominating contest when he questioned the war in...

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) was booted off the Advisory Board of the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) over what the group calls his "delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe Anti-War movement." According to a post at the organization's web site: “It is a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative-libertarian stalwart has fallen more out of touch with America’s needs for national security than the current feeble and appeasing administration,” said YAF’s Senior National Director Jordan Marks. Paul has served on the Advisory Board for the conservative organization for more than two decades, and was...

Long before the tea party movement grabbed half a dozen Senate seats, before its early proponents ever even dreamed of wearing Colonial-era garb in public, there was longtime Texas Republican Ron Paul, the one guy in Congress trying to abolish the Federal Reserve and shrink the government into near nonexistence. Paul won a devoted-bordering-on-cultish following during his 2008 presidential run, one which, obviously, didn't work out. But now Paul is telling the Times that "it’s at least 50-50" that he'll try again in 2012, and this time, with the movement built largely on his libertarian philosophy now a real force...

Freedom's Phoenix is reporting great interest in the TSA Opt-Out Bags they are handing out at Sky Harbor Airport - one of the first airports to "test" strip-search machines. The bags contain a clean pair of gloves for those inclined to a feel-up, so that the TSA agent won't give them whatever cooties are on the used gloves, but also a DVD of Rep. Dr. RON PAUL, the gentleman who introduced the Traveler Dignity Act in Congress, and the number of Marc Victor, esq., who will be happy to represent them in any false arrest or litigation stemming from the...

Ben Birnbaum writes that former New Mexico Gary Johnson looks set to inherit the small, entertaining Republican primary space occupied by Ron Paul. He also seems set to occupy another space: The anti-Palin. There's a substantial minority of Republicans who don't like her, and with the rest of the field terrified of giving offense, it's a niche that will get him attention and some fans: What does Johnson make of Palin? On a drive through the foothills of New Hampshire, I ask him. Riding shotgun, he turns the question around on me. “Um, I guess some people think she’s folksy,”...

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, will campaign for Republican legislative candidates and speak at the University of Iowa Friday, Oct. 29, at 7:45 p.m. The group organizing Paul’s speech, the university’s Young Americans for Liberty and Campaign for Liberty, are billing the event as “fueling speculation that he may challenge other Republican presidential hopefuls in Iowa’s 2012 primary.” “Dr. Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign threw him into the national spotlight as a different kind of Republican,” said Ani DeGroot, president of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter. “He has called for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a...

Ron Paul has some surprising news for the Tea Party: You’re being taken for a ride. At least this is what many libertarians like Ron Paul believe when they see someone like Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin trying to lead the Tea Party at the “restoring honor” rally this weekend. In fact, Ron Paul believes, if you’re looking for real freedom, you should really go back to the core of the constitution and the bill of rights, which Beck and Palin do not fully endorse when you really look at their beliefs. Whether it be Palin’s support for starting more...

The Hill runs a report crediting Sarah Palin for her many Republic primary victories. Before conservatives take too much pleasure in such news, read how she is credited with helping sweep John McCain to victory. Palin traveled to Arizona and made numerous campaign appearances with McCain, bringing him the Tea Party creds he so desperately needed to undercut the fact that he is a nearly three-decades-long, left-leaning Washington insider. That Palin chose to conveniently back McCain over conservative former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth is a truth that should not soon be forgotten. Her help, McCain’s falsely running to the right,...

I want to have a sane discussion on Ron Paul and the growing Liberty Movement. Every time I or other freepers bring up we get people telling us Dr. Paul is crazy or we are crazy to support him and other constitutionalist politicians. When I posted a video on the success of the Free State Movement in New Hampshire ppl responded with "your crazy" and hinting the movement had failed. How could ppl say the movement failed when they've had numerous successes? I see liberals and commies such as this weirdo mock us which I would expect but why the...

Though the post-election infighting between Sarah Palin and the McCain team has largely died down, the former Alaska governor took one more shot at her former running mate’s campaign on Thursday. In an interview with the Daily Caller, Palin said Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) camp didn’t do enough to defend her record when it came under attack. “To not have had the McCain campaign staff defend my record was an insurmountable challenge, because once a bell is rung, it’s impossible to un-ring,” Palin told the website.

“Today is a Great Day to Smash Imperialism” It was an old poster – “Today is a Great Day to Smash Imperialism” – in 1989 when I saw it on the refrigerator in a doctor friend’s kitchen. It made me incredibly nostalgic because it captures so perfectly the boundless optimism, exuberance and irreverence of a movement led primarily by people under 35. To me that was the magic of the sixties – young people were at the forefront of the revolution that was drawing the masses into the streets throughout the western world. The magic of being in your twenties...