Free Republic

Libertarian Solutions: How to solve the United States' $6,736,489,356,420 problem by Bill Winter LP News Editor If you had visited the online National Debt Clock at 12:00 noon on August 1, you would have seen this figure: $6,736,489,356,420.66. That's the amount of money owed by the federal government. (Over $6.7 trillion dollars.) But if you visited it again just 30 seconds later, you would have seen a different, bigger number: $6,736,489,954,145.59. That's an increase of about $590,000 -- a half-million dollars -- in 30 seconds. It's a stark reminder of just how quickly the politicians in Washington, DC are...

WOULD THOMAS JEFFERSON THINK WE ARE FREE? By Steven L. Hayes and Charles Adams What if Jefferson were to revisit America today? Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743. In his lifetime he saw his country transformed from an English colony to a country ruled by its own citizens. Remembered by many as the author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson also served as President and guided the young nation through eight turbulent years. When Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 at the age of 83, he left a country and a people whose commitment to the ideas of ...

Nowhere is it written that America will always remain free. In fact, Thomas Jefferson and other Founders warned about threats to our freedom. Jefferson noted that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Liberty does not exist in a vacuum. Signs of the erosion of freedom in our time surround us: *Political correctness muzzles the free expression of ideas if they contravene liberal orthodoxy. *God, the source of freedom, is not allowed in public schools and pity the teacher who references Jesus, even as an historical figure. This is brought home powerfully in the new movie, “God's Not Dead 2.”...

Thousands of columns have been written that attack the Republican candidates.  And I daresay, Free Republic has probably excerpted several thousand of them. As a Trumpster, I'd certainly rank RedState as the most outrageous liar and most vicious attacker of all the blogazines that seem to be dedicated to sinking Donald Trump.  National Review comes in a close second. And if you're a Cruzer, you probably wouldn't shed a single tear to discover the National Enquirer had been accidentally torpedoed and sent to Davy Jones' locker. But slander is actually as old as the Republic! Have a listen to...

Recently I wrote about Jefferson's Koran, primarily focusing in on the Koran written in 1647 by Sieur du Ryer. Problem is, that wasn't Jefferson's Koran. Had I taken the time to look into Keith Ellison, I probably would've figured that out by lifting all the rocks to see what was underneath them. Since I have absolutely no interest in Ellison, certain questions went unanswered. They now get answered. At least, to the best of my ability. First, let's clear up what I mistakenly wrote at the time. Jefferson did not own Sieur du Ryer's Koran. Jefferson owned George Sale's translation.(which...

What kind of criticism would prompt a major publisher to withdraw from circulation a New York Times bestseller by a recognized scholar? One would think the objections would have to be weighty and the critics unquestioned experts in the particular field. In the case of "The Jefferson Lies", one would be mistaken to make those assumptions. In 2012, David Barton's popular analysis of Thomas Jefferson was pulled by the book's publisher, Thomas Nelson, based on what appears to have been an academic putsch designed to protect the now popular view of the third president as a secular deist and hypocritical...

In 1804 an Ursuline nun in New Orleans asked Thomas Jefferson to clarify in writing her religious community’s right to retain their property and to continue their ministries without government interference following the Louisiana Purchase. As French Catholic Louisiana was being incorporated into the Anglo-Protestant United States, the nuns were concerned about the status of their institutions under U.S. law. President Jefferson assured her that the government would not interfere with the sisters’ property, ministries, and way of life. In a letter dated May 15, 1804, he wrote: “I have received, holy sisters, the letter you have written me wherein...

Aaron Burr, Patriot and Vice President On February 6, 1756, a boy was born into privilege in Newark, New Jersey. Young Aaron Burr, Jr. was son of the president of the College of New Jersey, and grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the Calvinist theologian regarded as a leader of the evangelical movement of the 18th century, an equal to the great preacher George Whitfield. Privilege then wasn’t quite what privilege is today, of course; there were no Rolls-Royces to drive, no Waldorf Astorias to stay in during constant vacations, no jet-setting to Monte Carlo, no celebrity photographers and magazines to put...

Thanks to the marketing power of HBO, John Adams is no longer the forgotten American revolutionary — at least for a week. Adams feared his role would be neglected. Thomas Jefferson got all the credit for writing the Declaration of Independence, even though Adams was on that committee and had suggested that Jefferson draft it, since he was a better writer and a Virginian. (Adams wanted some geographic diversity to bind the southern colonies with New England in a common cause.) For the same geopolitical reason, Adams proposed that George Washington of Virginia command the Continental Army. Adams also worked...

The American Colonist's Library A TREASURY OF PRIMARY DOCUMENTS Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American HistoryAn invaluable collection of historical works which contributed to the formation of American politics, culture, and ideals  The following is a massive collection of the literature and documents which were most relevant to the colonists' lives in America. If it isn't here, it probably is not available online anywhere. ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE (500 B.C.-1800 A.D.)  (Use Your Browser's FIND Function to Search this Library)  Given the Supreme Court's impending decision, the ultimate historic origins of the national motto, "In God We Trust" and...

    PURITANS WERE MORE JEWISH THAN PROTESTANTS  Hugh Fogelman     A Puritan is a name often misunderstood. During the 17th century English Civil War (known as the Puritan Revolution), the Puritans were Protestant fundamentalists who wished to “purify” the Church of England. Some of the Puritans, known as Separatists “separated,” forming their own church. The Puritans felt that Parliament, and not the King, should have the final say and that the moral guidance for all legal decision should come from the Jewish Bible which they considered to be the highest authority in all matters. The Puritans were obsessed...

 Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Joshua E. London, a Washington, D.C.-based writer. He has written on politics and public policy for many publications, including the American Spectator, Human Events, National Review Online, and Details: Promoting Jewish Conservative Values. He holds an M.A. in social science from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Davis. He is the author of the new book Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation. FP: Joshua London, welcome to Frontpage Interview. London: Thank you for inviting...

Having a go round with an atheist who flung this at me. Can anyone expound on the overall context and meaning ? I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved--the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"--John Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson "But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legaends, hae been blended with both Jewish and Chiistian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed.--John Adams in a letter to...

Ruthless, unconventional foes are not new to the United States of America. More than two hundred years ago the newly established United States made its first attempt to fight an overseas battle to protect its private citizens by building an international coalition against an unconventional enemy. Then the enemies were pirates and piracy. The focus of the United States and a proposed international coalition was the Barbary Pirates of North Africa. Pirate ships and crews from the North African states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast) were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and holding...

(Source, Charles F. Adams, ed., The Works of John Adams [1851] Vol. 6, p. 3-4)There have been three periods in the history of England, in which the principles of government have been anxiously studied, and very valuable productions published, which, at this day, if they are not wholly forgotten in their native country, are perhaps more frequently read abroad than at home.The first of these periods was that of the Reformation, as early as the writings of Machiavel himself, who is called the great restorer of the true politics.  The "Shorte Treatise of Politick Power, and of the True Obedience...

THOMAS JEFFERSON ON CHRISTIANITY & RELIGION Compiled by Jim Walker "Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong." -Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782) It spite of Christian right attempts to rewrite history to make Jefferson into a Christian, little about his philosophy resembles that of Christianity. Although Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence wrote of the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, there exists nothing in the Declaration about Christianity.Although Jefferson believed in a Creator, his concept of it resembled that of...

Hamiltonian, Wilsonian, Jeffersonian, or Jacksonian?

Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero observed, “No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.” The greatness of our Constitution’s framers is evident in the document they created, which has successfully endured for 228 years – longer than that of any other nation. But today our Constitution, which serves as the foundation for our nation’s law, is routinely ignored or subjected to federal encroachment and judicial overreach at the state, local, and individual levels. Fortunately the framers wisely built-in a simple yet effective remedy to illegitimate laws and judicial encroachment, one which has been successfully used many times...

The monthly New York City libertarian gathering called the Junto has seen arguments such as one between Wall Street analyst David Stockman and investor and Junto founder Victor Niederhoffer over whether long-term stock-watchers should be optimistic or, like a growing number of Wall Streeters these days, should be learning prepper and survivalist skills. Not long ago, I wrote of a Junto debate on whether the government should be small or non-existent. Last night, the Junto saw what might be considered the “retro” version of that debate: whether Alexander Hamilton was a hero in the cause of liberty or, as some...

The Language of Liberty celebrates the freedom of the individual. The language of Servitude exalts the tyranny of the State. The statements which follow reveal the mighty difference between those who fear the power of freedom and those who relish it. In their own words are revealed the true intentions–in both the past and the present– of those who speak the language of Servitude: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the...