Free Republic

JD Vance has served admirably as Donald Trump's vice president and has been a true asset to the administration. Right now, he's favored to be the next Republican nominee for president when 2028 rolls around. But there are many other viable contenders. That's why his latest deep-dive interview on his views on the economy is highly disturbing. In Vance's interview last week with The Daily Wire, he sounded much more like a Mitt Romney, big-government RINO than a Trump or Ronald Reagan. Decide for yourself. Here are some of Vance's misguided views on economics and the future of the GOP:...

As he aged, Jefferson spoke passionately about the prospect of meeting loved ones in heaven, assuring a bereaved John Adams after the death of his wife Abigail, that “it is of some comfort to us both that the term is not very distant at which we are to deposit, in the same cerement, our sorrows and suffering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an ecstatic meeting with the friends we have loved & lost and whom we shall still love and never lose again.” In the end, he seems to have believed in a heaven or, at least, as...

IntroductionThe Coercive Acts not only sparked outrage among the common people whom Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816) derided as members of the mob; they also inflamed the indignation of Americans who occupied positions of power and influence. One such person was Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses who helped write a May 1774 resolution designating a day of fasting and prayer to show solidarity with the people of Massachusetts. Soon after, Lord Dunmore (1730–1809), the royal governor, showed his solidarity with Parliament by dissolving the House of Burgesses. As the elected members of that body prepared to regroup...

From Roman freedom to Viking happiness, the iconic words in the Declaration of Independence reveal thousands of years of humans wrestling with how to live well together – and the power of language to put those ideas into action. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." When Thomas Jefferson drafted these words in the Declaration of Independence, two things were on his mind. One: he needed to find "terms so plain and...

You feel it, most days in Santa Cruz, some more than others, a kind of vibe, a kind of magic in the air, like that feeling just as the fog is burning off and the chill salt air comes alive with an extra tingling energy in the fresh late-morning sunlight. If you take THAT feeling, that giddy energy suffused with possibility, and try to find the living human embodiment, the avatar if you will of Santa Cruz creative energy at its potent and playful best, that avatar has a name, and it’s Wallace Baine. Talk about energy. The man spent...

Detail from a portrait of an elderly Thomas Jefferson as painted by Thomas Sulley, 1821. In a previous post, I examined some of the speculation about George Washington's death, and the curious legend that he had died having confessed himself to a Catholic priest. That has gone on to be the most popular post on this blog, garnering over 15,000 views to date. In the case of death of Thomas Jefferson, there is considerably less cause for speculation. For one thing, Jefferson had been a Unitarian/Deist from his youth, and a consistent critic of Catholic beliefs and practices well into...

Archaeologists have uncovered a previously unknown remnant of Thomas Jefferson’s era at Monticello: a brick kiln used to build his home. The kiln was recently found on the east side of the Founding Father’s home amid an excavation that began in March, officials said. Monticello historians believe it dates back to the early 1770s, sometime before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was part of the construction of Monticello I, the first version of Jefferson’s home. The current structure reflects a later rebuild and expansion completed after his time in France, after 1789. Photos from the site...

In the early 19th century, the Barbary Pirates—Muslim corsairs from North Africa's Islamic states—terrorized the Mediterranean and Atlantic, seizing ships, enslaving crews, and demanding tribute from nations too weak or unwilling to fight back. European powers and the young United States eventually crushed them with cannon fire and resolve. Today, history repeats in the Persian Gulf, but on a far grander, more menacing scale. The **Islamic Republic of Iran**—a regime steeped in theocratic fascism, jihadist ideology, and centuries-old supremacist impulses—has revived the pirate's playbook with 21st-century sophistication. According to recent reporting, Tehran has begun charging select commercial vessels **transit "fees"**...

Today I am happy to announce the release of the very short audio for Thomas Jefferson's interesting letter "A Dialog between the Head and Heart", which reaches just past 30 minutes long. Yes, it is a very short recording, but this one is a little different than most others I work on. This recording is a compilation; that is, there are three voices present that are seemingly talking to each other in a way. One of the recordings in this I recorded. This does not signal my triumphant return to the microphone though. I wish. I still have a very...

History is not indoctrination — or is it? How many people know that the scriptures were cited by our founders more than Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone combined? Students learn that James Madison is the father of the Constitution, but do they know that he would likely have failed unless he had promised a bill of rights to Pastor John Leland? Does today’s generation realized that the pilgrims were literally a church plant and that the Mayflower Compact was modeled after a church covenant? It's more likely they believe that America was formed under secular influences with just a tiny tip...

Blaze Media pioneer Glenn Beck has apparently been sharing this unearthed paragraph since at least 2020, but I heard it for the first time just days ago. It's a passage Thomas Jefferson wrote for a draft of the Declaration of Independence - a paragraph I have never encountered. Given that I've taught U.S. History and Government for two decades, that fact stuns me as much as it embarrasses and frustrates me. Every year, I've made my government students memorize the Declaration's preamble - those immortal words about all men being endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life,...

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia, in a hearing on Wednesday, told the room: The notion that rights don't come from laws, and don't come from the government, but come from the Creator... That's what the Iranian government believes... So the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.

Although Jews comprised a small part of the population of colonial America, the country’s Founding Fathers realized the importance of freedom of worship for even this small minority. George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island affirms the American commitment that bigotry would have no place in the US and that Jews would not be a tolerated minority but would “possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.” That commitment has withstood the test of time. While American Jews have always admired the nation’s Founding Fathers for their genius and vision, they tend to ignore that...

"The expedition of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, for exploring the river Missouri, and the best communication from that to the Pacific Ocean, has had all the success which could be expected. They have traced the Missouri nearly to its source; descended the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, ascertained with accuracy the Geography, of that interesting communication across the continent; learned the character of the country, its commerce and inhabitants; and it is but justice to say that Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and their brave companions, have, by this arduous service, deserved well of their country." This volume is the 1840...

New York City previously tore down a historic Thomas Jefferson statue only to now erect a 12-foot bronze statue of an "overweight black woman," which many blasted as “tasteless” and more.The statue is called “Grounded in the Stars” and was unveiled on Wednesday in Times Square, created by artist Thomas J. Price. The artist's “Man Series,” a stop motion animation, will also appear nightly throughout May on the district’s billboards, providing a “two-part takeover” in the district that “amplifies traditionally marginalized bodies on a monumental scale," per the Times Square website.Price said, per the Times Square site.“Times Square stands as...

So stunning, so brave. In what's being called a "contrast" to the two white men who have statues in Times Square, a new 12-foot statue of a fictionalized overweight black woman has been erected at Broadway and 46th Street. Why? The Times Square Arts association presents a big word salad on its official website for the bronze statue (it will stay standing until June 17) created by artist Thomas J Price, but then, buried deep in the word salad, we get an interesting nugget. Email: joe.kinsey@outkick.com "Installed at ground level on a wide low base, the work invites engagement with...

I've argued for years that the open border was an intentional plan to destroy America by welcoming in millions of foreign invaders. The goal was to create a welfare state and get them all to vote Democrat, so eventually no Republican could ever be elected again.I've also argued for years that the Democrat politicians who supported this plan were on the payroll of China, the Chinese Communist Party and the Mexican drug cartels. (snip) I believe many federal judges are on the take.

The Judicial Insurrection Is Worse Than You Think The point of all the injunctions and restraining orders is to preserve the supreme rule of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats.At this point it’s not too much to say that the federal judiciary has plunged us into a constitutional crisis. The fusillade of injunctions and temporary restraining orders issued by district court judges in recent weeks against the Trump administration — on everything from foreign aid to immigration enforcement to Defense Department enlistment policy to climate change grants for Citibank — boggles the mind.More nationwide injunctions and restraining orders have been issued...

Many pundits, including lawyer Robert Barnes, are harping on impeachment of these rogue judges. I think that has little, if any, hope of success. Nor do I think defunding or changing the jurisdiction of the courts will work. We're easily 20 votes in the House and 20 votes in the Senate short of either of those options. But Trump is winning, and can continue to win, by other means, practical means, historically time-tested means. First understand that TIME IS ON OUR SIDE. These agencies have been closed. People have been fired. Buildings are locked up. Some are sold already. Policies...

What the country is witnessing is the culmination of many decades of ever-expanding judicial activism and the cowardice of the Congress to exert its prerogative to rein in this runaway usurpation ... Thomas Jefferson, a staunch opponent of a powerful central government, also recognized the potential abuse of power by an out-of-control Judiciary and a recalcitrant Congress ... Alexis de Tocqueville .. if the Supreme Court is ever composed of imprudent or bad men, the Union may be plunged into anarchy or civil war. ... By refusing to address this long-festering issue, Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court...