Free Republic

In the 2008 election, 69.5 million Americans voted for Barack Obama, and 60 million voted for John McCain. About 100 million did not vote. Each of us was given a gift: the gift of selecting who governs our country. Most did not earn this gift; most have not paid for this gift; but we all possess this gift equally with all other Americans. With that gift comes responsibility. We have elections every two years, and each of us can help decide who will govern us. Yet, in 2008, almost half of eligible Americans did not bother to vote. The party...

On Tuesday, November 2, voters across the country turned out in droves to give Republicans control of the House of Representatives GOP wins in the U.S. Senate trimmed the Democratic majority, and over 675 State legislative seats were taken from Democrats nationwide. So historic was the win that the Minnesota Senate will be run by Republicans for the first time in that state's history, and Alabama will be in GOP hands for the first time since reconstruction. But what happened to California? Are Californians really so liberal that they would elect a man who was once known as "Governor Moonbeam"...

On Tuesday, November 2, voters across the country turned out in droves to give Republicans control of the House of Representatives. GOP wins in the U.S. Senate trimmed the Democratic majority, and over 675 State legislative seats were taken from Democrats nationwide. So historic was the win that the Minnesota Senate will be run by Republicans for the first time in that state's history, and Alabama will be in GOP hands for the first time since reconstruction. But what happened to California? Are Californians really so liberal that they would elect a man who was once known as "Governor Moonbeam"...

The landmark election Saturday of America's first big-city lesbian mayor in Houston represents more than just a milestone in identity politics. It also signals an unmistakable evolutionary step in national politics, one that provides further evidence of a trend that helped make Barack Obama president: growth-oriented communities like the Texas metropolis, rather than aging big cities or nostalgia-inducing small towns, are setting the course of the country's political direction. Houston is one of a set of fast-growing cities and expanding suburbs whose changing face and increasingly post-racial politics helped make Barack Obama president. Their politics are defined by some of...

  From a reader: Thought I'd chime in. I've been working in Newark (biggest city in NJ, Dem stronghold) for the past 3 days, making calls, putting up signs, etc. The biggest thing going on today is no one here is going to the polls. In one polling place 49 votes were cast by 11 am, in contrast, at the same time last year, there were 378 votes cast. Unless people come out of the wood works in Newark, Christie may win this by 2-3 points regardless of Daggett. Speaking of Daggett, in my home county (Morris, Christie's base) Daggeett...

Barack Obama is a great pretender. He constantly says he's doing things that he isn't, and he relies on his powerful rhetoric to obscure the difference. He has made "responsibility" a personal theme, and the budget's cover line is "A New Era of Responsibility." He claims that the budget begins "making the tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline." It doesn't. If Obama were "responsible," he would be leading a candid conversation about government's size and role. Who deserves support and why? How big can government grow before higher taxes and deficits harm long-term economic growth? Although Obama claims to...

It has become a commonplace in American political discourse to lament the number of people who do not vote, and to see increased voter participation as a panacea for our political problems. I beg to differ...

I ask this because of a recent tidbit I read in the weekly column of my local newspaper.Ironically enough, under a subsection of the paper entitled TIDBITS. It seems that Chris Owens, the less than sterling son of an already incompetent congressman, i.e., Major Owens, has decided to take Mayor Bloomberg to task for his decision to ask the city's corporation counsel to appeal Magaret Ling-Cohen's recent court injunction-which she has temporarily stayed-overturning the state's prohibtion against same-sex "marriage."Now, I don't want to debate the relative merits-or lack thereof-of this judge's decison. Rather, I would like to explore the analogy...

Got a question for people that I am wrestling with. If Bob Ehrlich is pro-choice or pro-death, how can I vote for him when I am against abortion? I am not going to vote for a Kennedy but I am seriously considering not voting for anyone for Governor. I know that it may put KKT in office, but what else is there to do? I would like some advice.