Free Republic

WASHINGTON — A quarter-century ago, a Democratic president celebrated “the end of welfare as we know it,” challenging the poor to exercise “independence” and espousing balanced budgets and smaller government. The Democratic Party capped a march in the opposite direction this week.... ...The new Democratic stance is “a long cry from the days of ‘big government is over,’” said Margaret Weir, a political scientist at Brown University.... ...Republicans’ increasing efforts to define themselves as a party of the working class, has scrambled the politics of economic policy across the ideological spectrum....

How would reparations be funded? Conservative writer Michael Medved estimates that only 5% of whites in America "bear any authentic sort of generational guilt for the exploitation of slave labor." Why should anyone but Democrats pay? Scholar Dinesh D'Souza notes that all but a "handful" of slave owners were Democrats. The Ku Klux Klan, at its height of power and popularity, was known by the NAACP as the "terror wing" of the Democratic Party. The KKK was founded by Democrats; I did not say by the Democratic Party, but by Democrats. As a percentage of their party, more House Republicans...

Following today's release of the latest Personal Income and Spending data, Wall Street was predictably focused on the changes in these two key series, which showed a surge in personal income (to be expected in the month when the $900BN December 2020 stimulus hit), coupled with a far more modest increase in personal spending.But while the change in the headline data was notable, what was far more remarkable was data showing just how reliant on the US government the population has become.We are referring, of course, to Personal Current Transfer payments which are essentially government sourced income such as unemployment...

Washington’s welfare-industrial complex both discourages work and leads people to expect that government will solve the problems government has created.Even before President Biden’s new $1.9 trillion COVID “stimulus” package goes into effect, multiple news stories make clear the flaws in its approach. Washington’s welfare-industrial complex, which the “stimulus” will bloat even further, both discourages work and leads people to expect that government will solve the problems government has created.The coronavirus pandemic caused very real economic hardship for millions of American families. But many of the well-meaning efforts to address those hardships—along with welfare expansions Democrats proposed long before COVID hit...

“Morally and economically, the welfare state creates an ever accelerating downward pull. Morally, the chance to satisfy demands by force spreads the demands wider and wider, with less and less pretense at justification. Economically, the forced demands of one group create hardships for all others, thus producing an inextricable mixture of actual victims and plain parasites.” -Ayn Rand I think that this quote by Ayn Rand on the welfare state is, like most quotations of hers, absolutely spot on. It perfectly sums up the negative current and after-effects of the welfare programs enacted by “looters” in the government to please...

At a time our country faces a massive recession brought on by the coronavirus lockdowns, America’s welfare state exacerbates that stagnation. Ronald Reagan had an old adage about the nine most terrifying words in the English language: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Recently, a new paper reinforced that truth and adds to the existing literature showing how America’s welfare state often traps generations in a cycle of poverty.At its core, a complicated set of welfare programs and tax breaks generate sizable incentives for many low-income Americans not to increase their incomes and improve their station in...

The Trump administration plans to allow 45,000 additional seasonal guest workers to return to the U.S. this summer, the highest number since the president took office, according to three administration officials. The Department of Homeland Security plans to announce the additional seasonal-worker visas next week, an administration official said. They will become available in two waves: the first 20,000 will be immediately available, while employers can apply for the remainder for jobs beginning June 1. It wasn’t clear whether the White House has fully signed off on the numbers, and an administration official cautioned they could change. The additional visas...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden ramped up attacks on each other Tuesday night as part of an escalating battle over their records on Social Security. Sanders has hammered his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, arguing that he backed proposed cuts to Social Security during his years as a senator. Biden said he was committed to not only maintaining but also strengthening the program and released an attack ad Tuesday dinging the Vermont Independent as “flat-out wrong.” “Democrats, we can’t launch dishonest attacks against fellow Democrats. We have to beat Donald Trump,” says a narrator...

California — According to a study conducted by UC Berkeley, more than half of California voters have considered leaving the state. The study was conducted for the L.A. Times and found that California Republicans are three times more likely to consider leaving the state compared to Democrats.

Bill Walton recently welcomed Star Parker and Winsome Sears to his video podcast for a discussion of why so many black Americans continue to vote for the failed liberal agenda. Here is a transcript of their conversation, edited mostly only for style and clarity. Bill Walton: Welcome to “The Bill Walton Show.” Race just seems to dominate so much of our political debate in the United States. Today, I want to explore and learn about the past, present, and future state of black America. Who has the better policy answers, conservatives or liberals or libertarians? What’s been the impact of...

Under the guise of keeping America “competitive” in the looming high-tech future, the globalist Council on Foreign Relations is urging policymakers at all levels to dramatically expand the size and scope of government. The bloated welfare states in Sweden and Denmark are cited as examples of the “advantages” of massive government programs to take care for people. Without the sort of fundamental transformation of America envisioned by the CFR, the nation will supposedly be left behind in the emerging new paradigm, the organization claimed. Critics, though, blasted that idea. In its new report, dubbed “The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills, and...

Democrats thought Donald was done – he’s just getting started! Thanks to President Trump, the U.S. economy is on fire like never before. Jobs are coming back and wages are on the rise. Companies are competing to keep Americans workers. In fact, there are more open jobs than people looking for work! But as good as things are, Trump wants them even better. The economy can only thrive when people are jumping in and getting back to work. But there’s one program that keeps people poor and out of the workforce. A program that also costs the taxpayers billions a...

GREAT WALL OF CHINA By 220AD, the Later Eastern Han Dynasty had extended sections of the Great Wall of China along its Mongolian border. This resulted in the Northern Huns attacking west instead of east. This caused a domino effect of displaced tribes migrating west across Central Asia, and overrunning the Western Roman Empire. OPEN BORDERS Illegal immigrants poured across the Roman borders: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Alemanni, Thuringians, Rugians, Jutes, Picts, Burgundians, Lombards, Alans, Vandals, as well as African Berbers and Arab raiders. Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Story of Civilization (Vol. 3-Caesar and Christ, Simon...

WASHINGTON—Immigrants legally in the U.S. will be ineligible for green cards if they use any of an array of social programs, and prospective immigrants will be barred from entry if they can’t convince a consular officer that they will never use such programs, as part of a final rule published by the Trump administration. The rule, issued by the Department of Homeland Security, is one of the most ambitious and sweeping elements of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, according to administration officials as well as immigrant-rights advocates opposed to the change. The administration was all but guaranteeing fresh criticism from...

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) personally aided the illegal entry of a pregnant immigrant "so she can have her anchor baby in the United States, as is her right." Wyden called international boundaries "unnatural impediments to the free migration of people and wildlife. It is everyone's human right to live wherever they wish. It is our obligation to admit them and provide them with everything they need to enjoy the kind of life they desire. This includes free health care, food, housing, and spending money for the extras—cell phones, high-def cable TV, vacations, fashionable clothing—that make life more enjoyable." The Senator...

Republicans have failed to promote a single conservative fiscal reform to even tweak the growing welfare state, despite their promise to fight for welfare work requirements. But at least Republicans at a state level are promoting conservatism, right? Well, not if the courts are crowned king of the republic. Courts have become the final arbiter of cultural issues and now even border and national security issues. Thus, it was only a matter of time before they ventured into fiscal/economic issues. Recently, several states have been conditioning Medicaid eligibility upon work requirements. Arkansas, Kentucky, and New Hampshire got a waiver from...

<p>Karl Rove says he has no idea what Trump is doing with his "rat infested" tweets about Cummings' district.</p> <p>Well, let me fill you in, Karl. He's fighting to deliver on his promise and goal to drain the swamp and Make America Great Again! Trump is a fighter and problem solver and is unafraid to directly tackle big problems and even criticize DOC (democrats of color) even if they are a protected class and immune to criticism--when and if they are clearly POP (part of the problem. By the way. he's not attacking AOC's WOC (women of color) Squad or Cummings because of race, he's attacking their anti-America, big government/globalist/socialist ideas and policies and the obvious disastrous results of same.</p>

Once upon a time, long, long ago they actually taught this stuff in grade school along with reading, writing, arithmetic--and--history, basic economics, the Constitution, patriotism, and other useful subjects to help youngsters learn a trade, etc. And then the left took control and decided indoctrination was more useful (to them) than educating the next generation. Why? Ronald Reagan summed it up: Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Big government/socialism destroys free-markets, productivity, the economy, private property, wealth (capital), individual liberty, national sovereignty and your country. Why is the UK no longer a superpower? The Labour Party...

In a crowded field of Democrats vying for the presidency in 2020, one thing stands out. "Medicare-for-all" tops their campaign promises. On Sunday, the latest to announce, former Obama cabinet official Julian Castro, pledged to make Medicare-for-All a reality. But these candidates would rather walk on hot coals than tell you what "Medicare-for-all" costs: a whopping $32 trillion over 10 years. To raise that, all taxpayers, not just the rich, would have to hand a gut-wrenching share of their paycheck to Uncle Sam, based on Congressional Budget Office revenue tables. A single guy earning $82,500 a year, and currently paying...

Lawmakers say they have reached a deal on the massive farm bill, which has been hung up for weeks over demands by President Trump and House Republicans for new work requirements for food stamp recipients. Negotiators have agreed to jettison those requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which were included in the House version of the bill but not the Senate version. However, the White House has not yet signed off on the agreement and House conservatives may not support a bill that lacks work requirements.