Free Republic

Former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that if the climate continues to warm, we “would lose our capacity for self-governance.” Anchor Jake Tapper asked, “What happens if the world doesn’t react? What’s the worst-case scenario?” Gore said, “The scientist who has warned us of these mega-storms and the floods and mudslides and droughts and the ice melting and the sea level rising and the storms getting stronger and the tropical diseases and climate and migrants crossing international borders in large numbers. They were dead right when they warned us about this, and so...

"At root, today’s attack on men is really an attack on the aspiration to self-governance, which is an aspiration shared by individuals of every gender, race and class. The cult of fragility and self-abasement might be attractive and even socially beneficial to a small strata of the literary middle classes, like Webb, but it is generally viewed as repulsive by the population at large...And so people resist it, whether by being men or by being strong women — that is, by being individuals who, through ‘the operations of intelligence and will’, might command their lives and impact on their communities."

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia, as the delegates filed out of the hall, a Mrs. Powell is reported to have asked Benjamin Franklin the following question: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin’s oft quoted and terse reply was reported by fellow signer of the Constitution James McHenry to be “A republic, if you can keep it.” For every American citizen from that day forward this simple, short phrase comprises both the promise and the challenge of the American Revolution: republican self-governance. The ability of a mass of people...

A turning point in US history has come; either the Elites who advocate for the statist cause for control prevails or the self-governance by the citizenry prevails. We are at the tipping point of government micromanagement versus individual responsibility (power). Unless you have been living as a hermit these past few years most people now recognize the stark choice that is before the country. Will the government be allowed to usurp individual choice and responsibility without opposition by reason of clever arguments by those who claim they know better or will the people rise up and clean house in the...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2008 – The Iraqi government’s passage of three bills, including a 2008 budget, marks a historic turning point toward peace, stability and self-governance in the country, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. A provincial powers law represents “an important step toward framing the balance the Iraqi people seek between central government authority and the strengthening of local governments,” said a joint statement issued yesterday by Multinational Force Iraq and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The statement called the law a “historic compromise.” The statement, by the top military and diplomatic officials in Iraq, also praised the council for...

Border Forts Part of Iraqi Path to Self-Governance Thirty-nine of the 45 planned border forts have been completed; they will also serve as a location to train border police. By Claude D. McKinney Gulf Region North U.S. Army Corps of Engineers SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq, April 11, 2006 — Each completed border fort along the Iraq-Iran border brings the security of Iraq closer to its goal of self-governance. There are centuries old histories of conflict between the people occupying the lands along Iraq’s northeastern mountains and the placement for each of the 45 planned border forts was determined by identifying the...

SACRAMENTO – Ignored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and short on cash, a grass-roots Republican group yesterday abandoned an initiative campaign to bar illegal immigrants from obtaining driver licenses and other public benefits. The broader debate over illegal immigration, however, is certain to continue to play out in Washington, where President Bush is pushing new federal policies, and in California, where Schwarzenegger is tangling with Latino activists over driver licenses. With a Tuesday deadline looming, campaign leaders counting signatures realized they were as many as 150,000 short of the number needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. The daunting challenge...

EVEN THOUGH ROUGH WINDS do shake the darling buds thereof, I think we can all agree that May is a fabulous month, flush and lusty as the poets say, a time to gather knots of flowers, and buds and garlands gay. It is the month above all of Mother's Day, made doubly so by the decision of the United States government to transform itself for a few weeks every May into a kind of Mom for everybody--your Mom, my Mom, even our Moms' Mom. And this national Mom has a few things she'd like to get settled right here and...

Attacks on U.S., coalition and Iraqi security forces in Iraq will not stop the country's march toward self-governance and democracy, a senior U.S. military officer said today. "Those who attempt to prevent a free and democratic state (in Iraq) will definitely fail," Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 7, told reporters at a Baghdad press conference. "We remain undaunted," he asserted, against attacks conducted by Saddam Hussein loyalists and terrorists. He pointed out that despite anti-coalition attacks designed to intimidate Iraqis, the numbers of those volunteering for security duty continue to grow. Training facilities for...