Free Republic

DAD, WHAT's UNABHÄNGIGKEITSTAG? "Is that when the thirteen colonies broke away from England?" My ten year inquired out of nowhere at 6 AM German time this morning. "Yeah, why do you want to know, eat your breakfast," I mumbled, too sleepy to be very curious. "Because I am afraid my teacher will ask me, since I am wearing this T-shirt and I'm the only American in the class." With an effort, I adjusted my gaze upward to his white T-shirt. It was brand new. Prominent on his breast was an image of the flag and below that: OLD NAVY FREEDOM...

The free trade debate is really about two questions: Capitalism, has it failed because we have slipped into an era of crony capitalism? Representative democracy, has it failed because it is no longer representative? To set the context: Most conservatives and most economists indeed most Americans, agree that fair trade is economically beneficial. By the Milton Friedman analysis, those who efficiently produce goods do so and trade them for goods made by people who make other goods more efficiently. Everybody wins. As a theoretical and even practical analysis this is something we conservatives obviously favor but it is not something...

Nathan Bedford's Maxim: The remedy for failed socialism is invariably more socialism I am a father who has two children attending universities in Europe, tuition free, and one child attending university in America in which the tuition costs about $40,000 per year. I have had personal experience with both sides of this debate so I feel I can comment from that experience. Obviously, free is nicer. But why does education in America cost so much? For much the same reason that health care costs have run out of control, because third-party payers are held responsible rather than the consumer so...

Here’s a list of the parties that coalesced under the umbrella of Syriza ( new Greek regime) : Active Citizens Anticapitalist Political Group Citizens’ Association of Riga Communist Organization of Greece (KOE): Communist Platform of Syriza: Greek section of the International Marxist Tendency Democratic Social Movement (DIKKI) Ecosocialists of Greece Internationalist Workers’ Left (DEA) Movement for the United in Action Left (KEDA) New Fighter Radical Left Group Roza Radicals Red Renewing Communist Ecological Left (AKOA) Synaspismós Union of the Democratic Centre Unitary Movement And a number of independent leftist activists

Implications of Sony 1. The threat posed by unidentified attackers of the Sony system is not limited to the Hollywood corporation but has broad, even existential, implications for homeland defense, for liberty, especially the First Amendment, and for the economy. 2. Our nuclear facilities, our transportation infrastructure, our communication infrastructure, our banking institutions, Wall Street, our media, system of justice and the rule of law, in short, the whole structure which holds our way of life together and keeps us from anarchy are potentially threatened by any expansion or intensification of this threat. 3. The identity of the hackers is...

Soon, within the lives of most of you, the American dream will slip away. If we accept that demographics in national presidential elections are increasingly running against Republicans and even more against conservatives, we must assume that the norm will be left-leaning Presidents. Looking beyond the 2014 election and the 2016 election as well, as demographics continue to run against us, the Senate will also increasingly trend left. However, the hold by Republicans and conservatives in the House of Representatives looks to be solid for some years to come, primarily because Republicans dominate state legislatures and draw district lines. Regardless...

The Republicans will enjoy firm control of both houses of Congress. Both parties will now begin the campaign for 2016. How they govern will depend on how they intend to campaign. The dilemma for the Democrats is more stark than the dilemma for the Republicans. The Democrats must recognize that Obama is a potentially alien force within their ranks governing against their individual and party fortunes as Democrats. The question for Democrats, especially Senate Democrats, is whether they will stand with Obama if he chooses to continue to govern against the will of the American people even as Republicans send...

The people sense that the federal Leviathan is so ponderous that it cannot cope with a potentially existential health threat. They commonly think that the problem is that the government is so big and multi-tentacled that it cannot communicate, it cannot coordinate, it cannot cope. They are right about the size being a problem but size is not the root problem, it is a symptom. The gross federal Leviathan on is a symptom of an ideology that is all wrong. So long as that ideology could be described as "liberalism" the miraculous tool powers of our free enterprise system and...

In a year when Republicans are operating in such an enviable political environment, why aren't their U.S. Senate candidates holding big and impressive leads? Why does it look close? Why are party professionals getting worried?

Will bombing Isis, like the Iraq war, prove to be the wrong "war" against the wrong enemy? America is war weary and will support our action against Isis for a short time and only so long as it is conducted by limited means, that is, without substantial casualties. In effect, America under the leadership of Barack Obama supports airstrikes and no more. What will this accomplish? While emotionally satisfying to Americans enraged at the horror of their compatriots being decapitated before their eyes, these strikes are very unlikely to accomplish the destruction of Isis or the worldwide Islamic terrorist jihad....

The news that just came across my screen on Fox that incumbent Senator Pat Roberts has prevailed in his primary for reelection to the Senate from Kansas (or in his case from Arlington, Virginia) is heartbreaking. The implications are dispiriting. His victory implies that in the American heartland the Republican Party cannot reform itself when confronted with an egregious example of elitism. If the Republican Party in Kansas (Kansas!) cannot reform itself there, how can it expect to prevail in purple states? How can we expect to carry a message to Reagan Democrats and Independents if The Tea Party cannot...

DAD, WHAT'S UNABHÄNGIGKEITSTAG? "Is that when the thirteen colonies broke away from England?" My ten year inquired out of nowhere at 6 AM German time this morning. "Yeah, why do you want to know, eat your breakfast," I mumbled, too sleepy to be very curious. "Because I am afraid my teacher will ask me, since I am wearing this T-shirt and I'm the only American in the class." With an effort, I adjusted my gaze upward to his white T-shirt. It was brand new. Prominent on his breast was an image of the flag and below that: OLD NAVY FREEDOM...

Redskin, Blackskin: Pigment is destiny A Councilman in the city of Washington DC utters the word "niggardly" quite correctly and without any racial connotations whatsoever rather it its proper meaning of "stingy." Black members of the Council, ignorant of the dictionary meaning of the word, take offense and demand the offender's resignation for outrageously using a racial epithet. The Councilman is forced off the board. It did not matter that his heart was pure and his tongue was free of racism, only the subjective reaction of a racial component of the city Council of Washington DC mattered. In this episode...

Will The Tea Party gain renewed credibility which it does not deserve? Professor Brat's stunning upset ousting the Majority Leader in the Republican primary, the first time ever at American history, is being credited to The Tea Party and we are being told that the tea party now has a new lease on life. Did the The Tea Party actually significantly contribute either money or shoe leather to David Brat's win? Evidently not. Brat has spent only about $100,000 and has virtually no money with which to campaign in the general election. Clearly The Tea Party has not contributed significant...

The evidence of gold price manipulation is clear. In this article we present evidence and describe the process. What we are witnessing is our central bank pulling out all stops on integrity and lawfulness in order to serve a small handful of banks that financial deregulation allowed to become “too big to fail” at the expense of our economy and our currency. When the Fed runs out of gold to borrow, to rehypothecate, and to loot from ETFs, the Fed will have to abandon QE or the US dollar will collapse and with it Washington’s power to exercise hegemony over...

In an effort to ward off a revolt within his own party which might have resulted in legislation which could destroy Obamacare, the president pretended yesterday to legislate by press conference and sell a fix that is not a fix by issuing an edict which is not an edict to effect a cure which is not a cure but which prolongs the life of The Affordable Care Act and extricates himself from the need to veto a popular reform. The fix which is not a fix does not cure, indeed it is intended at all costs to avoid curing, the...

SS Obamacare has taken a hit below the waterline and is in danger of sinking. Democrat crewmembers in the Senate are beginning to abandon ship and call for a delay in implementation. On the Republican side, Senator Marco Rubio is throwing the Democrats a lifeline rather than firing more torpedoes. The question now is what is the best strategy for Tea Party conservatives? The crisis of the website breakdown makes plain to the public that Obamacare is not ready. Hundreds of thousands of notices sent out to policyholders terminating their existing healthcare insurance and referring them to an Obamacare website...

We have just witnessed one of the most stunning and humiliating climb downs of any president in the history of the United States. Obama's humiliation is entirely of his own making. He unilaterally threatened to wage war, however limited he said it would be, for no clear purpose, with no clear strategy and with no clear outcome. He did so thoughtlessly by proclaiming a "red line" and thus backing himself through inadvertence and, more important, his country into an untenable position. He pushed the country out onto a limb only to find he was alone, without allies, without Congress, even...

What are our chances of restoring the Constitution through Article V? Since we conservatives do not have the services of Nate Silver at our disposal we are left to our own devices to handicap the participation of states in any Article V convention. Here is my humble offering. Statescape reports that houses of the legislatures in the following states are controlled by Republicans: AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIndianaKansas Louisiana MichiganMississippiMissouriMontana North Carolina North DakotaOhioOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahWisconsinWyoming In addition to these 26 states we might add Nebraska as number 27 with its unicameral legislature and its technically nonpartisan legislature but one which is regarded to...

Some Thoughts on the Mechanics of the Article V Movement Mark Levin and his new book, Liberty Amendments, has energized the idea of reforming Washington through a convention called for by the states and conducted by the states which offers the hope that the stranglehold on American politics currently concentrated in Washington can be reformed outside of Washington. The predicate for all of this is the assumption that Washington is both incapable and unwilling to reform itself and indeed will be hostile to any efforts from outside to reform it. Movement conservatives believe that our current mode of governance,...