Free Republic

Those of us who have been around awhile look at all that is going on in our nation and the world, and realize how far we have fallen. Literally, not a single day passes without new revelations regarding the corruption and treason that is the norm among the so-called leaders of both America and pretty much every other country. I take hope knowing God is in ultimate control, and that all will eventually work to the good in His will and in His time. That certainly does not excuse, however, the lack of sound moral principles of those in control...

While our Constitution famously set up a government of divided powers, the powers within each branch are not absolute. Each is subject to various checks from the others. Congress is responsible for lawmaking, but the president has a qualified veto over congressional bills. It is not absolute, for congress may override on two-thirds majority vote. As a theoretical check on the judiciary, scotus is subject to Article III congressionally determined “exceptions . . . and regulations.” Scotus has developed a habit of going far beyond its duty to adjudicate between parties and protect the constitutionality of law. Instead, it often...

Our 18th century Framers were precise grammarians. They spent months debating in a stuffy Philadelphia state house to thrash out every concept, idea, detail, clause and yes, punctuation, that ended up in our beloved Constitution. From James Madison’s notes, there is no question that every element had to first pass a committee composed of a few members, and then survive withering examination by a committee of all state delegates. First, take a look at Article I § 8: It is here that the limited legislative powers declared in Section 1 are elaborated. The end, or purpose of the law is...

Oklahoma Second Amendment Supporters, particularly OK2A, have been pushing for a reform of the state Constitution's weak protection of the right to keep and bear arms.  The reform has strong support, but has been bottled up in committees.  The reform is needed because current Section II-26 has been ruled by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to offer little serious protection.  Here is the current version: The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power, when thereunto legally summoned, shall never be prohibited; but nothing...

<p>A New Jersey judge has ruled that Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz meets the constitutional requirements to be president and may appear on the state's presidential primary ballot.</p> <p>Judge Jeff Masin ruled Tuesday that a child of a citizen-father or citizen-mother is "indeed a natural born Citizen within the contemplation of the Constitution."</p>

The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee recently took testimony regarding the dangers posed by an ever expanding administrative state, especially in the hands of a ‘pen and phone’ president. Matthew Spalding, Ph.D. from Hillsdale College explained how a slow, evolutionary coup d'état in the form of an administrative state has overthrown free government. This transfer of lawmaking power away from congress to an oligarchy of unelected experts who rule through executive decree and judicial edict over virtually every aspect of our daily lives, under the guise of merely implementing the technical details of law, constitutes nothing less than a...

During Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign visit to Liberty University, he told the students that our nation was created on racist principles. Students at a Christian-based university, such as Liberty, do not often hear the founders-as-racists argument. But it is featured at many other universities, as well as primary and secondary schools. Most often, the hate-America teachings are centered on the fact that slavery is a part of our history. What is left untaught is: Slavery was a routine part of human history. Blacks were the last people to be enslaved. Plus, our Founding Fathers struggled mightily over the issue of...

Did the Framers actually bequeath the circa 2016 Animal House presidential election process? Nothing occupied the Federal Convention of 1787 more than debate involving the executive branch. One man would be responsible for executing the laws passed by a free people and corporate states. More than sixty votes were necessary to define the method of presidential election. From near the beginning of the convention on May 25th and almost to the end, September 17th, the Framers wrestled with presidential powers, the balance of those powers with congress, and how a free people could design an office that precluded the trappings...

Our previously Free Republic continues to reel from a one hundred and three year old mistake: the 17th Amendment. Pardon me if I don’t celebrate today’s anniversary. Republican theory demands the consent of the governed. From ancient Greece, republican Rome, Saxon Germany, and even in the English kingdom from which we declared our Independence, the component members of their societies had a place at the lawmaking table. Greek ecclesia, Roman tribunes and senators, Saxon Micklegemots, English commons, lords and king, encompassed the totality of their societies. By this, the consent of the governed was present in every law. Unlike simpler...

What would your reaction be if you heard that Congress was set in 2007 to bestow ‘natural born’ citizenship on ALL anchor babies through their Immigration Reform legislation. (110th Congress) S. 1348Shocked? Outraged? Ambivalent?What if you heard that Congress was moving to change Immigration & Naturalization laws so the every child born overseas to 1 citizen parent & 1 foreign parent would forever be deemed a ‘natural born’ citizen. (101st Congress) H.R. 1380, (99th Congress) H.R. 2535, Shocked? Outraged? Ambivalent?What if Congress had a bill waiting to come out of committee in February of 2008 that would change the citizenship...

Donald Trump's concept of the federal government's proper role ought to make any conservative cringe. Last week, the GOP's leading candidate answered a question from an Afghanistan veteran named Robert Kitelinger who asked, "In your opinion, what are the top three functions of the United States government?" Trump listed security, healthcare, and education. He said something a little different in August 2015 when he listed his top priorities as the military, veterans and jobs. These two statements are not necessarily irreconcilable of course. In August 2015 he was speaking about what his own priorities as president would be, while in...

“Time and time again, the Federal government has breached its promises with respect to the public lands. Western states are moving to compel the Federal government to honor the same promise it made and kept with all states east of Colorado: to timely dispose of the public lands so they can be managed by those whose lives and livelihoods depend upon the wide management of those lands.” - American Lands Council When the western states were asked to join the union, they each agreed to sign a compact with the federal government much as the eastern states had done. The...

A contingent among those who oppose an Article V state convention to propose Constitutional amendments declare that all that need be done is just enforce the Constitution we have. Well, we actually have more than one Constitution to consider. There is the written, de jure Constitution that anyone can view through a simple internet search at any time. Its Preamble sets forth, in more particular terms, the broad purpose of having a government in the first place as expressed in our Declaration of Independence. Society came together to improve upon the Articles of Confederation, establish Justice, keep domestic peace, defend...

It is through Article V, and not the social justice whims of nine unaccountable lawyers that the Framers envisioned a free people would keep and improve their republic. Enlightenment philosophers and our Framers recognized that whereas power is aggressive, liberty is passive, and unless actively pursued, liberty will always fade in the face of encroaching power. Much of America has come to accept as final the often fanciful mutterings of the scotus. As illustrated in its Roe, Lawrence, and Obergefell opinions, scotus not only supplanted the supreme law of the land, it trashed the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God....

It is no secret that American courts have wandered far outside the business of adjudicating. Every summer, the nation holds its breath in anticipation of the latest batch of scotus opinions. Last June, the questions were: Will homosexual marriage become a right across the land? Is there an unconstitutional penalty within Obamacare, or is it a constitutional tax? Must localities mix Section 8 tenants among their communities to achieve racial balance? Can congress force individuals to purchase a privately provided product such as health insurance? No scotus majority opinion ever declared that it revised or made law. For example, in...

It is true that a trade deficit subtracts from a country’s gross domestic product. G.D.P. measures the value of goods and services produced within a country’s borders, so when a country is selling less stuff abroad than it buys from abroad, the country is making less stuff, and as a result there are fewer jobs. This piece of the Trump theory of trade is true. Read the rest in the link.

Former Secretary of State and current Contender for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton told voters this week that "the right to an abortion is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the US Constitution" and that "neither Congress nor any state has the authority to abridge or limit this right." The Constitutional clause cited by the candidate was Article III, Section 2. "The Founders, in their wisdom, affirmed that under our government, 'judicial power shall extend to all,'" Clinton said. "This established the Court as the final arbiter of everyone's rights. Consequently, the Court's 1973 grant of the right to...

At the March 29th rally in Janesville Wisconsin, outlined several ideas one of which was do away with 501C3 status of churches which he says contributed to the pulpit being silenced in the political world and infringe upon free speech.

The latest Wisconsin poll conducted by Public Policy Polling shows a virtually even race between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Cruz leads Trump by just one percentage point in the poll. The margin is much closer than a recent Marquette poll that showed Cruz with a 10 percentage point lead. The Public Policy poll also showed John Kasich supporters are more likely to support Cruz than Trump.

In a moment that seemed to stun even moderator Anderson Cooper, Donald Trump named federal involvement in education and health care as top functions of the federal government, along with national security, at the Milwaukee candidates forum in Milwaukee last night. Apparently unaware that conservatives believe that a federal role in education is unjustified, and that many, including Ted Cruz, want to abolish the Department of Education, and that federal involvement in health care is anathema to his party’s base, Trump spoke of both as among the top three priorities for the feds. Putting on his surprised face, Cooper...