Free Republic

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, right now, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost. But I tell you this: We will not go gently into their collectivist good night. Indeed, we make with our defiance such...

I cast my first vote in 1972. I was four months into my eighteenth year, and pulled those levers with pride. Unlike republican Rome, America doesn’t have a formal coming of age ceremony in which teenagers leave adolescence, don a toga, and are recognized as men worthy of self-government. When I voted for Richard Nixon, I felt the rush of being a citizen, of one burdened yet privileged to partake in the civil society and having a say in local, state, and national affairs. Since then, I never missed a congressional election . . . until 2016. While I voted...

President Trump’s economic and foreign policy agenda is jaw-dropping in scale, scope and consequence. There are multiple simultaneous aspects to each policy objective; they have been outlined for a long time even before the election victory in November ’16. If you get too far into the weeds the larger picture can be lost. CTH objective is to continue pointing focus toward the larger horizon, and then at specific inflection points to dive into the topic and explain how each moment is connected to the larger strategy. Today is a big news day where action on multiple policy fronts becomes visible....

In his speech before the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Atlanta on Friday, President Donald Trump said he would protect the Second Amendment, and declared that freedom was “a gift from God.” “Each of these leaders knows that public officials must serve under the Constitution, not above it,” Trump said, according to Newsweek. “We all took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States — and that means defending the Second Amendment. “

Among the features of the ideal republic is the absence of factions and political parties. As per James Madison, a faction is a group of citizens, either a majority or minority, united and actuated by some common passion or interest adverse to the rights of other citizens or the aggregate interests of the community. A political party is typically a collection of factions. Imagine if every representative, senator, president, and bureaucrat took the Preamble of our Constitution to heart, and selflessly dedicated themselves to secure the Blessings of Liberty to themselves and their posterity. This is the public virtue hoped...

Perhaps it is valuable to reset the larger frames of reference and provide clarity. Many, heck, most people think when they vote for a federal politician -a representative- they are voting for a person who will go to Washington DC and write or enact legislation. This is the old-fashioned “schoolhouse rock” perspective based on decades past. Sundance is talking to those of us that read on Treehouse but I thought it was excellent information on how bills are made, written, sold, and passed...and why President Trump hasn't had any bills to sign as yet... There is not a single congress...

Turkey will close the door on joining the European Union if it adopts constitutional changes backed at a referendum last week, a leading member of the EU parliament responsible for dealings with Ankara said on Wednesday.Kati Piri’s comments come a day after President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters Turkey will not wait at Europe’s door forever and could walk away from EU accession talks if rising Islamophobia and hostility from some member states persist.The Dutch centre-left lawmaker, who is “rapporteur” on Turkey, told reporters ahead of a plenary debate on relations with Turkey that if Erdogan pushed through all the changes,...

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have steered a course during the administration’s first 100 days that anti-abortion activists have been dreaming about for decades. “I think if you looked ten years ago, and you asked the question, ‘Will Planned Parenthood be defunded in the next decade?’ everyone would have said, ‘No,’” Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) President Marjorie Dannenfelser tells Breitbart News. “But the presidency of Donald Trump and the vice presidency of Mike Pence have changed all that.” The pro-life base of the Republican Party saw the beginnings of change from the start of Trump’s...

You can tell a lot about a man by his enemies, and I’d say the same thing is true about an organization. The Convention of States Project is using Article V of the Constitution to save the Constitution, because our Founders predicted the federal government might grow so large, corrupt, and unwieldy that it would never voluntarily restrain itself. They realized the citizens would need to reel it all back, so they gave us a tool in Article V to do just that.  Though we are just a grassroots organization, we are animated by the spirit of our founders –...

“Useful arts in 18th Century usage would be what we call engineering or city planning or architecture,” Nye said. Nye’s used the argument before to underscore how “unpatriotic” it is to not have the federal government hand out billions of taxpayer dollars to universities, corporations and research institutions. “Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution says the government shall ‘promote the progress of science and useful arts,'” Nye told Vox in 2015 — Vox didn’t correct him or fact check his claim. “So if you’re a politician looking to derail the progress of science, I think you’re not doing your...

Link

The meaning of words change over time, which presents problems to historians and patriots alike. Liberty, being so important to the American psyche, is one such word. With that in mind, hang on for a rocky read. Few words conjure more and varied impressions than the word, ‘liberty.’ Long before the American Revolution, liberty was the means to overthrow a tyrant, or alternatively, of appointing a chieftain whom all were obliged to obey. In the 17th and 18th century, no other political ideal was invoked more often, but with less precision. As opposed to today, where many view liberty as...

The Alabama legislature is moving toward passing Constitutional Carry. The bill, SB 24, has passed the Senate, 26 to 8 on Tuesday, 18 April, 2017.  The bill would enforce the Alabama Constitutional amendment passed in 2014. Amendment 3 passed with 72.5% of the vote in 2014. SB24 is the legislature enforcing the Constitutional amendment with statutory reform. Here is a description of Amendment 3. From ballotpedia: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to...

Full Title: As the anti-constitutionalists mount their opposition, be sure to stay informed with our Article V resources. The anti-constitutionalists are getting nervous. Radical activists on both the left and the right who support the status quo have realized that the Article V movement is taking off, and they're beginning to mount an opposition. Don't get caught flat-footed. Get informed. Be prepared to defend the Founder's solution to federal overreach with the resources located on the Responses to Opposition page on our website. Here you'll find clear, concise answers to all the most common objections to an Article V Convention...

Two regular guys from Southern Illinois, Kirk Allen and John Kraft, became folk heroes after lawfully “citizen arresting” their park district board. Now, their fight against corruption threatens to shake the political establishment. Illinois’ number one manufactured product is corruption. More than 95 percent of the Illinois legislature is safe in gerrymandered districts. The incumbent governor has three current federal investigations of his administration, but the Attorney General/state’s attorney class can’t find public vice anywhere. So what can the law abiding citizen do? The answer is coming from some regular guys in southern Illinois who decided to hold public officials...

Two Harvard University researchers announced Friday that they have found a second parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence in a tiny records office in southern England. The only other parchment copy is maintained by the National Archives in Washington, D.C., researchers Emily Sneff and Danielle Allen said in a statement. The newly discovered document — which the two have dated to the 1780s — was found in the town of Chichester archives, and is believed to have originally belonged to Duke of Richmond who was known as the “Radical Duke,’’ for the support he gave to Americans during the...

".@RepDaveBrat: New health care plan in GOP pipeline "the same fundamental bill" as one that faltered last month https://t.co/kK1lWALm5T" — New Day (@NewDay) April 21, 2017 A revised GOP healthcare bill is the 'same fundamental bill' as the first one, but it contains some significant amendments and lawmakers will likely approve it, Rep. Dave Brat said Friday. "[Republicans] like to rely on free markets as much as we can," the Virginia Republican told CNN's "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo. "This is still a federal government structure. I'm not totally happy with that outcome." The plan "at least cracks the door...

The Mayor of Bekeley, Jesse Arreguin supports the far-left terrorist organization, BAMN according to his Facebook page. Perhaps this is why the police were told to stand down while ANTIFA threw glass bottles, M-80’s and bricks at Trump supporters in his city. Mayor Jesse Arreguin is a member of ‘BAMN’ AKA ‘By Any Means Necessary’, a violent organization affiliated with ANTIFA. Is this something that should be acceptable for a sitting Mayor? Below is a screenshot of Jesse Arreguin’s Facebook page. Click here for archive link.

(Gateway Pundit) – Investigative journalist, Sharyl Attkisson was one of the many people targeted by the Obama administration for surveillance. Her personal computer and CBS laptop were hacked after she began filing stories about Benghazi that were unflattering to the Obama administration. Attkisson wrote a New York Times bestseller documenting this called ‘Stonewalled’.

Can an extensive nation keep free government, promote diversity, and avoid centralization? In 1787-1788, the Anti-Federalists didn’t think so, and the Federalists couldn’t be sure. Charles de Montesquieu (1689 – 1755) wrote in The Spirit of the Laws, “It is natural for a republic to have only a small territory; otherwise it cannot long subsist. In an extensive republic, the public good is sacrificed to a thousand private views.” Only in small republics, ideally of the Greek city-state size, are private interests and abuses minimized, and the general welfare of the public is better understood and within the reach of...