Free Republic

<p>This is Free Republic. Our mission here is to fight against the America-hating, God-hating, Cristianity-hating, Jew-hating, capitalism-hating, abortionist/homosexualist, leftist revolutionaries and marxist/fascist totalitarians who are hellbent on destroying our constitution, our religious freedom, our economic freedom, our Judeo-Christian way of life and the America we love.</p>

A mere quarter of a century ago Estonia was a very poor backwater on the Baltic Sea that was still under domination of the Soviet Union. But the country’s story is one of remarkable—and improbable—success. Estonia has been the most successful of the former communist-controlled countries. It is arguably the most advanced country in the world when it comes to use of the Internet and related technologies. Modern Estonians enjoy the rule of law, the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the EU, a balanced budget, free trade, and a flat-rate income tax — all of which have led to their high...

From the Washington Examiner:The United States, ranked second in worldwide economic freedom as recently as 2000, has plummeted to 16th, according to a new report of world economies. That's quite a development! When do you think that happened? You get no guesses...because 1+1 is harder to answer than this...but for under a rock dwelling morons low-information liberals (but I repeat myself)... The Fraser Institute's annual report, Economic Freedom of the World, showed that the country's drop started in 2010, the second year of the Obama administration.Yes, Barry, yes you did... Before liberals get knotted up tighter than the cords around...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Republican dog and pony show hits Upstate South Carolina on Saturday as nearly a dozen presidential hopefuls pitch conservative activists during a forum on economic freedom. The Palmetto State hosts the third nominating contest of the 2016 presidential primary and first in the Republican-dominated South. That makes South Carolina a critical battleground in the race for the GOP nomination, even though the state's streak of picking the party's presidential nominee was broken three years ago. Upstate South Carolina is considered the conservative bastion of this decidedly red state. Scott Ramsey, a 47-year-old Republican voter from Spartanburg...

Gaza is home to Palestinian people, who have suffered injustices and have a history of legitimate grievances against both Israel and Arab governments. If there's one immutable fact of life, it is that history cannot be changed or controlled. What can be changed and controlled is the future. That points to the most tragic aspect of people in poor territories such as Gaza -- focusing attention on the past, which they can do nothing about, and not paying enough attention to the future. In the case of Palestinians, the first order of business is to recognize that they cannot militarily...

This is my third consecutive column about the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black youth, by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. I have focused on this because the circumstances that led to this tragedy point to more than narrow, parochial concerns of low-income minority communities. They point to things fundamentally wrong in America that are dragging us all down. Hopefully, remedial measures will be adopted that will lower the likelihood that a police officer will reduce a black youth to a racial stereotype and kill him. But even with such measures, we cannot continue to ignore circumstances...

A couple of years ago, President Barack Obama, speaking on the economy, told an audience in Osawatomie, Kansas: "'The market will take care of everything,' they tell us. ... But here's the problem: It doesn't work. It has never worked. ... I mean, understand, it's not as if we haven't tried this theory." To believe what the president and many others say about the market's not working requires that one be grossly uninformed or dishonest. The key features of a free market system are private property rights and private ownership of the means of production. In addition, there's a large...

Whichever way the United States Supreme Court rules on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, one fact has become abundantly clear. We are belatedly realizing that different forms of freedom are more dependent on each other than many have hitherto supposed. Who would have thought that the welfare state’s expansion in the guise of Obamacare—which, by definition, significantly reduces economic freedom—would directly impact the ability of individuals and groups to conduct their affairs in accordance with their deeply held religious beliefs? This, however, is precisely the reality confronting us. Most people are used to thinking of religious liberty as a prerequisite...

Last month, as Ukrainian émigré-turned-tech tycoon Jan Koum prepared to cash a multibillion-dollar check from Facebook -- acquirer of his startup WhatsApp -- then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was checking out of the Gatsby-esque estate where he'd cached his stolen plunder. That the two Ukrainians derived their riches under diametrically opposed systems -- free enterprise versus banana republic -- illustrates why all income inequalities are not, shall we say, created equal. Most don't resent the rich -- only the undeservedly rich -- as a recent Venezuelan protest sign conveyed: “These Castro-Chavistas speak like Marx, govern like Stalin and live like Rockefeller,...

The wealth of nations has increased by astronomical amounts over the last 2 decades. Literally billions of people have been brought out of poverty thanks to economic freedom. It is as if once the Soviet Union died, once the scourge of international socialism was utterly and completely decimated both economically and intellectually, humanity couldn’t help but lurch forward. Actually that is what happened. Sadly we have gone in the opposite direction over the last 2 decades. Instead of freeing our economy we have wrapped it ever more in welfare state red tape. We have regulations on top of regulations on...

The United States is on a steady skid downward. The latest milestone in America’s decline is especially demoralizing: The U.S. has slouched from among the world’s Top 10 freest economies. In fact, we’re No. 12 — down two spots from No. 10 last year. This bad news emerges from the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, released this morning by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. “Now considered only a ‘mostly free’ economy, the U.S. has earned the dubious distinction of having recorded one of the longest sustained declines in economic freedom, second only to Argentina, of any...

When presidents give speeches, the affair is choreographed like a Broadway production. The message is not just the words of the speech, but where it is given and who happens to be the chosen audience. So it was not by accident that President Obama chose a theater in a poor black neighborhood in Washington, DC, where the average income is barely half the national average, to speak this week about economic opportunity and fairness. What exactly was the President trying to achieve by sharing with a low-income black audience that “today’s CEO now makes 273 times more” than the average...

Speech Delivered by Josef Vissarionovich Stalin at a meeting of voters of the Stalin Electoral District, MoscowFebruary 9, 1946Comrades! Eight years have passed since the last elections to the Supreme Soviet. This has been a period replete with events of a decisive nature. The first four years were years of intense labour on the part of Soviet people in carrying out the Third Five-Year Plan. The second four years covered the events of the war against the German and Japanese aggressors -- the events of the Second World War. Undoubtedly, the war was the main event during the past period....

"If we continue down the misguided path that the government is taking us, then the future does not look good," says Free Market Institute's Ben Powell. Reason's Nick Gillespie caught up with Powell to discuss the theme of this year's Freedom Fest, "Are We Rome?" and whether America is following in Rome's footsteps towards decline. "Our economic freedom has been plummeting the last ten years," Powell says, "and this isn't a product of Obama. It's Bush [and] Obama consistently. More than half of our decline in economic freedoms happened under Bush. It's just the rate of decline is happening more...

The recent political entanglements over the budget have focused more on political maneuverings and who is right about what statement, rather than what the policies mean to average, everyday Americans. It might be standard politics, but it does not create the right framework. The right framework includes thinking about the impact to everyday Americans and to future generations of Americans. When our founders fought for freedom, they did so for future Americans as well as themselves. Our nation has long led the world's fights for freedoms -- freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms. Our founding document,...

In the current economic climate, politicians and interest groups have encouraged the public to view businesses, especially corporations, as exploitative entities taking advantage of human suffering and even engineering the Great Recession. Thus, increased government intervention is necessary to “tame” the marketplace. Some consider the recent re-election of President Obama a vindication of this perspective. John Mackey, Co-CEO of Whole Foods, courageously shares an opposing view in his latest book, Conscious Capitalism, co-authored by Rajendra Sisodia. “We paint business for what it truly is: heroic,” said Mackey at a recent Cato event. “Business is the greatest value creator in the...

Freedom can be defined in many ways. However, one of the greatest indicators of freedom and liberty is economic freedom. True free-market capitalism is the basis of individual liberty. However, America is no longer a top 5 contender, and we haven’t been for a years. Actually, America is barely even in the top 10. The 2012 Index of Economic Freedom study reports that America continues to fail. Who took first place in economic freedom in 2012? The answer may surprise you. It was Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s score was an 89.9%, which was a 0.2% increase from 2011. Following Hong...

In Washington, the best way to get good press is to announce you’re leaving. Case in point: Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (call him Jay), D-W.Va., is stepping down when his term ends. And The Washington Post makes haste to bring him laud. “Jay Rockefeller wasn’t ever going to be just some Democratic senator from West Virginia,” writes Manuel Roig-Franzia. The story intimates this is because Rockefeller, as an heir to a vast fortune earned through unbridled capitalism, needed to make amends. “He found a way to be a Rockefeller that was about serving people,” the senator’s longtime political adviser,...

“Land of the free.” It’s right there in our national anthem. As well it should be -- the personal liberties we enjoy are the envy of many around the world. But freedom is no accident. It requires constant vigilance. Takes economic liberty, an area where the United States has begun to slip quite a bit lately. How would you say the U.S. compares to other nations? No need to guess. We can pinpoint it exactly by using an annual guide known as the Index of Economic Freedom. Top three, you think? Top five? Nope. Last year at this time came...

I’ve always been a big fan of Economic Freedom of the World because it provides a balanced and neutral measure of which nations do best in providing free markets and small government. And I like it even when it gives me bad news. It’s somewhat depressing, after all, to read that the United States has dropped from the #3 nation when Bill Clinton left office to the #18 country in the most recent index.But for all its many positive attributes, Economic Freedom of the World isn’t a comprehensive measure of liberty. That’s why I’m very glad to see that Ian...