Free Republic

The bubble pops. Lenders freeze. Depositors lose faith. Panic spreads. And the government steps in because nobody else will. Today it is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke putting together the rescue package for a financial system rocked by falling home prices and a wave of defaults on subprime mortgages. But a short walk through U.S. history demonstrates the point made by Alex J. Pollock of the American Enterprise Institute: "If you would like an empirical law of government behavior, it is that in a panic or threatened financial collapse, governments intervene -- every government, every...

Okay, I don't know what the solution to this crisis is, but we all know that this bailout is NOT it. I've heard several people on these boards talk about this not being the time to stand up for our conservative beliefs, and I think that is b.s. This is the time when our conservatism is needed the most. We are about to fundamentally shape the nature of this country in a way that would make our founding fathers sick. This nation was founded on conservatism, though it was called "classic liberalism" at the time. Rolling over and accepting this...

Some troubling e-mails following my article "First Amendment 101 – Whoopie’s Lesson," in which I attempted to clarify for Whooopie Goldberg – co-host of ABC’s “The View” – some of the finer truths regarding the establishment clause, has prompted me to expand the tutorial for her (and for those who suggested I ought to do more research before commenting on such “nuanced” and “complicated” matters as the first amendment). From the top. The oft-alluded to “separation of church and state” clause exists nowhere in the federal Constitution. (This should be a booming “well, duh” factoid by now). Thomas Jefferson’s use...

"If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, I would never have placed my signature to it." -- George Washington -- There is an ever-growing debate in America over the relationship between government and religion. In recent times, Constitutional law, or at least the modern-day interpretation thereof, has moved from one of accommodation concerning religion to a position many call hostile to the expression of personal faith in the public square. From their writings, it's clear...

For almost a thousand years the chief creative force in western civilization was Christianity until around the year 1725, when Christianity declined and practically disappeared among intellectuals. Of course this left a vacuum. People cannot get along without a belief in something outside themselves, and during the next hundred years they concocted a new belief in the divinity of nature. By 1730 the collapse of Christianity was nearly complete in England and the nutballs were off and running, writing about modern man corrupting gentle peoples and destroying nature’s beauty. The Caucasian male, according to philosophers and idle soothsayers of the...

It's often said that America was founded on "Judeo-Christian" values.

The three most important words in American History were said on July 4, 1776 at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Twelve colonies (New York abstained) chose war with England rather than continue to live under the tyrannical boot of King George III. Outmanned and outgunned, our founders wanted a free independent nation and signed the Declaration of Independence. This decision did not come easily as preceding votes were to continue to negotiate with King George for more rights, freedoms, concessions and less taxes. In the end, all delegates agreed it was better to shed blood for freedom than be pushed-around...

structure (not words) changed for clear reading) “No American natural history was more influential during the 18th century than Thomas Jefferson's (1743-1826) Notes on the State of Virginia, though it is, as intended, far more than a simple natural history. At once a description of the land and people of the state and a theoretical discourse on historical, natural, and political systems, the Notes represents Jefferson's conflicted views on the present and future of the new American nation, an integral mix of hope and anxiety. “Jefferson's Notes began inauspiciously during the late autumn, 1780, when François de Barbé Marbois, the...

This gave me occasion to observe, that when Men are employ'd they are best contented. For on the Days they work'd they were good-natur'd and chearful; and with the consciousness of having done a good Days work they spent the Evenings jollily; but on the idle Days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their Pork, the Bread, and in continual ill-humour. Benjamin Franklin (Autobiography, 1771) "I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." Thomas Jefferson "To cherish and stimulate the activity of the human mind, by multiplying...

"Statesmen my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty." John Adams 1776 - letter to Zabdiel Adams "Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness." Samuel Adams 1778 - letter...

You see, the problem with holding a particular ideology is that, unless you’re a total recluse, someone in your inner circle will eventually reveal your intentions (albeit, unintentionally). There has been a lot of scrambling behind the scenes then in public to try and cover up the mess Michelle Obama made when she declared, “for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback." She made this statement in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Later the same day in Madison Wisconsin, she said, “For the first time in my...

There is a belief abroad in many conservative circles that the U.S. is "a Christian nation". This belief is found in perhaps its most extreme form in the Mormon doctrine that the Constitution of the United States is a divinely inspired document. Less extreme versions hold that Christian piety was an shaping influence on the thinking and writing of the Founding Fathers, and Christianity therefore has (or ought to have) a privileged position in the political and cultural life of the U.S. The Mormon doctrine is unfalsifiable. But claims about the beliefs and intentions of the Founding Fathers are not,...

Presidents “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” GEORGE WASHINGTON Commander-in-Chief in the American Revolution; Signer of the Constitution; First President of the United States “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” JOHN ADAMS Signer of the Declaration of Independence; One of Two...

I’d like to take a moment to say that I disagree with you… Not on everything, mind you but on something nonetheless. I figure you probably see things differently than me also. It’s how we’re made. Although we aren’t the sum of all that we are taught and our upbringing, it does play into our beliefs. We are higher than the animals in that we were made in God’s image giving us the distinct ability to make judgments based on reasoning. Sometimes this works for us, but more often than not in our fallen state, it fights against us. But...

One signed all three bulwarks of the Republic. The other was second only to James Madison as the architect of the Constitution. Robert Morris and James Wilson were two of the most important, yet least publicized, of the Founding Fathers. Why has Philadelphia not commemorated some of its most important citizens? Wilson was according to American Heritage magazine, one of the most underrated Americans in history. Historian Gary Wills wrote, "A signer of the Declaration, a principal drafter of the Federal Constitution, the principal ratifier, and the profoundest theorist of it, Wilson is the least known of the Founding Fathers."...

Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation. 2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself:i.e. Waste nothing. 6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and...

How would the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin feel about the way the United States has turned out 232 years after declaring its independence? Most Americans say they're proud to be citizens, but most also think the Founding Fathers wouldn't be pleased. Not pleased, a majority of Americans recently polled said. According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, 69 percent of adult Americans who responded to a poll June 26-29 said the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the nation has turned out overall. Twenty-nine percent responded "pleased," the only other...

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,...

The Americans Who Risked Everything My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it appeared in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words which you will see evidenced here: "Our Lives, Our...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that...

Anything in these remarks that does not stray from the truth is indebted to the American Founders, who bequeathed these ideas to us, to Abraham Lincoln, who preserved and ennobled them in the country's greatest crisis, to Harry V. Jaffa, who has done more than anyone since Lincoln to recover them, and to the late Tom Silver, the wisest and best of those who founded the Claremont Institute for the sake of these ideas. American children are not born understanding the principles of their country, and most American college students—if reports can be believed—are still largely unfamiliar with them...

America’s cities and towns will soon fill with parades, fireworks, and barbecues in celebration of the Fourth of July, the 232nd birthday of America. But one hopes that the speeches will contain fewer bromides and more attention to exactly what is being celebrated. The Fourth of July is Independence Day, but America’s leaders and intellectuals have been trying to move us further and further away from the meaning of Independence Day, away from the philosophy that created this country. What we hear is that independence is outdated, that we’ve reached a new age of “interdependence.” Our presidential candidates call for...

The growth of the federal government concerns every citizen of this Republic. At one time the States fought for their liberty; now they fight for their share of federal funding. The Alien and Sedition Acts brought protests from the States, the likes of which would warm our hearts in today's political arena. I thought some of you may like this diversion from the normal short quotes that I usually post (and will later this week). First, the text of the Alien and Sedition Acts SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States...

We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. Thomas Jefferson 1816 - letter to Samuel Kercheval There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises. To say that the United States should be answerable for twenty-five millions of dollars without knowing whether the ways and means can be provided, and without knowing whether those who are to succeed us will think with us on the subject, would be rash and...

Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint. Alexander Hamilton Federalist No. 15. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. George Washington 1796 - Farewell Address Arbitrary power is most easily established on the...

At least they're open about it: the New York Times disdains Supreme Court justices who hew to the principles upon which this country was founded. The Times's admission came in the course of an editorial calling on Obama and Clinton to put aside their bickering and focus on beating John McCain. That is vital, in the Times's view, given McCain's pledge to nominate Supreme Court justices in the mold of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Writes the Times [emphasis added]: Mr. McCain predictably criticized liberal judges, vowed strict adherence to the Founders’ views and promised to appoint more judges in...

First, the Patriot Post served this as their quote of the day: Every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that furnish him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should rehearse the history of his own country. Noah Webster (On the Education of Youth in America, 1788) This led me to the original body of work, which has some tremendous information. “But every child in America should be acquainted with his own country. He should read books that...

The Confluence of Religion & Freedom by Nancy Salvato, Senior EditorApril 28, 2008   “Textbooks today are trapped in an ideological straitjacket that, in contrast to the surrounding popular culture, restricts content and sterilizes social realities.” – The Mad, Mad World of Textbook Adoption I’ve always enjoyed learning about history. When I look back on my history classes, it wasn’t because I was interested in reading the textbooks, it was the teacher who made history come alive, by inserting anecdotes that made it “real,” showing footage of actual events, or by connecting what happened in the past to the present....

Founders Quote Database - PovertyBenjamin Franklin - 1749 - Poor Richards Almanack Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. Benjamin Franklin - 1753 - letter to Collinson Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more...

Some guests are included in today's quotes - not all are founding fathers... “The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is... legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay... If such a law is not abolished immediately it...

“In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature.” James Madison 1788 - Federalist No. 52 “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” James Madison 1788 - Federalist No....

“SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when...

"It is one thing to be subordinate to the laws, and another [for the Executive] to be dependent on the legislative body. The first comports with, the last violates, the fundamental principles of good government; and, whatever may be the forms of the Constitution, unites all power in the same hands. Alexander Hamilton 1788 - Federalist No. 71 After reading the above quote, scroll down to the legislation that follows in this thread. "The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good...

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. John Adams 1770 "It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth - and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and...

“[R]eligion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society.” John Adams "May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy." George Washington (letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, August 1790) "[R]eligion, or the duty which we owe to our creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and...

“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry) and as the...

"Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution." James Madison (Federalist No. 39, 1788) "The convention have done well, therefore, in so disposing of the power of making treaties, that although the President must, in forming them, act by the advice and consent of the Senate, yet he will be able to manage the business of intelligence in such a manner as prudence may...

Presidential candidate Alan Keyes may be leaving the GOP. In a conference call last night, Keyes is said to have told supporters that staying in the Republican Party would be "an occasion of sin" and he's ready to bolt. Keyes ... reportedly wants no part in selecting the "type of deodorant we need to make a stinking candidate acceptable to conservatives." A Keyes supporter confirms to Radar that the former Reagan administration official "stated in the conference call that he could no longer remain in the Republican Party." As for what's next, a third party bid seems like a good...

“It is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth - and listen to the song of that syren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole...

"The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest." George Washington 1796 - letter to Alexander Hamilton "It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with...

The Democratic Party is finding itself in a very strange position. They’re approaching a potential situation where neither of their candidates have enough elected delegates to secure the nomination, and the race will turn to the superdelegates to decide. Primary results can then be trumped by the say-so of the “party elites�. Thus, the party who complained that Al Gore “really won� the 2000 election due to the popular vote may nominate Hillary Clinton, who now looks unlikely to win the national Democrat popular vote or the elected delegate count. The schadenfreude of watching the Democratic Party put into a...

George Washington The entire letter is here. It's worth the few minutes it will take to read. To anticipate & prevent disasterous contingencies would be the part of wisdom & patriotism. What astonishing changes a few years are capable of producing! I am told that even respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror. From thinking proceeds speaking, thence to acting is often but a single step. But how irrevocable & tremendous! What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis...

“[A] wise and frugal government... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” Thomas Jefferson It is a wise rule and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same time to restrain the use of it within the limits of its faculties, "never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the same instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within a given...

Thomas Paine and the Age of Reason Thomas Paine is sometimes grouped with the Founding Fathers. Your daily newspaper might reinforce this view with editorials like this: Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Paine and most of our other patriarchs were at best deists, believing in the unmoved mover of Aristotle, but not the God of the Old and New Testaments.[1] It would be difficult to name a single one of the Founding Fathers who approved of Paine's Age of Reason, his famous tract attacking religion in general and evangelical Christianity in particular. Even less-than-evangelicals like Benjamin Franklin and the "Unitarians" all denounced...

“As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust: So there are other qualities in human nature, which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. Were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us, faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying...

Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them. - Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms, July 6, 1775 Many of us were hoping for a truly Conservative candidate to be our nominee, but Hunter, Tancredo and Thompson made their exits and those who remain are...

I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. Benjamin Franklin (The Busy-body, No. 3, 18 February 1728) Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men....

“Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands.” Thomas Jefferson "The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. George Washington (Farewell Address, 19 September 1796) "The God who gave us...

The people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of those whom they invest with authority either in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches. " John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. IV, p. 267. "Look well to the characters and qualifications of those you elect and raise to office and places of trust. " Matthias Burnett, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Norwalk, An Election Sermon, Preached at Hartford, on the Day of the Anniversary Election, May 12, 1803 "Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character...

[T]he Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution. But this doctrine is not deducible from any circumstance peculiar to the plan of convention, but from the general theory of a limited Constitution. Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 81 (482) The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the...