Free Republic

May not governments be properly divided, according to their predominant spirit and principles, into three species of which the following are examples? First. A government operating by a permanent military force, which at once maintains the government and is maintained by it; which is at once the cause of burdens on the people and of submission in the people to their burdens. Such have been the governments under which human nature has groaned through every age. Such are the governments which still oppress it in almost every country of Europe, the quarter of the globe which calls itself the pattern...

"If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down...

The story is told that a woman asked Benjamin Franklin - as he and the Founders left the hall where they had spent four months crafting our Constitution - what sort of government they had given the people. “A republic, if you can keep it,” was his famous reply. As something of the highpoint in my multi-year study of the founding of our once-great nation, I have especially savored the insights of two books over the past year: James Madison’s “Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787,” and William Lee Miller’s biography, “The Business of May Next: James...

Two hundred and twenty five years ago, and one month before the Philadelphia Convention, aka the Constitutional Convention, Congressional delegate James Madison responded to a letter from George Washington. He offered thoughts on his new plan of government, the Virginia Plan. Compared to the Articles of Confederation it was radical, yet it was structurally close enough to the mixed governments of the States to be familiar as well. It would emerge in modified form five months later as The Constitution of the United States of America.To George Washington New York, April 16 1787 Dear Sir, I have been honoured with...

On Tuesday, Union Cab Co-Op will offer free rides to the polls in the Madison area as part of their “Democracy in Motion” program. An explicitly written disclaimer about the program on Union Cab’s website states: "Union Cab will provide rides to any and all requesting to go to the polls and is non-partisan. Our drivers are professional and will refrain from discussing politics during election days." But of course, Union Cab has hardly been apolitical in the last year and half. Look no further than the cover photo on Union Cab’s Facebook page.

It takes bravery to follow Christ as priests Bishop's Column Thursday, May. 03, 2012 -- 12:00 AM This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. This past Sunday is often called, “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The word the Scriptures use is really not adequately translated in English as simply, “good.” The word really means, “honorable, worthy, noble,” or, “so excellent in every way that its goodness is itself beautiful.” And, in particular, our Gospel for this past Sunday (Jn 10:11-18) points out that the shepherd...

MADISON, Wis. - A Dane County judge has ordered an encampment that began as an Occupy Madison demonstration to leave a city-owned lot. The judge denied a temporary restraining order that would have prevented city officials from removing the campers. They have until noon Tuesday to leave the site. The Occupy Madison movement began last October as a demonstration against economic inequality and social injustice. But the encampment has evolved into a gathering spot of mostly homeless people. About 50 to 60 people have occupied the site.

This video shows how low the left has sunk in Wisconsin. WARNING, the video does contain some graphic language (a lefty shouting a sick insult at Rebecca Kleefisch), thus it is not child/work safe.

Dana Loesch is the Editor-in-Chief of Big Journalism and hosts her own daily radio show. "Conservative women hit back!"

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch warned a tax day rally Saturday that America's attention is focused on Wisconsin and residents here have a stark choice to make in the upcoming recall elections. Kleefisch defended the Republicans’ budget reforms and said the race represents a clear choice for which direction voters want to take the state. “America’s eyes are focused right here today,” Kleefisch said. “We have a choice right now of moving backward or forward.” Kleefisch was joined by several conservative commentators at the annual tax day rally put on by the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity. The speakers praised...

MADISON, Wis. - More than 1,000 people attended a Tax Day Rally event on the Capitol Square on Saturday. Organizers said the rally was designed to be a call for responsible budgeting from politicians, but many spoke openly about the upcoming recall elections.

Madison - The state medical school disciplined 20 doctors and fined 11 of them up to $4,000 for handing out sick notes to demonstrators at last year's labor protests, newly released records show. The records, requested by the Journal Sentinel last year under the state's open records law, show for the first time the extent of the discipline given to those doctors by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In several cases, doctors in more senior positions within the school also had to step away from those roles for a period of four months over one...

I've been talking to some people on fb and someone mentioned Marbury v. Madison. I know nothing about it. But, what I'm hearing is this. Marbury v. Madison was a huge fight where the concept of judicial review was established for the first time. Jefferson and Madison were apoplectic at the thought that the Supreme Court could be able to strike down laws as unconstitutional. So is this what Obama is going to try to use? It doesn't make sense to me. If the Supremes can't strike down an unconstitutional law, what good are they? They can't keep a run...

Dave Cieslewicz is sick and tired of gun violence. So to put an end to the violence he proposes to set off a civil war. Oh, no doubt he doesn't think of it that way, but that is because he is projecting his spinelessness and lack of principles onto gun owners. He starts out by bringing up the three school shootings in the past month, provides the obligatory Columbine bloody shirt wave before dancing in the blood of the Gabriel Giffords shooting and finishes with the father who shot his daughter's laptop. He then drags out firearm murder comparisons (not...

Last week it happened again. Another school. Another disturbed young person. Another needless firearm legally purchased. Another good person dead as a result. Last Tuesday, a 28 year-old former Spanish teacher named Shane Schumerth walked into the office of Dale Regan, the principal of the school where he had been recently fired, pulled out an AK-47 assault rifle and killed her before committing suicide. A week earlier, T.J. Lane, a 17 year-old Ohio boy, took out his .22 semi-automatic pistol and killed three people and injured two more. And the week before that, a third-grader grabs the family's legally bought...

A Dane County Judge on Tuesday granted a temporary injunction that bars the enforcement of the state photo ID law at polling places during the general election on April 3. Circuit Judge David Flanagan said that the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera had demonstrated that their lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker and the state Government Accountability Board would probably succeed on its merits and had demonstrated the likelihood of irreparable harm if the photo ID law is allowed to stand. Flanagan ordered Walker and the GAB to "cease immediately any effort to enforce or implement...

The White House today issued an angry denial following claims that Michelle Obama indulged in a $50,000 shopping spree at a luxury lingerie boutique in New York. According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Agent Provocateur's boutique in Madison Avenue, New York, was partially closed off for the U.S. First Lady. But Kristina Schake, Director of Communications for First Lady Michelle Obama told MailOnline this morning: 'This story is 100 per cent false.' The Telegraph claimed: 'Michelle Obama has risked the wrath of cash-strapped Americans by indulging in a $50,000 shopping spree at Agent Provocateur...

Madison - The Madison School District has released additional sick notes given to Capitol protesters last year that show two more doctors provided the excuses the district deemed to be fraudulent. Fifteen doctors who signed the notes have not faced sanctions from the state Medical Examining Board. The notes were written after hundreds of teachers called in sick last February, closing schools for four days. School district officials required the absent employees to provide notes documenting a doctor visit. The district docked pay from employees who didn't have a legitimate excuse. The protests erupted after Gov. Scott Walker proposed cutting...

MADISON, Wis.— The Madison School District wants background checks on any poll workers in school buildings on election days. The city is looking into the time and cost required for background checks on more than 2,000 poll workers. City clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl says they also need to settle on the criteria that would be needed to pass a background check. Currently, poll workers take an oath and attend a training session. Never before has the school district asked for background checks. Assistant superintendent Erick Kass tells the State Journal (http://bit.ly/xWFr1e ) the district is trying to improve school safety based...

The state Government Accountability Board is hiring temporary workers to help with the petition-review process. The agency has hired about 30 of a desired 50 people, said spokesman Reid Magney. Finding people in the Madison area who have not signed a recall petition — one of the prerequisites — has slowed the effort, he said. The agency is staffing two shifts between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. weekdays. The hourly pay is between $9 and $11. Interested people should apply through one of the following companies: • ABR Employment Services, 608-827-5818. • Spherion, 608-274-6000. • Hiring & Staff Services Inc.,...