Free Republic

The Constitutional Structure For Limited And Balanced Government The Constitution was devised with an ingenious and intricate built-in system of checks and balances to guard the people's liberty against combinations of government power. It structured the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary separate and wholly independent as to function, but coor­dinated for proper operation, with safeguards to prevent usurpations of power. Only by balancing each against the other two could freedom be preserved, said John Adams. Another writer of the day summarized clearly the reasons for such checks and balances: "If the LEGISLATIVE and JUDICIAL powers are united, the MAKER of the...

  Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner   By James TillmanNovember 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to House Republican Leader John Boehner, the government-run health care bill being considered in Congress would include "a monthly abortion premium ... [to] be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan."On his blog Boehner states that this premium "will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services."He continues: "Section 213 [of the bill] describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess...

Watching the House of Representatives on late-night C-SPAN, you might have any number of reactions, including seppuku-inducing boredom. Depending on who's talking, you might also feel disgust, rage, contempt or, in rare cases, inspiration. But one reaction you probably won't have is: "Gosh, if only there were more of these jokers." That's too bad. Because what our political system may be lacking more than anything else is enough members of Congress. No, really. Seriously, stop laughing. Except for a brief effort to accommodate Alaska and Hawaii, the size of the House has been frozen at 435 members since 1911.

"Thank you for letting me know of your concerns about health care legislation moving through Congress. I understand - and share - your support for our existing employer based system for workers and Medicare for retirees. Unfortunately, (I AGREE WITH YOU BUT I KNOW BEST FOR YOU) that system is coming under such large and growing strains that its long standing success at giving Americans access to the best health care in the world will be seriously threatened in the coming years. Already, far too many of us fall through the cracks. In my Congressional district alone, 117,000 West Virginians...

Representative Bobby Bright says you are an extremist that doesn't matter.

Something occurred to me after watching all of the footage of the various town hall meetings and the citizen's vocal reaction to what their elected representatives are doing. These 50 or 100 people are really an insignificant percentage of the congress person's constituents. Unions members, television advertising, slick marketing, ACORN and Obama-bots will more than make up for even a relatively large group of pissed off citizens. Today, each representative has 700,000 constituents. That is not the way it has always been. The framers of the constitution intended that number to be between 50,000 and 60,000. The number of congressional...

Republicans have a choice. Are we going to be the party of political expediency or are we going to be the party driven by principle? Many have argued that if Republicans pacify the Democrats and their liberal ways, Independents will naturally flow to the Republican side of the aisle. This was in part the John McCain strategy. It failed because it demonstrated that the party was rudderless on principle and had nothing unique to offer voters. Sen. McCain’s effort to join Barack Obama in supporting the $700 billion bailout further demonstrated to America and the Republican base that there was...

Politicians vis-a-vis Representatives Politicians only ask two questions when asked to take action. Politicians ask how will this action help me get elected or stay in office? or How will this hurt my getting elected or staying in office?

The U.S Constitution "originally" laid out the separation of powers between the federal government and the State governments in the first paragraph of article 1 section 3. How this paragraph accomplished that goal will become clear later in this article. This paragraph states: "The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the LEGISLATURE thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote." Then in Article I, section 4 we also find this: "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each...

Dear FRiends, I have been thinking of a way to keep momentum up, right away (and get some real political hay behind the movement): I do not live in any of these 19 or so states, but some of you do (and it could be worthwhile and channel the tea party energy into them): ESPECIALLY IN STATES LIKE California or New Jersey, which some of you live in.. Here goes: WHY NOT "recall" some of your more problem legislators, creation of petition drives to recally your villiage idiots would go a long way toward remedying our problems as a nation:...

The House of Representatives has passed an expanded version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and made it easier for illegal aliens to access the program's benefits. HR 2, the new version of SCHIP, weakens verification requirements. Those who enroll will be required to show only an easily forged Social Security card -- not secure documents proving U.S. citizenship. The legislation also extends benefits to non-citizen children of legal immigrants. The SCHIP bill is designed to provide health coverage to low-income children, a laudable

It's a recession version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Rep. Jason Chaffetz, representing Utah's 3rd congressional district, promises to vote like a fiscal conservative and to live like one. Freshman Congressman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is living more like a college freshman than a member of Congress. He plans to sleep in his Capitol Hill office on this small cot to save money on rent. (ABC News)Instead of renting a Washington, D.C., apartment, the Utah Republican plans to live in his Capitol Hill office to save money, while his family stays in their home in Alpine, Utah. "You work hard...

Time and again we’ve heard about the lost jobs and economic impact of failing to bail out the beleaguered American auto manufacturers. But little mention has been made of the consequences of going through with the bailout, and how such an action would be viewed by other Americans. In an interview following a Dec. 10 press conference where he and four other senators aired their opposition to the proposed bailout deal struck by congressional leaders and the White House (and approved by the U.S. House of Representatives 237-170 that evening), Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., warned that the perception that some...

Sen. Jim DeMint says unfair union influence and the bailout culture will anger many Americans. By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute 12/11/2008 1:28:37 PM Time and again we’ve heard about the lost jobs and economic impact of failing to bail out the beleaguered American auto manufacturers. But little mention has been made of the consequences of going through with the bailout, and how such an action would be viewed by other Americans. In an interview following a Dec. 10 press conference where he and four other senators aired their opposition to the proposed bailout deal struck by congressional leaders...

Conservative commentator Walter Williams has written about the need for more representatives in the U.S. House. He observes that "restricting the number of representatives confers significant monopoly power that goes a long way toward explaining the stranglehold the two parties have and the high incumbent success rates. It might also explain the power of vested interest groups to influence congressional decisions."

Join Honest and eeevil as we speak tonight at 8 pm est, with the Honorable Lou Barletta of Hazelton, Pa., now running for U.S. House of Representatives. See http://loubarletta.com . Listen as Mayor Barletta fills us in on his perspective on the latest attempts to shove Amnesty on the unwilling citizens of the U.S. Hear the Mayor's live response to the incredible admissions his opponent made relative to Demrat plans and the War. Go to http://honestconservative-cookiedough.blogspot.com and you will see a list of links related to tonights show. Our borders are still open folks! WE will also be talking to...

Many people do not realize that our total number of Representatives in the U.S. House has been limited to 435 ever since 1913...

Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens, drives a 2008 Chevrolet Impala, leased for $219 a month. Representative Michael R. McNulty, a Democrat from the Albany area, gets around in a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid, a sport utility vehicle, for $816 a month. “It gets a little better than 25 miles a gallon,” Mr. McNulty said. Charles B. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not so caught up in the question of gas mileage. He leases a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month. The car is 17 feet long with a 300-horsepower...

The 308-116 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a global AIDS bill authorizing $50 billion in spending over five years. A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill. Voting yes were 230 Democrats and 78 Republicans. Voting no were 0 Democrats and 116 Republicans. X denotes those not voting. There are 4 vacancies in the 435-member House. ALABAMA Democrats — Cramer, Y; Davis, Y. Republicans — Aderholt, Y; Bachus, Y; Bonner, Y; Everett, N; Rogers, Y. ALASKA Republicans — Young, Y. ARIZONA Democrats — Giffords, Y; Grijalva, Y; Mitchell, Y; Pastor, Y. Republicans — Flake, N;...

Facts Please, Just the Facts : Politicians should use taxpayer funds to inform, not self-promote by Clint Bolick, In a state with subsidized elections and draconian limits on campaign contributions, every advantage counts. One in particular is a whopper: self-promotion by elected officials at taxpayer expense. The abuse is ubiquitous and transcends party lines. Publications and public-service announcements that happen to prominently bear the name and likeness of an elected official are all too frequent. The officials defend the need for the publications, which misses the point. However legitimate a particular publication, the photo and name are wholly gratuitous, providing...