Free Republic

Inquiring minds are laughing at the bureaucrats…mostly made up of those ‘highly intellectual’ Leftist/Progressive/Socialist types. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has been conducting a national survey for the last 5 years. Remember how The Left derided the thought of reciting the US Consitution before 112th Congress began work? When the Republican House leadership decided to start the 112th Congress with a reading of the U.S. Constitution, the decision raised complaints in some quarters that it was little more than a political stunt. The New York Times even called it a “presumptuous and self-righteous act.” That might be true, if you could...

Immorality in government lies at the heart of our nation's problems. Deficits, debt and runaway government are merely symptoms. What's moral and immoral conduct can be complicated, but needlessly so. I keep things simple and you tell me where I go wrong. My initial assumption is that we each own ourselves. I am my private property and you are yours. If we accept the notion that people own themselves, then it's easy to discover what forms of conduct are moral and immoral. Immoral acts are those that violate self-ownership. Murder, rape, assault and slavery are immoral because those acts violate...

America's left, and the party it dominates, faced a reckoning yesterday. Two short years ago, exultant progressives believed America had shifted permanently to the left. Now that sweet taste of victory has turned to acrid ashes in their mouths. The scores of Congressional Democrats, along with even more state office holders, who lost their coveted positions, need a way of comprehending the disaster which has befallen them. The scapegoats offered by President Obama and his surrogates -- tea partiers, witches, foreign money, and Fox News -- will not suffice. President Obama himself, the man with a winning smile, slender build,...

Lawmakers in at least 14 states are collaborating on proposed legislation to deny U.S. citizenship to children of illegal immigrants, according to lawmakers, including the sponsor of Arizona's 2010 law targeting illegal immigration. "We're taking a leadership role on things that need to be fixed in America. We can't get Congress to do it," Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce, of Mesa, said Tuesday. "It's a national work group so that we have model legislation that we know will be successful, that meets the constitutional criteria." The efforts by the state legislators come amid calls to change the U.S. Constitution's 14th...

A Sacramento-based legal group has joined Virginia’s battle against the federal health care overhaul, filing an amicus brief in federal court in Richmond supporting the argument being advanced by Virginia Attorney general Ken Cuccinelli. The Pacific Legal Foundation “friend of the court” brief argues, like Cuccinelli, that the insurance mandate provision of the new health care law violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause by ordering individual citizens to buy a good or service or face a fine.

I shall argue two points about this sequence. First, that the right of Westerners to discuss, criticize, and even ridicule Islam and Muslims has eroded over the years. Second, that free speech is a minor part of the problem; at stake is something much deeper – indeed, a defining question of our time: will Westerners maintain their own historic civilization in the face of assault by Islamists, or will they cede to Islamic culture and law and submit to a form of second-class citizenship?

If one wants to see an example of “civil commotion” these days, all one has to do is turn on a television or radio news broadcast, or pick up a newspaper. Dave Kluge has authored a book that is sorely needed in today’s heated political environment, and which has already sold thousands of copies to excellent reviews: People’s Guide to the United States Constitution. Writing without political bias, Dave took the approach of presenting the Declaration of Independence and the full Articles of the Constitution and Amendments, in an easy-to-understand format, with key words defined, and phrases explained as they...

One of our readers reports on their successful efforts to build a community event around the reading of the U. S. Constitution on September 18, 2010, a day many families blocked off in order to do just that in a national event organized by Let Freedom Ring! “The event featured ordinary citizens enjoying a Pot-Luck dinner and reading of the Constitution,” Shak and Robin Hill report. “Each family received a lantern and copy of the Constitution.” “There were fun Constitutional crossword puzzles and quizzes for everyone. Over 75 folks participated, with many of them helping out with the actual reading....

This weekend the U. S. Constitution might be read more frequently in the United States than it has been in American public schools in the past half century. Accuracy in Academia is a proud co-sponsor of We Read The Constitution, the brainchild of the remarkable Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring! There are 144 scheduled events around the country that will take place on September 18, 2010 in which Americans from all walks of life literally read the Constitution for about an hour or so. “We heard it at the 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally at the Lincoln Memorial,” Hanna pointed...

This is the Department of Defense Constitution Day and Citizenship Day Website

The principles of limited government in the United States’ Constitution, along with the natural laws and moral principles that preceded the Constitution, are now increasingly being violated, asserted Terence Jeffrey, author of Control Freaks: 7 Ways Liberals Plan to Ruin Your Life, at The Heritage Foundation Bloggers Briefing on August 3, 2010. “When we make the major decisions in our lives, we are free,” Jeffrey avers. “When someone else makes them, we are not free. When the government makes them, we live in tyranny.” These decisions involve the place where one lives, how one moves, personal income, retirement, property usage,...

fringeelements | July 08, 2010 The fashion is to say "economics can't explain all political issues" - which is an absurd idea based on a simplistic view of economics. Economics can explain all purposeful action toward a given goal. What of these goals and how do they come about? That's the realm of psychology. But beyond that, economic reductionism FTW. No need to speak of "social forces" independent of economics as if King Ludd is a giant cell and men are his organelles. Solving problems by breaking them down into individual actors... is good.

Judicial activism is pushing America to the breaking point. This week, a federal judge blocked key provisions of Arizona's immigration law, thwarting the will of the people. The decision was ominous and will reverberate for years to come. Judge Susan Bolton, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, is a liberal elitist who believes judicial imperialism trumps democracy. Her ruling states that local police cannot check the immigration status of people arrested or stopped for violations of the law. In her view, that would amount to an abuse of civil liberties and unduly burden the federal immigration system. She also stipulated...

For those of you who believe in bygone notions like free speech rights and the ability to criticize politicians when they do things like nationalize 1/5 of the U.S. economy, you better taken advantage of that while you can. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has filed for cloture on the DISCLOSE Act, S. 3628, which is intended to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United and impose burdensome new disclosure requirements. The cloture vote will probably occur next Tuesday in a move that avoids committee hearings. If Reid can get 60 votes, then the Schumer/Van Hollen Sedition Act...

New Hampshire liberty activists fight against gov. control and for the Constitution in their state. This is just one of the tactics they use to ensure this. Why can't we do this in other states to regain the entire country from socialism?

The RESTORE THE CONSTITUTION EFFORT (AN FR Alliance), proudly announces that Eric Deaton, Candidate for the US Senate in the State of Ohio, has taken our Oath or Affirmation to the US Constitution and to the 12 Constitutional Principles we have established as a ground work and foundation for vetting these candidates and for restoring our Constitutional Republic. We now have 36 candidates from 23 states who have been willing to take this oath and go forward on these principles in their campaigns. Candidate Oath or Affirmation http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/notes/Candidate_Oath_or_AffirmationOur 12 Constitutional Principles http://restoretheconstitution.ning.com/notes/PRINCIPLES We need hundreds of thousands of members and...

The claim is, not allowing Americans to be armed at all times enables our enemies. Especially true when concerning the War against Terrorism. Listen to this video clip of the example of Americans vs. Somali pirates to see why gun laws DONT WORK.

Washington (CNN) – Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul sees economic doom possibly on the horizon for the U.S. using one of the most spectacular collapses in history to illustrate his point. Paul says there's a similarity between America's current economic situation and the fall of the Roman Empire. On Thursday, the Republican compared recent U.S. government assistance programs – such as the stimulus package – to Roman emperors giving away food and entertainment as the Roman economy collapsed. "In the latter days of Rome, the economy was crumbling, the emperor…would placate the mob with bread and circus - food and...

Every year we move further and further from the freedom the Founding Fathers intended. Every year it seems our government ignores the Constitution and looks to replace it with socialism. Thoughts? No this is not a "troll post". It's something I would like Freepers to think about this 4th of July. I know Ron Paul has a bad rap in these forums but listen to his words in the video and see how the gov. today has abandoned our civil liberties.

Question: Hello Paul! Do you ever plan to present the ideas of economists that adhere to the Austrian School of Economics (Students of Von Hayek or Von Mises)? Their understanding of the nature and causes of the business cyle enabled them to foresee much of what has happened in the last few years. (Peter Schiff and Marc Faber are successful examples.) Thanks for your friendly commentary!Paul Solman: Yes, the resurgence of the Austrian School is worth a look, and was suggested to me by none other than Robert MacNeil a few weeks ago after Rand Paul's victory in Kentucky. Look...