Free Republic

The American Founding generation fought a long, bloody war to free themselves from a tyrannical government, only to see the people eventually embrace the very system they struggled to throw off.That may seem like a stinging indictment, but careful examination of U.S. governance today reveals that it rests on essentially the same philosophical foundation as the 18th century British system Americans rejected.The founding generation developed a brand new conception of government, resting it on the consent of the governed and the idea that governing institutions must operate within constitutional constraints. Today, we still see the vestiges of those founding ideals...

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens had an op-ed piece in the Washington Post a couple of days ago [1] that still has my brain doing backflips. He claims that, “Legislatures are in a far better position than judges to assess the wisdom of such rules and to evaluate the costs and benefits that rule changes can be expected to produce.” Stevens certainly did not believe this when he signed onto decisions overturning Texas’s sodomy law [2], or when arguing that state laws limiting abortion were unconstitutional [3], or when striking down Louisiana’s death penalty for raping a...

Interesting chronology of unfolding events in History

In a stunning illustration of the attitude taken towards free speech by too many colleges across the United States, Modesto Junior College in California told a student that he could not pass out copies of the United States Constitution outside the student center on September 17, 2013—Constitution Day. Captured on video, college police and administrators demanded that Robert Van Tuinen stop passing out Constitution pamphlets and told him that he would only be allowed to pass them out in the college’s tiny free speech zone, and only after scheduling it several days or weeks ahead of time. The Foundation for...

I'm flabbergasted to hear people I normally agree with be so optimistic about the current upheaval. I am actually shouting at my television. I am watching Fox News Sunday, and politicians and pundits with whom I normally agree — Newt Gingrich, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Bill Kristol — are all making me crazy with their advice on Libya. Each seems to believe that success in America’s latest foreign adventure is predicated on taking out Moammar Gaddafi, and they are all blaming President Obama and Secretary Robert Gates for failing to grasp the obvious. So now I’m yelling: “Guys, the...

*_The Preambles of all 50 States Of The United States:_* *_Alabama 1901, Preamble_*. We the people of the State of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution. *_Alaska_**_ 1956, Preamble_*. We, the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land. *_Arizona_**_ 1911, Preamble_*. We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution... *_Arkansas_**_ 1874,_*_ *Preamble*._ We, the people of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of...

The Preambles of all 50 States Of The United States: Alabama 1901, Preamble. We the people of the State of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution. Alaska 1956, Preamble. We, the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land. Arizona 1911, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution... Arkansas 1874, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of...

WASHINGTON and Baghdad will be tempted, with the adoption of a new Constitution and the election on Thursday for a four-year government, to declare victory in Iraq. In one sense, they are right to do so. The emerging Iraqi polity undoubtedly represents a radical break not only with the country's past but also with the whole Arab state system established by Britain and France after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. But in the larger sense, such optimism is misguided, for none of the problems associated with Iraq's monumental change have been sorted out. Worse, profound tensions and contradictions have...

President Bush doesn't lack for critics when it comes to his Iraq policies, but the smartest and most devastating of these is Peter W. Galbraith, a former United States ambassador to Croatia. Yesterday, after reading a morning's worth of gloomy press accounts about the proposed Iraqi constitution, I thought it might be interesting to hear what Galbraith himself had to say. I finally tracked him down in Baghdad (at God knows what hour there) and found that far from lambasting Bush, Galbraith was more complimentary about what the administration has just achieved than anybody else I spoke to all day....

SEEKING to understand this nation's democratic spirit, Alexis de Tocqueville journeyed to the famous centers of American liberty (Boston, Philadelphia, Washington), stoically enduring their "infernal" accommodations, food and roads and chatting up almost everyone he saw. He even marched in a Fourth of July parade in Albany just ahead of a big float that featured a flag-waving Goddess of Liberty, a bust of Benjamin Franklin, and a printing press that spewed out copies of the Declaration of Independence for the cheering crowd. But for all his wit and intellect, Tocqueville never realized that he came closest to his goal just...

BERLIN, June 1 - Some are calling it a divorce; others, a disenchantment. Whatever you call it, the French "non" on Sunday and the Dutch "nee" on Wednesday have clearly left the European Union's proposed constitution a dead letter for now, frustrating the efforts of Europe's leaders to move to the next stage of integration. The impasse could stall efforts to develop common foreign policies and push the euro, a potent symbol of unification, into a downward spiral. But there is something at stake here far broader than the constitution itself, which the Dutch rejected emphatically on Wednesday, 61.6 percent...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Doha, Qatar — WITH the emergence of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance as the majority party in Iraq's National Assembly, the scene is set for the drafting of a permanent constitution that will specify the Shariah, or Islamic law, as the main source of Iraqi legislation. This prospect is sending a chill down the spines of many Westerners, who see it as a preamble to the rise of a theocratic regime in Baghdad that would be a far cry from the liberal, secular Iraq envisioned by the Bush administration. But such concerns are unwarranted. Just as in the...

“LET PRIVATEERS TROLL FOR BIN LADEN -- HON. RON PAUL (Extensions of Remarks - December 04, 2001) “HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, December 4, 2001 “. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I recommend my colleagues read the attached article ``Let Privateers Troll for Bin Laden'' by Larry Sechrest, a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and a professor of economics at Sul Ross State University. Professor Sechrest documents the role privateers played in the war against pirates who plagued America in the early days of the Republic. These privateers often operated with letters...

(18:23) The Government has decided to hold a referendum on the rights to Irish citizenship of children born here to foreign nationals. The poll will seek to have the entitlement to citizenship decided by law. Since the ratification of the Good Friday Agreement anyone born on the island of Ireland is currently entitled to citizenship. In tandem with the proposed constitutional change, the Government will introduce legislation to restrict the right to citizenship of Irish born children whose parents are non-nationals to those of one parent has been legally resident here for a substantial period. The legislation will also end...

In Campaign 2004, secularism has become a dirty word. Democrats, particularly Howard Dean, are being warned that they do not have a chance of winning the presidential election unless they adopt a posture of religious "me-tooism" in an effort to convince voters that their politics are grounded in values just as sacred as those proclaimed by President Bush. On one level, the impulse to capitalize on the religiosity of Americans can be seen as transparently, and at times comically, opportunistic. Late last year, Ed Kilgore, policy director of the Democratic Leadership Council, earnestly advised his party's candidates to invoke "God's...

Comparing the US and the EU Constitutions A successful working constitution, like that of the US, is concise and provides a clear political and legal framework -- unlike the counterpart proposed for the EU By William Niskanen Monday, Aug 04, 2003,Page 9 `Europeans should be careful about any major political structure that is presented for their approval.' Europeans will soon consider a proposed constitution for the EU that is very different from the US Constitution. The US is the oldest and largest surviving constitutional republic -- a nation that has experienced a larger increase in area, population, and income; absorbing...

Basics of The New Iraqi ConstitutionWhat are the essentials for the Iraqis to write a new constitution – one that has a chance of taking root in that beleaguered nation? First, we look at geopolitical realities. Some critics of nation-building in Iraq claim that it is "an artificial nation" with borders that were drawn "arbitrarily by colonial powers." Therefore, they conclude that it is unlikely to survive as a single nation. The critics ignore the fact that every nation in the world except Australia, New Zealand and Japan has at least one artificial international border, drawn as a result of...