Free Republic

“Every great cause,” wrote the philosopher Eric Hoffer, “begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” Having led the anti-slavery movement to its culmination some 160 years ago, and since setting the stage for explosive national growth and prosperity in the latter 19th century, the guiding principle of today’s GOP is . . . ? We shouldn’t be disappointed, ever, by the Racket Republicans. As a group, what do Republicans in Congress stand for other than reelection? Hardly a week goes by in which patriots aren’t saddened. Name the issue. Democrats pack up like dogs....

Ron Klain sobs uncontrollably, praises Biden’s parenting, VP at goodbye party WASHINGTON — Outgoing White House chief of staff Ron Klain broke down in tears over and over again Wednesday while handing over power to his successor Jeff Zients — going so far as to praise President Biden as a role model for parenting and Vice President Kamala Harris as a great officemate. “This is the best job I ever had,” the 61-year-old Klain blubbered as he began his remarks at an East Room transition celebration, forcing his 80-year-old boss to supportively rub his shoulder as he regained his composure....

Jeff Zients, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator, is expected to replace Ron Klain as White House chief of staff, two sources familiar with the plans told The Hill. Zients left his role as Biden’s first COVID-19 czar in April 2022 after advising the pandemic response effort and was replaced by Ashish Jha. He returned this fall ahead of the midterm elections to assist Klain with preparations for staff turnover as well as other projects. The White House declined to comment. Zients was director of the National Economic Council under former President Obama and before that was acting director...

Rush Limbaugh spent his life advocating for liberty and defending the rights of American citizens. He encouraged his millions of followers to get involved in politics and make their voices heard at the local, state, and national levels. One of the ways he urged his listeners to get involved was by joining the Article V movement. But those who oppose the Founders' solution to federal overreach have launched a disinformation campaign attacking both Rush and Convention of States Action President Mark Meckler. In a recent post on social media, Montana State Senator Theresa Manzella claims that Mark lied about Rush's...

There’s only one movement standing up to the destruction of America, and that’s Convention of States, Mark Levin told a packed room of Convention of States activists over the weekend. We’re losing our country to people who don’t even believe in the Constitution. We’re sliding into the abyss and being attacked from within by those who don’t believe in individual liberty. The COS Reclaiming Liberty Leadership Summit was held in Orlando Thursday through Sunday and featured some of the nation’s top leaders in the fight against government overreach. With hundreds of COS involved patriots in attendance, the event sold out...

What was the shape of Noah’s Ark? For millennia Jewish and Christian clerics, scholars, and academics, as well as others with too much time on their hands, have pondered this question. Artist rendering of the one true shape of Noah’s Ark, scientifically provenILLUSTRATION: JON BERKELEY What makes it tantalizing is the precision of the numbers in Genesis 6 (here, in the King James translation): [13] And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. [14] Make thee...

The conservative movement isn't done reshaping the Constitution from the ground up. Conservatives are now pushing an unprecedented convention to re-write the US bedrock text since 1788. So far, 19 GOP states have joined a rapidly-growing conservative movement to call a new convention. As former Republican senator Rick Santorum addressed Republican lawmakers gathered in San Diego at the American Legislative Exchange Council policy summit, he detailed a plan to fundamentally remake the United States. It would become a conservative nation. And the transformation, Santorum said, culminates with an unprecedented event: a first-of-its-kind convention to rewrite the Constitution. "You take this...

A large and growing number of Americans are coming to recognize that the federal government is out of control. Our national debt currently stands at over $30 trillion. Just 2 lonely Democrats stood between us and another $5 trillion in government spending. If we lined up 100-dollar bills end to end, that debt would reach to the moon and back – over 60 times! The average family of 4 is paying more interest (via their taxes) to service the national debt than they are for their own home mortgage. Our federal government behemoth now reaches into every aspect of our...

The Nebraska legislature passed a resolution on Friday calling for an Article V convention of states, making it the 17th state to do so. After considering it for the past year, the unicameral body approved the measure in a 32-11 vote, with six senators abstaining or absent. According to the resolution, the Nebraska legislature seeks to call a convention “limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of...

Often lauded as the optimal bun for smashburgers, the squishy, yellow potato roll has been a holy grail for burger geeks around the country. The reigning champ among those buns has to be the one from Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, a family-owned company based in Chambersburg, Penn. It catapulted to fame with the rise of Shake Shack, which uses its bread exclusively at its locations around the world. Locally, use of the Martin’s potato bun, at operations like Wesburger, Kowbird and Smish Smash, has signified chefs’ seriousness about their sandwiches.

It’s so dystopian it seems like a movie, but it unfortunately is not. The Department of Homeland Security announced just last week that it is creating a Committee of Public Information to combat disinformation, headed by the self-proclaimed Russian disinformation expert, Nina Jankowicz. That’s right. The Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s 1984 is becoming reality nearly 40 years after the fictional story’s set time frame. Taxpayers are now funding the government to monitor what information is accessible to us online and what is deemed trustworthy and accurate news. We no longer need to think, right? Apparently, the people in...

The South Carolina House of Representatives just voted 64-48 to pass the Convention of States Resolution, making the Palmetto State legislature the 19th to call for a Convention of States to end federal overreach! The South Carolina Senate voted on March 10 to pass the Convention of States Resolution, and the House voted last year to do the same. But the Senate removed a sunset clause that the House had included. Today’s vote in the South Carolina House was to concur in that change. It ensures that the Resolution will continue to be valid until the required 34 states have...

Stunning. That's the only word that can describe what happened today in West Virginia. Earlier this morning, the state House passed the Convention of States Resolution on an overwhelming -- and bipartisan! -- 77-19-4 vote. Then, less than one hour later, the state Senate passed the Resolution on a voice vote, making West Virginia the 18th state in history to pass the Convention of States Resolution! “Today we made history," said West Virginia Delegate Del. Chris Pritt. "The West Virginia House of Delegates sent a clear message that an ever-expanding federal government is unacceptable. We’re not going to tolerate runaway...

From Ben Shapiro to Mark Levin to Sean Hannity, the Convention of States Project has been endorsed by some of the most trusted names in American politics and media. Today, Dave Rubin added his name to that impressive list. The libertarian political commentator and host of the super-popular BlazeTV show, The Rubin Report, gave his official endorsement of the Convention of States Project over the weekend. Here's what he had to say: “Our political system is definitely broken, and it needs more than elections to fix it. We need to restore the structure of our system of governance. That’s why...

It should be obvious by now to any thinking American that our country is in the middle of a Communist Revolution. The Chinese Communist Party , our own homegrown Leftists and their Willing Idiots have clearly decided the time was ripe to usher in their Revolution. Donald Trump was the trigger. He had to go so the enemy burned and looted our cities and infected the World with a virus that provided the excuse for mail in voting with its rich opportunities for Voter Fraud. If we can’t vote them out how do we win? The answer is already...

Thomas Jefferson famously adapted key passages of John Locke’s Second Treatise in his draft Declaration of Independence. An 18th century gentleman could hardly regard himself as learned without the ability to quote a few Lockean passages from memory. Yet, what of the average colonial? Books were expensive imports. How were the yeomanry educated well enough in Lockean concepts to readily understand and accept this radical document, the Declaration of Independence? Through newspapers. Like modern Americans, our colonial forebears were also political junkies. Freewheeling editorials, letters to the editor that criticized parliamentary and colonial governments were standing features of public life....

“Civil war,” wrote Algernon Sidney, “is a disease, but tyranny is the death of the state.” The aftermath of war extends beyond physical destruction. Not just PTSD in individuals, but rarely does war leave the combatant societies unaffected. The victors of our 1861-1865 conflict imposed their will on an upended South and subsequently opened their arms and welcomed back the vanquished on condition that they submit post-war constitutions for congressional approval. Big changes. But, upon curing the disease, the division over slavery, the US grew to new heights in prosperity. During the war, and less well-known, government for a time...

Our Founding Fathers predicted it all. They may not have known about vaccine mandates, big tech censorship, or indoctrination in our schools — but they did know THIS: The federal government would one day grow tyrannical.It was inevitable.And when it did, the states would need a constitutional recourse to check the feds’ power, without resorting to a second bloody revolution.That’s why 234 years ago today, they proposed Article V. It gave We the People authority to call a Convention of States to propose amendments that limit the power of the federal government.And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.It takes...

In a 1792 column in the National Gazette, James Madison* briefly touched on Charles de Montesquieu’s three operative principles of government: fear in despotisms, honor in monarchies, and virtue in republics. From this starting point, the genius Madison divided governing principles into three species which reflect their predominant spirit. Madison: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...

Many things are clear or more clear after 11/3 and 1/6, and one of those is election reform. A COS (Convention of States) has been discussed variously over the last few years since Mark Levin's "Liberty Amendments", and perhaps now more than ever an amendment is required that would NEVER be passed by Congress, let alone the current one we have now.