Free Republic

Beyond a few comments, talk of abortion was mostly absent from both nights of the second round of Democratic debates. This went noticed by pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood, which decried how “voters missed an opportunity to hear how Democratic candidates will approach a fundamental issue that impacts their lives,” lumping, as they’re prone to do, abortion with healthcare. The omission was also noticed by National Review’s Alexandra DeSanctis, who pointed out that Democratic candidates and their media allies usually refer to abortion in euphemastic language. On both nights, the issue was raised by the candidates rather than the moderators,...

The Democratic debates tonight and tomorrow will likely stick to the familiar script from the first ones, with candidates tripping over each other to see who can promise the biggest tax-spend-and-regulate agenda. This doesn't make for compelling television. President Trump nailed the description of the first round with his one-word tweet, "BORING!" To make the debates more exciting to watch and to provide voters with a glimpse of reality into Democrats' fantasy-world policy proposals, the CNN moderators must press the candidates on the consequences of their proposals. A good place to start is by challenging their uniform support of the...

You gotta hand it to them – it’s an innovative strategy to run for President by taking the position that your country is garbage and that its are people deplorable monsters. It’ll be interesting to see how the Democrats fare on their “America sucks!” platform. The last week has seen Team Donkey take brave stands against the flag and celebrating our military, and you would half expect them to next advocate something insanely suicidal, like taking your health insurance or forcing you to pay for illegal aliens’ doctors. Oh wait, that happened too.Who are these lunatics? Do they really think this...

With the first round of Democratic Party debates behind us, Americans have now heard from their candidates why they think they should run the country. One theme permeates the messages of all these Democrats. America is not fair, and they aspire to be president to make things fair. Elizabeth Warren: "When you've got an economy that does great for those with money and isn't doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple. We need to call it out. We need to attack it head on." Kamala Harris: "For too long, the rules have been written in the...

How do you know if you're living in a free society? Here's a quick test: Are you allowed to say obviously true things in public? Or are you forced to lie? As George Orwell put it in "1984": "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." But what if that freedom isn't granted? What if you're required to repeat things that you know aren't true? What if everyone who hears you knows perfectly well that you're lying, but they can't say so out loud? What if everyone is...

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke released his new proposal to tax non-military families via Twitter on Monday. O’Rourke’s “war tax” would require American families who make over $200,000 a year to pay $1,000 for each war embarked on by the United States. Military families would be exempt from the tax. The tax “would serve as a reminder of the incredible sacrifice made by those who serve and their families,” the proposal reads. It does not specify the types of military engagement that would constitute a war under the tax. Funds from the "war tax" would be deposited into a veteran's...

According to news stories, the Trump campaign fired pollsters who allegedly leaked polling results that show President Trump performing poorly against Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in battleground states. Regardless of the accuracy of the story, what can polling really tell us now? At this time in 2015, polls were showing Hillary Clinton 17 points ahead of Donald Trump. According to Gallup, Ronald Reagan's approval rating was about the same as President Trump's at the same time into his presidency. In November 1984, a year and a half later, Reagan won a historic landslide victory, winning 49 of 50...

At first glance you might think that the Democratic presidential campaign is boiling over with one new idea after another. Free health care. Free education. No more carbon emissions. There have been so many pronouncements, it’s hard to keep track of them.But that’s just at first glance. If you delve deeper, you will discover these are not ideas at all. They are feelings. Strongly held feelings, mind you. But feelings, nonetheless.Take health care. There is only one interesting public policy question there: If we paid for care in a different way (for example, through taxes instead of fees for services...

When President Trump promised to bring back American manufacturing, he wasn’t just talking about union workers. He was describing an economic agenda that benefits all workers.According to the latest figures from the Labor Department, the manufacturing sector just posted its biggest wage gains in over a decade — a clear sign that the President’s economic policies are making a real difference for working families.The employment cost index, which measures employee wages and benefits, rose by 0.9 percent for the manufacturing sector in the first quarter of 2019, with salaries and wages increasing by a full percentage point — even faster than the...

The following is part two in a two-part series. The first part can be found here. In a previous post, I began analyzing arguments for reparations for slavery the way students would analyze the argument in philosophy class on ethics. This is a continuation.Collective Guilt Theory. In World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. This was done under the racist premise that Japanese Americans were likely sympathizers with the Japanese combatants with whom we were at war. Internees not only lost their freedom for the duration of the war; they also lost...

It’s pretty obvious to everyone who isn’t Joe Biden that Joe Biden’s quest for the White House is a dead campaign fondling. As a practical, tactical matter, that’s good for us conservatives. For all his goofiness, gaffeiness, and gropiness, Crazy Uncle Joe had a way of hiding his unabashed and unrestrained liberalism behind this easy-going, sure-let’s-crack-open-a-couple-of- Budweisers façade. For reasons that many of us find utterly inexplicable, he seems to connect with normal Americans in a way most of his smug and smarmy comrades don’t. It’s not that he’s not smug and smarmy – if you remember the Clarence Thomas...

The 2020 Democratic Party primary reminds me of the movie Zoolander. In Zoolander, two male models engage in a “walk off,” a contest to see which vapid vessel can do the same standard model moves better than the other. It ends when Owen Wilson is able to remove his underwear one-handed without taking off his pants first. Derek Zoolander then gives himself an atomic wedgie trying to duplicate it. But for the presidential campaign, instead of the nearly two dozen Democrat running (so far) attempting to remove their tighty-whities and granny panties in a walk off, they’re engaged in the...

Former Vice President Joe Biden is the latest Democratic Party candidate for president to make a very important point – white men and our culture are the worst. The whole field has, in one way or another, said pretty much the same thing. And you know what? They’re right, we’re awful. Especially those of us who are straight. It’s time to reject white male culture! When you think about it, what have we ever done for humanity anyway? Michael Avenatti is one of us, so clearly not much. Well, not much if you don’t count the concept of liberty, democracy,...

Joe Biden has reached new heights of pandering. He has achieved the Olympic gold in cultural groveling. He must really want to be president. I am always amazed that people think Biden is so transparent and genuine. Yes, he shoots his mouth off before thinking sometimes, as we all do, but way more than a high-profile public official should. But that's more a function of his impulsiveness and arrogance than his authenticity. Anyone willing to remake himself overnight to be more acceptable to voters wants power too much to be trusted with it. A politician so comfortable with prostituting himself...