Free Republic

Recently I wrote an article about women's tendency to support statist candidates. As my emails attest, it was met with quite a positive response. Yet, not surprisingly, there was also a very predictable one: complaints about generalizations. For instance, one respondent wrote that she was tired of the "all men are this and all women are that" tripe. Of course, people only complain about generalizations when they hear one they don't like and, perhaps, are unable to refute. But you can rest assured that they generalize just like anyone else; in fact, generalizations are woven so seamlessly into our thinking...

We have all heard about the sex gap in voting patterns. This is the phenomenon whereby, in every election, women are far more likely to support liberal candidates than men are. For instance, in 1996, Bill Clinton captured 54 percent of the women's vote but only 43 percent of the men's. And in subsequent elections, the male-female gap has been as follows: in 2000, Al Gore, 42-54; in 2004, John Kerry, 41-51; and in 2008, Barack Obama, 49-56. In fact, even in the watershed election of 2010, during which we heard about the rise of the conservative woman, the fairer...

Unfortunately, many Americans have become inured to the trampling of freedom of association. You can work your fingers to the bone starting a business, and the government becomes a partner that contributes nothing but extracts much. It not only shares your profits and regulates you to death, but, more to the point here, dictates whom you must serve and the bases on which you may hire and fire people. And woe betide he who doesn't bow before Leviathan. A recent example of this is the Wildflower Inn, a Vermont B&B. After devout Catholic owners Jim and Mary O'Reilly refused to...

With the passage of ObamaCare coming on the heels of government takeover of industries and taxpayer-funded bailouts of the irresponsible, many are wondering how we can turn the socialist tide. They see Uncle Sam expanding, their rights and economic prospects shrinking and their voices ignored. For these people, November cannot come soon enough. But November is not the ultimate solution. In the political universe, seven months is an eternity, and we cannot know precisely how public sentiment will evolve. Besides, the chances of Republicans retaking both Houses are slim and, even if they do, there's no guarantee they'll rise to...

There has long been a certain objection to the divine command that we should worship God. It is simply: Why does God need you to worship Him? It is, really, an eminently fair question, and it has an eminently logical answer: God doesn’t need you to worship Him. You need to worship Him.  Worshipping God has, among other things, the very great by-product of reminding us who God is and, by extension, who He is not: us. This may seem obvious, but history has shown that this simple fact more often than not eludes man. For instance, Egyptian pharaohs were...

Believers in Intelligent Design have often been scorned as being opposed to science, but science itself is showing that it is the evolutionists who are opposed to rational inquiry.Though The New American has no official position on evolution, we have published a number of articles over the years pointing to flaws in the theory and arguing for academic freedom on the subject. We did this most recently in "Allow Intelligence" (May 12, 2008 issue), our very favorable review of Ben Stein's documentary Expelled. In the following article, Selwyn Duke suggests that it's possible to believe in both an evolution of...

Contrary to what my title indicates, I probably judge Barack Obama more harshly than most reading this page.  I don't think he is just a misguided ideologue or merely a creature of expediency.  I believe, practically speaking, he is an evil man.  That is to say, while he is largely ignorant like so many others, he has developed an affinity for evil.  He mistakes it for good. Yet, to be blunt, Obama doesn't alarm me as much as the average American.  To explain why, I'll present something Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero said 2000 years ago when lamenting...

When I awoke Tuesday morning, I ambled over to the computer, as is my wont, and made my usual cyber rounds. I logged on to the Drudge Report and, lo and behold, saw the following headline, "RADIO HOST MICHAEL SAVAGE BANNED FROM UK FOR 'EXTREME VIEWS'...." "Wow," I thought, "Britain strikes again." The prohibition is the handiwork of England's Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, who included Savage on a list of 16 unwelcome individuals whom she wanted to "name and shame." According to Beverley Rouse writing in The Independent, Smith says this is "so others could better understand what sort of...

There is an old saying, "A man who is capable of deceiving only others is not nearly as dangerous as a man who is capable of deceiving himself." Truer words were never spoken. When a person lies, he is deceiving others about reality, but at least knows he is engaging in deception. But when someone rationalizes — which is when you lie to yourself — he is truly lost. He then not only bends reality for others as a by-product of bending it for himself, but he can render untruths without having to lie. This is because a lie is...

Perhaps I was wrong about Barack Obama. Maybe his words can bring peace to the world. That is to say, if he keeps talking, he just may put all the world's peoples to sleep and keep them that way. This became evident during Obama's recent European trip. Despite the fact that Obama shares the Old World's socialist vision — and contrary to the image lent by the media's inundation of us with footage of fawning European crowds — some of that continent's denizens find him more sandman than savior.

When John the Baptist said to King Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife," the price he paid was his head on a platter. He had spoken Absolute Truth to power in a time when power was absolute. It was the bravest of acts, the kind only undertaken by those very rare men for all seasons. Lying in stark contrast to this is catholic (note the small "c") Notre Dame University's genuflection before Barack Obama, a man embodying the very antithesis of Catholic teaching. As most are aware, the university extended an invitation to Obama...

Since liberals place a premium on tolerance, the loving and charitable thing to do is help them develop it. Note here that, unbeknownst to many, tolerance involves enduring something considered to be a negative. We don't tolerate a fine meal or a nice car, for instance; we relish such things. But we might have to tolerate bad weather, a cold or Nancy Pelosi. Now, since liberals actually perceive a great many positive things to be negative, placing them in situations wherein they may cultivate tolerance is not difficult. One under-appreciated vehicle through which to do this is your children. You...

Long ago, during the darkest chapter of the 20th century, a movie was released entitled Hitler’s Children. While the film is virtually forgotten, I cannot forget a certain scene involving some words a Nazi official uttered to a dissident, a heroic Catholic bishop. Dripping with contempt, the officer said (I’m paraphrasing), “In a few years, the churches will be empty.” It was a thought he obviously relished. Ah, Hollywood and its fiction … or, is this a snapshot of history, a rare case in which Tinseltown’s art imitated life? For many people, such a question seems rhetorical. They “know” Nazism...

RUSH: On National Public Radio, Cokie Roberts is out there quoting Democrats on the immigration bill, Republicans on the immigration bill, and Rush Limbaugh on the immigration bill. On Saturday, Fox News Channel's Fox News Watch -- this is their media analyst show, the host Eric Burns, guest commentators Jane Hall of American University, Cal Thomas, and they're discussing the new immigration bill. The first voice you hear will be Jane Hall. HALL: Rush Limbaugh is already saying this is going to kill the Republican Party. This is going to bring in people who are going to overwhelm our schools....

RUSH: Let's move on to illegal immigration here and where we stand today. We know that we've had the McCain-Cornyn blowup. McCain, by the way, in that blowup typified precisely what I pointed out to you in a brilliant two-hour analysis last Friday. McCain wants to get this thing done. He wants to have no debate on it, because the extracurricular politics will stand in the way. This thing needs to be put together behind closed doors in a back room with Democrat activist groups having veto power. Nobody will ever be able to see the whole thing. It needs...