Free Republic

Fifty years separate us today from 1968 and the two momentous legacies of the then failed presidency of Lyndon Johnson: The declaring of war on America's supposed domestic ills in the form of the "Great Society" programs, and the aggressive military intervention in a real war in Vietnam. Both of these "wars" reflected the arrogance and hubris of the social engineer who believes that he has the power and ability to remake and direct society in his own preferred image.... A part of the Vietnam War tragedy was due to the fact that it was managed by "the best and...

In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge famously said that the “chief business of the American people is business.” Today, however, this could be reworded as “the business of the American people is redistribution.” And government redistribution of income and wealth—violations of personal property rights—is tearing apart the social fabric of the country. Today more than half of Americans receive more money from government transfer* programs than they pay in federal taxes. When a majority of people benefit, on net, from government transfers and its growth, a tipping point is reached where pulling back is increasingly difficult, if not politically impossible.

A bill to lower the voting age to 16 for all elections, both local and federal, was approved by the Judiciary and Public Safety committee of the DC City Council by a 3-0 vote. It is now slated for a full Council vote in the very near future. Council member Charles Allen sought to rebuff critics who contend that people this young don't have enough real life experience to be informed voters. "They may still live with their parents and haven't had the burden of supporting themselves, but neither have the legions of welfare recipients who currently vote," Allen pointed...

A heartbreaking video captured in a Chicago commuter train shows the moment a homeless immigrant family sleeps on the floor and seats. Alexis Aguilar captured the footage at the CTA Blue Line Addison in the North Side of Chicago back in September. In the clip, a young girl can be seen lying face down while sleeping on the floor, her feet covered in sut. Aguliar told the Chicago Tribune: 'When I saw a barefoot girl lie down on the floor of the passway (of the train), barefoot and cold, trying to sleep, my heart broke and I knew something was...

The grant of citizenship is a transfer of political power. Access to the U.S. ballot box also provides access to the American taxpayer's bank account. This is particularly problematic with regard to low-skill immigrants. Within an active redistributionist state, as Friedman understood, unlimited immigration can threaten limited government.

More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes.1 According to a report released this year by the Congressional Budget Office, only the top two income quintiles in the United States pay more in taxes than they receive in government transfers. Not surprisingly, the lowest income quintiles receive far more in transfers than they pay in taxes:

Millions of taxpayers dollars trafficked through food stamp fraud went to terrorists who funded their activities at home and abroad, according to an explosive report from the Government Accountability Institute (GAI). The report from GAI, where Breitbart News Senior-Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer serves as president, highlighted several instances where money obtained through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits fraud went to fund acts of terrorism, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Although this method of using food stamp fraud money for terrorism has been around since the 1980s, it gained notoriety when New York...

Jackson, MS, is once again modeling radical Black love for the nation with a pioneering basic income program that will give fifteen Black mothers living in subsidized housing $1000 every month for the next year. The initiative, Magnolia Mother’s Trust, is spearheaded by Springboard to Opportunities, in partnership with Economic Security Project, and “will be the first [guaranteed income initiative] that specifically targets extremely low-income families headed by an African American female living in affordable housing in the United States,” according to Springboard’s website. Citing “Becoming Visible,” a 2017 report published by Springboard and Washington, D.C.-based policy research group New...

• Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes says the federal government could give U.S. workers a stipend of $500 per month by repealing the Trump tax cuts. • Hughes, an advocate for a basic income, argues that less than a third of Americans have reaped the benefits of the president's tax cuts. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes said Thursday the federal government could give U.S. workers a stipend of $500 per month by repealing the tax cuts passed late last year. Hughes, author of "Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn" and an advocate for a basic income, argued that less than...

Entitlement cuts, tax increases, howling seniors: This is our future, whenever we choose to face it. The Manhattan Institute’s Brian Riedl isn’t trying to trigger the libs. His new plan to stabilize the debt doesn’t gut welfare, doesn’t repeal the New Deal — hell, it doesn’t even keep tax increases off the table, which practically makes him a lefty pariah in modern GOP circles.But it’s still going to alienate just about every elected official across the political spectrum, because it illustrates what it would actually take to get our mushrooming deficits under control. We’re talking weaker Social Security benefits, a...

AUSTIN, Texas — The Trump administration’s proposal to make it more difficult for people to legally come to the U.S. or to stay here could keep apart hundreds of thousands of married couples who don’t earn enough money. The administration wants to create an income test for people wanting to legally enter the U.S. or become legal residents. That test would generally give high marks to people with household incomes of more than 250 percent of poverty, about $41,150 for two people and $62,750 for a family of four. The proposal sets a minimum income of 125 percent of poverty...

Updated 2 hours ago Startup airline OneJet did not resume ticket sales Monday as planned, and it’s unclear whether it ever will. The carrier announced Aug. 29 it was suspending all flights for eight weeks during an “operational transition,” but planned to resume ticket sales Oct. 1. As of Wednesday, the announcement was still posted to the carrier’s website , but when customers go to book a flight, the site says no flights are available to any destination. OneJet CEO Matt Maguire did not return calls seeking comment. Airport spokesman Bob Kerlik said airport officials have not received any information...

Violent crime, including murders, are increasing in Denver and Colorado, according to new statistics from police and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Murders in Colorado have jumped 27 percent in the last three years. In 2015 there were 173 murders, while there were 220 in 2017. ... murders in Denver have increased six percent in the last year. So far in 2018, there have been 51 murders, compared to 48 at this time last year, according to Denver Police. Police say the increase is because there are more incidents where multiple people have been killed. ... And for some perspective...

Trump administration officials announced Saturday that immigrants who legally use public benefits like food assistance and Section 8 housing vouchers could be denied green cards under new rules aimed at keeping out people the administration deems a drain on the country. The move could force millions of poor immigrants who rely on public assistance for food and shelter to make a difficult choice between accepting financial help and seeking a green card to live and work legally in the United States.

As places like Stockton and Chicago begin to experiment with UBI pilot programs, the idea is finally moving from theory to practice. For seven months, starting last fall, Mia Birdsong traveled to cities across the country to find out how people struggling to make ends meet would use an unconditional cash infusion, or Universal Basic Income (UBI). Their answers, she found, were surprisingly unsurprising: A reliable car to shave 90 minutes off a daily commute; a years-overdue visit to family just across the state line; a football uniform for a child hoping to try out for the school team; a...

Four in 10 Americans are struggling to pay for their basic needs such as groceries or housing, a problem even middle-class households confront, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. Despite the U.S. economy being near full employment, 39.4 percent of adults between 18 and 64 years old said they experienced at least one type of material hardship in 2017, according to the study, which surveyed more than 7,500 adults about whether they had trouble paying for housing, utilities, food or health care. The findings surprised researchers at the Urban Institute, who had expected to find high levels...

If I wanted to keep poor people poor, there are several government policies I would favor. Let's count them down.1: An Expanding Welfare State For starters, I would advocate for a robust and ever-expanding welfare state—programs like Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.I would recognize that an effective recipe for keeping poor people poor is to create incentives that push them into decisions that prevent them from climbing out of poverty.Rather than help individuals, the perverse economic incentives created by the “social safety net” trap aid recipients on welfare. Case in point: A 2012 study by Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Public...

The Corvette. A man named Tom Nicholson posted on his Facebook account the sports car that he had just bought and how a man approached and told him that the money used to buy this car could've fed thousands of less fortunate people. His response to this man made him famous on the internet. READ his story as stated on Facebook below: A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said, "I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost." I replied I am not sure; it fed a lot of...

As the Trump economic boom has pushed the state’s unemployment rate to a low of 4.2 percent, the Brown Administration has applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a waiver of the requirement for 800,000 able-bodied and childless Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in 55 counties to do some work in exchange for this government benefit. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) defended the action calling it “an act of mercy. Most of these long-term welfare recipients have no work experience or aptitude. Demanding that they enter the workforce even on a part time basis constitutes an inhumane and traumatic...

The House and Senate are negotiating a farm bill, and for once the stakes are more important than subsidies for wealthy sugar farmers. Republicans are debating reforms to a food stamp program that is divorced from work and economic advancement. Allow us to illustrate how a current waiver process has corroded even minimal requirements. The House farm bill includes a requirement that adults aged 18 and 59 work or train for 80 hours a month (20 hours a week, or part time). Seniors, the disabled, pregnant women and anyone caring for a child under 6 is exempt. The Senate’s bill...