- + War Powers: The True History of James Madison, the Constitution and the War of 1812—In the early years of the United States under the Constitution, James Madison made one of the most compelling constitutional arguments against unilate...
- + Five Critical Reminders About Liberty and Security from the Founders—Today, like every day, is a great day for a reminder of some of the top principles from the founders that we should never, ever forget. Unfortu...
- + The Satirical Genius of Benjamin Franklin’s 1774 Letter to Lord North—“A friend to military government.” That’s not what we’d expect from one of the leading supporters of American independence, but that’s just how Benja...
- + Prelude to Independence: Thomas Jefferson Declares British Acts Null and Void—“The British parliament has no right to exercise authority over us.” At all. This was the bold conclusion Thomas Jefferson came to in hi...
- + The Treaty of Paris: How the War for Independence Almost Didn’t End—Signed on Sept 3, 1783 – the Treaty of Paris has long been called the formal end to the War for Independence. But the war didn’t officiall...
- + Technofascism: The Government Pressured Tech Companies to Censor Users—Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, has finally admitted what we knew all along: Facebook conspired with the government to censor individuals expressi...
- + Before Lexington and Concord: The British Gun Grab That Nearly Sparked the Revolution—Despite the fact that it proved to be mostly a false alarm, the “Powder Alarm” of Sept 1-2, 1774 showed the colonists that the British were serious &#...
- + Tench Coxe: A Detailed Breakdown of State vs. Federal Powers—Despite being little known today, Tench Coxe was an influential founding father, and in early 1788, he provided what was possibly the most comprehensi...
- + War Powers: The True History of John Adams and the Quasi-War with France—Many people believe presidents have a great deal of authority to make unilateral decisions about war without the approval of Congress. To support this...
- + The Right to be Left Alone—The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to privacy. Like other amendments in the Bill of Rights, it doesn’t create th...
- + The Political Matrix Sustains the Illusion of Freedom—What you smell is the stench of a dying republic. Our dying republic. We are trapped in a political matrix intended to sustain the illusion that...
- + 17th Amendment: How it Broke the Safeguard Against Consolidation—When the framers designed the Senate, they envisioned it as a safeguard for the states, with a key component being state legislatures choosing senator...
- + Tench Coxe’s Federalist Defense: Economic and Political Consequences of Disunion—In a number of his lesser-known federalist essays, Tench Coxe pivoted from his usual focus on the division of powers between state and federal governm...
- + Mercantilism and the Road to the American Revolution—The American Revolution was not merely a clash over taxation without representation, but a rejection of a deeply entrenched economic system that posit...
- + The Great Compromise and the Struggle to Preserve State Sovereignty—The first weeks of July, 1787 were full of fiery speeches, threats of disunion, and tenuous compromises. In other words, just an ordinary time at the ...
- + Paper Money: The Founders Warned Us!—“The evils of paper money have no end” That’s how Thomas Paine put it, but he was far from alone. The Founding Fathers were deeply worried about t...
- + Tench Coxe: States and People as Checks on Federal Power—In his fourth essay of “ An American Citizen ,” Tench Coxe countered Anti-Federalist fears of federal tyranny by arguing that the Constitution’s...
- + American Theocracy: Politics Has Become Our National Religion—Politics has become our national religion. While those on the Left have feared a religious coup by evangelical Christians on the Right, the dange...
- + Constitution: The Founders on the Limits of Parchment Barriers—The Founding Fathers understood that written laws alone cannot protect liberty. They warned that the Constitution could, like other documents before i...
- + Tench Coxe Defends the Structure of the House of Representatives—Countering Anti-Federalist fears that Congress wouldn’t represent the diverse interests of the American population, Tench Coxe came out swinging, insi...
- + Report: 2023 Federal Gun Control Enforcement Near Record Levels—For the third straight year, the Biden administration’s federal gun control enforcement efforts hit close to record levels in 2023. The pace has...
- + Founders’ Foresight: The Perils of Perpetual Debt—“A public debt is a public curse.” That’s how James Madison put it, and he was right. Today, America is absolutely drowning in debt – ...
- + Our “Public Curse” Just Eclipsed $35 Trillion—“I go on the principle that a Public Debt is a Public curse and in a Rep. Govt. a greater than in any other.” – James Madison ...
- + Tench Coxe on the Senate: A Counter to Anti-Federalist Aristocracy Fears—The structure of the Senate was a serious point of contention for many Anti-Federalists , who warned it would quickly become a permanent or ...
- + More Evidence that “Direct Taxes” include Levies on Wealth and Income—My earlier entry provided links to Founding-era sources showing that the Constitution’s category of “direct taxes” included levies on all kinds of w...
- + Tench Coxe on the Executive Branch: President, not a King—American presidents behave almost like elected kings, exercising vast powers with very little accountability. But that wasn’t the plan. Tench Co...
- + Eight Essential Principles Behind the 2nd Amendment—There is only one thing the ATF is authorized to do under the Constitution. Disband! This may sound like hyperbole, but when you understand ...
- + Benjamin Franklin’s Brilliant Satire: Exposing British Hypocrisy Through a Fake Prussian Edict—As frustrations with usurpations and arbitrary power from the British government grew, American colonial leaders fired up the presses, producing hundr...
- + Clearing Up the Confusion About the Constitution’s Term “Direct Taxes”—The Supreme Court’s June 20 decision in Moore v. United States continues the long-standing controversy over the Constitution’s distinction between “...
- + Benjamin Franklin: How to Lose an Empire—“Empires, by Pride & Folly & Extravagance, ruin themselves like Individuals.” Benjamin Franklin certainly understood history . ...
- + How Tench Coxe Shaped the Ratification Debates: Essays of A Pennsylvanian—History often overlooks Tench Coxe, but he was one of the most important founding fathers. While the Federalist Papers are celebrated and widely...
- + Northwest Ordinance: Landmark 1787 Law Set the Foundation—On July 13, 1787, the Confederation Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, one of the most important and influential acts of the early republic. It ...
- + The Supreme Court Was Wrong About Taxes—Along with some good decisions, Supreme Court justices made some mistakes in the term just ended. One mistake involved taxes—and it is likely to bedev...
- + Bringing Back Gold Clause Contracts: A Challenge to the Fed—One of the ways the government maintains its fiat money system is by throwing up legal and regulatory roadblocks to those wanting to use real money. B...
- + The Forgotten Declaration that Explained the War for Independence—We are “resolved to die freemen rather than live slaves.” These powerful words, penned by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson, hold a promine...
- + James Madison on the Ignored “Fundamental Principle of the Revolution”—Forget schoolhouse history. James Madison exposed a much deeper truth about the American Revolution. It wasn’t just “taxation without representa...
- + Unlimited Supremacy, Gun Control and the American Revolution—When most people talk about the Revolution – they tend to point to “taxation without representation” as the main reason. Or, they go...
- + The Supreme Court Bump Stock Case: Defeat for the “Deep State”—Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion for the Supreme Court in Garland v. Cargill —the “bump stock firearms” case—may be more important for what it does n...
- + Power From the People: The Revolutionary Roots of the 10th Amendment—Thomas Jefferson called the 10th Amendment the “foundation of the Constitution,” and for good reason too. It enshrines many of the radical...
- + Free and Independent: The Foreign Policy of Washington and Jefferson—Anxious to preserve their hard-won independence, Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson championed a foreign policy centered on avoiding &#...
- + Was Shays’ Rebellion Overblown? The Debate Over the Constitution—“Never let a good crisis go to waste” isn’t just some modern invention by people who want to expand government power. It seems to be an approach used ...
- + Magna Carta: Cornerstone of Liberty Across the Centuries—June 15 marked a pivotal date in the annals of liberty: the anniversary of the Magna Carta’s signing at Runnymede, England. Over 800 years ago, this “...
- + 2nd Amendment: The Untold Truth Schools Don’t Teach—“Governments are afraid to trust the people with arms” James Madison was a student of history. And this quote, from Federalist 46 – is no ...
- + Pursuit of Happiness: “We Cannot be Happy without Being Free”—The “pursuit of happiness” is a foundational principle enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. In the Founders’ view, this was inextricably link...
- + Timely Lessons About Tyranny from the Father of the Constitution—James Madison, often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution,” once predicted that the Bill of Rights would become mere “parchment barrier,” wo...
- + No Deal for Gun Control: How the American Revolutionaries Defied the Empire—June 12, 1775 – less than 2 months after Lexington and Concord and the “shot heard ‘round the world,” General Gage made an offer he felt the Am...
- + The Pilgrim Code of 1636: English Charter, Christian Covenant, and Modern Constitution—“As freeborn subjects of the state of England, we hither came endowed with all and singular the privileges belonging to such, in the first place we th...
- + Nullify the Fed from the Bottom Up: A Step by Step Approach—With its monopoly on money, the Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the biggest, most powerful government in the history of the world. But...
- + Free Speech on Trial: Jailed But Re-elected—In a time of political turmoil, when criticism of the government could land you behind bars, Matthew Lyon, a congressman and fierce critic of the Fede...
- + From Nixon to Biden: How the US Turned Banks into Spy Networks—“Americans do not have financial privacy, really at all. We have this illusion of financial privacy. ” Cato policy analyst Nicholas Anthony ...
- + American Founder Jonathan Smith’s Inspiring Speech—When the second and third teams are impressive, you know the first team must be really good. Americans studying the Constitution tend to focus on t...
- + Patrick Henry’s Virginia Resolves: Bedrock Principles of American Liberty—On his 29th birthday – May 29, 1765 – Patrick Henry helped spark the American Revolution. His Virginia Resolves against the Stamp Act not ...
- + The Tyranny of the Majority—Does it really matter if the instrument curtailing liberty is a monarch or a popularly elected legislature? This conundrum, along with the witty versi...
- + The Dragnet State: How Geofence Warrants Turn Everyone into a Suspect—Imagine drawing a box on a map and declaring that every person who was within that area during a given time is a suspect in a crime. That is the eff...
- + Understand the Real Meaning of the Necessary and Proper Clause—The Necessary and Proper Clause is arguably the most misunderstood and abused clause in the Constitution. During the ratification debates, Anti...
- + Executive Order 6102: A Deep Dive into FDR’s Gold Confiscation Program—Franklin D. Roosevelt’s gold confiscation order in 1933 attempted to remove most gold from private hands. But due to widespread noncompliance, it ulti...
- + Virtual Home Invasions: We’re Not Safe from Government Peeping Toms—The spirit of the Constitution, drafted by men who chafed against the heavy-handed tyranny of an imperial ruler, would suggest that one’s home is a fo...
- + Beyond the Text: Understanding the Constitution’s Original Meaning—How do we learn the original meaning of the Constitution? A lot of people will say, “Just read it.” That’s an essential first step, but it’s not ...
- + Is Your Car Spying on You?—Last week, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Edward Markey of Massachusetts revealed that automobiles sold in the United States with a GPS or emergency ca...
- + Which Way Forward for America?—With the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, the American people brought into existence the most unusual way of life in history, one that led to the gr...
- + The Wicked Rebellion: General Clinton’s Amnesty Offer and North Carolina’s Rejection—No deal. That’s pretty much how North Carolina patriots responded to British Major General Henry Clinton’s proclamation condemning what he calle...
- + Edmund Randolph vs the National Bank—After Congress passed a bill to establish the first national bank in early 1791, President George Washington asked Attorney General Edmund Randolph to...
- + The Steady Slide Towards Tyranny: How Freedom Dies from A to Z—The American governmental scheme is sliding ever closer towards a pervasive authoritarianism. The American people, the permanent underclass in Amer...
- + Sovereignty and Agency—In the American political system, the people of the several states are sovereign, meaning they hold final or ultimate authority. Power flows from them...
- + SCOTUS Defends Property Rights, but Raises Constitutional Questions—The current Supreme Court is a vigorous defender of property rights. In general, I like that. But as I observed in a column last year , the court som...
- + The Founders’ Case for a Strong Militia Over Standing Armies—One of the primary reasons the founders wanted a strong militia system with a well-armed general public was to minimize or even eliminate the need for...
- + It Was Gun Control: What Started the War for Independence—The fighting at Lexington and Concord didn’t happen because the British army came to collect taxes. It was gun control. Of course, the go...
- + Thomas Jefferson’s Warnings and Predictions about the Dangers of Money-Printing—Thomas Jefferson’s chilling warnings about unchecked fiat, paper money proved prophetic as the U.S. plunged into its first boom-bust economic cr...
- + Limited or Absolute Power: Warnings from Anti-Federalist Agrippa—The Anti-Federalist writer Agrippa powerfully expressed many of the same reservations about the Constitution as other opponents – that it would ...
- + The Government Wants Your Money Any Way It Can Get It—The government wants your money. It will beg, steal or borrow if necessary, but it wants your money any way it can get it. This is what comes ...
- + A Positive Feedback Loop of Power-Grabbing—The classical liberal philosophy expounded by John Locke and many of the American founders was a brilliant attempt to abolish government by the princi...
- + Utah’s Step-By-Step Strategy in Support of Sound Money—“End the Fed” is a popular slogan among supporters of sound money, but it’s almost certain that Congress will never shut down its own money printer. S...
- + 10 States and Counting: 2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act—Ten states – and counting – have passed a bill called the “2nd Amendment Financial Privacy Act,” to nullify a gun control surv...
- + The Petition of Right: Essential Part of American History—On June 7, 1628 the Petition of Right was ratified by the British Crown in the days preceding the English Civil War. The measure was passed by the P...
- + Utah’s Step-By-Step Strategy Against the Surveillance State—When it comes to political activism, a lot of people think they have to accomplish everything all at once. They propose or demand what amounts to litt...
- + The Real Enforcement Mechanism for the Constitution—Almost everything people learn about how the Constitution is supposed to be enforced is wrong. As a result, we live under the largest government...
- + Congressional Omnibus is Like a Bad Hollywood Movie Sequel—This weekend’s late-night spending vote in Congress seems like another in an endless series of sequels to a bad suspense movie. Just at the brink of “...
- + The Social Security and Medicare Scams—Charlotte Cowles is a financial advice columnist for The Cut , “a New York Magazine site dedicated to women’s lives and interests, including politics...
- + Can Congress Ban TikTok?—When James Madison set about to draft the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution — he was articulating what lawyers and phi...
- + The Ides of March: George Washington Quells a Coup—It was the end of 1782 and the War for Independence was all but over, but the details of the official peace treaty had not yet been hammered out betwe...
- + Federal Reserve Responsibility for Consumer and Government Debt Crises—According to the Federal Reserve, credit card delinquencies increased by 50 percent in 2023, while consumer debt grew to 17.5 trillion dollars. A...
- + No Emergency Powers in the Constitution—It has become an article of faith that under our system of government, federal officials can declare an emergency, which then purportedly authorizes f...
- + Tyranny Is Rising as Freedom Falls—Day by day, tyranny is rising as freedom falls. The U.S. military is being used to patrol subway stations and police the U.S.-Mexico border , ...
- + War Powers: The True History of George Washington and the Indian Tribes—Supporters of unilateral executive war power want you to believe presidents can make all kinds of decisions about war and peace because, as they tell ...
- + Taking Rights Seriously—The world is filled with self-evident truths — truisms — that philosophers, lawyers and judges know need not be proven. The sun rises in the east and ...
- + William Dawes: A Literally Unsung Hero of American Liberty—In the shadows of American history, where the deeds of the famous are celebrated, there lies the often overlooked story of William Dawes, a man whose ...
- + War Powers: The True History of Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates—People on both the left and the right claim the president possesses significant, unilateral power over military action, and they support this myth by ...
- + The Truth about the Much-Abused Commerce Clause—The Constitutional Convention released its proposed Constitution to the public on Sept. 17, 1787. Almost immediately, debate began on whether to ratif...
- + Johnsoncare, Bushcare, Obamacare, and Trumpcare—Former president Donald Trump has vowed to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) with his own plan. Because “Obamacare is too expensiv...
- + Mercy Otis Warren: Constitution Would “Terminate in the Most Uncontrolled Despotism”—Mercy Otis Warren came down firmly opposed to ratification of the Constitution, and her anonymously written pamphlet titled “ Observations on the new ...
- + How the Federal Reserve Backstops the Biggest Government in History—The Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the biggest government in history . Without the central bank’s machinations, the U.S. governme...
- + Liberty Poles: Symbols of Freedom From Tyranny, Ancient and Modern—On May 21, 1766, the Sons of Liberty erected a liberty pole in the commons of New York City, celebrating the repeal of the Stamp Act. Although li...
- + The Global Deep State: Funded by the American Taxpayer—The debate over U.S. foreign aid is a distraction. That’s not to say that the amount of taxpayer money flowing to foreign countries in the form o...
- + Five Years Later Supreme Court Decision Still Hasn’t Significantly Limited Asset Forfeiture—Many people believe the Supreme Court “ended asset forfeiture” with its 2019 opinion in Timbs v. Indiana . As we argued at the time, Timbs ...
- + Taking Free Speech Seriously—Can the government prevent Big Tech from censoring political and cultural voices on their platforms? Can the government regulate these platforms to co...
- + Deciphering the Commander-in-Chief Clause—The Constitution designates the president as the commander in chief of the “Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the severa...
- + The Meaning of “Regulate Commerce” to the Constitution’s Ratifiers: An Update—Constitutional Background The constitutional justification for much of the federal regulatory and administrative apparatus rests on either of two ...
- + The Feds Are Buying Our Emails!—While we are all consumed with Joe Biden’s bumblings and Donald Trump’s trials, the federal government’s rapacious appetite for spyi...
- + The American Revolution Was a Rejection of Unlimited, Centralized Power—In school, you probably learned that the American Revolution was about “taxation without representation,” or perhaps standing armies. But ...
- + “Vote the Bums Out” is the Wrong Strategy—“Vote the bums out!” is the dominant political strategy in the United States. If you don’t like what’s going on, wait two years, or maybe four, and ...
As of 9/16/24 7:32am. Last new 9/15/24 2:23pm. Score: 562
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