Massachusettes Governor Mitt Romney is campaigning in favor of that state’s ballot initiative to ban gay marriage, which is on the ballot in July. In the course of his campaigning, he has managed to say something substantive that so blatantly reveals a political philosophy completely at odds with the Founding Fathers. BOSTON –Gov. Mitt Romney, [...]

From Will Collier at Vodkapundit comes a link to photos taken by a Russian web designer on a recent visit to North Korea. Most of these photos were taken without permission, meaning we get a glimpse of what life inside one of the world’s last Gulag’s is really like.

(This is part two of the discussion I started Sunday with Constitutions: Why the EU Will Fail.) On Sunday, I discussed the various ways in which Constitutions can be written to describe a government. Specifically, I discussed the American Constitution, which is a document which we are mostly able to agree forms a strong foundation [...]

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 1791 3rd president of US (1743 – 1826)

This will be part one of a two-part post (part 2 is here), discussing the legitimacy of government. In all senses, government is intended as a voluntary social contract in which citizens give power to the government in exchange for protection of rights. In the case of modern government, this is typically done with a [...]

On July 4th, the United Nations will convene a conference on “the international trafficking and trade in small arms”; which is essentially shorthand for U.N. gun control. For some time now the U.N. has promulgated treaties which would effectively ban private firearms ownership in signatory states. They have also attempted (thus far unsuccessfully) to add [...]

Today in the Washington Post, the suggestion is that we learn from the game for skinny guys who can’t throw, and adapt FIFA practices to the UN: Though it is difficult to envisage a FIFA-colored bulldozer forcing regime change at the UN, some parts of the organization could certainly benefit by adopting FIFA’s principles, transparency [...]

A very common conceit in fantasy and SF, is the “time traveller gets stuck in the past and builds an ideal society”, and it has been through the entire history of the genre going back a few hundred years. In fact I think the very first SF/F book I ever read was “A Connetticut Yankee [...]

When I was a kid, and that isn’t exactly a geological age ago; there was a U.S. Flag in every single classrom. Most were on angled jackstaffs flying on the wall next to the P.A. speaker, over the chlakboard, or maybe over the main door. This didnt warrant notice, any more than desks or chalkboards [...]

Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey has an Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post about the latest attempt to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning: With campaigns at full tilt and the Fourth of July just around the corner, the Senate’s new priority is to debate and vote on yet another resolution to amend our remarkable [...]

Edward O’Connor has created a great resource; an easy-to-access, easy-to-link-to version of The Federalist Papers. He’s done the same thing with The Declaration of Independence, Artlices of Confederation, and United States Constitution. Definitely worth checking out. H/T: The Volokh Conspiracy

The other day, I was visiting der Eidelblogger, who was discussing the rising rents and impending demise of New York’s Flower District. He made an offhand point, about using FTD.com to buy flowers, which got a tad under my skin. I commented on his post, but there’s a lot more to be said. The best [...]

Carnival of Liberty 49 is up at Liberty Corner and what a carnival it is. Without question, its one of our most prolific in awhile. Go check it out.

Edit: I should point out that I’m a doofus. I didn’t intend to mischaracterize Francois’ position. Didn’t even mean to intimate that this was a direct response to his position. Just a general thingy on the problems I see with anarchy…and why I support the concept of negative rights. And, as a couple point out, [...]

Ahh, the advantages of plane travel: I finally get a chance to read in peace! I just finished reading Glenn Reynolds’ (of Instapundit fame) An Army of Davids. The tagline, “How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths”, pretty well sums it up. Reynolds believes we’re at [...]

Indian Cowboy is hosting Carnival of Liberty 48. Go check it out.

It shouldn’t be hard for Republicans to see why they’re in danger of losing their majority. Voter anger over immigration and spending has manifested itself in citizen groups patrolling the border, challenging them in primaries, and bussing reporters to the sites of shameful pork-barrel projects. Going back to the story of the failing marriage, one [...]

Someone stop this crazy circle-jerk, the real conservatives want to get off… Hastert is longest-serving GOP speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert, who vaulted out of political obscurity when Newt Gingrich resigned as speaker of the House more than seven years ago, on Thursday became the longest-serving Republican speaker in history. Hastert, 64, surpasses fellow Illinoisan Joseph [...]