Ron Lipsman

The Nature of Freedom

The title suggests that there might be something ambiguous about the definition of freedom. Well according to our old friends Merriam and Webster, it is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.” Sounds about right to me. The freedoms enjoyed by all Americans are – according to our Declaration of Independence – natural rights, inherent to us as human beings, granted to us by Nature or God, and not by the Government, but secured for us by the Government. I’ve emphasized the word to for a reason that will be clear momentarily. OK what are those rights that I have, my possession of which is characterized by the absence of necessity, coercion or constraint? These are spelled out generally in the Declaration, more specifically in the Constitution – including the Bill of Rights – and in the constitutionally permissible laws passed by Congress and signed by the President. There is no secret here; they include:

Two Distinct Electorates

Interest in the 2016 presidential election contest is heating up. It is an arguably unfortunate aspect of the US national political scene that no more than midway through a presidential term, the nation might be paying as much attention to whom the next occupant of the White House may be than to the current resident.

Malevolent Distortion of Tea Party Objectives

An article appeared in the Washington Times under the heading "Texas professor teaches students tea party akin to Nazi party." A psychology professor (named Armstrong) at South Texas College drew a direct comparison between the Tea Party of today and the Nazi Party in Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s. Here are a few of his words:

Who is More Evil: Al Qaeda or Islamic State; and Which Poses the Greater Threat?

Whether you seek its definition as an adjective or noun, you will find in any reputable dictionary two identifying components of the term evil: morally reprehensible and causing immense harm. The problem is that the first component and, to a lesser extent, the second are both relative terms. Whether an action is morally reprehensible depends on the moral code used to judge the action. And too often, one man's assessment of damage is another's evaluation of progress.

Is Islamism a Totalitarian System Like Nazism and Communism?

The concept of a totalitarian state was an invention of the twentieth century. The notion of a state or nation whose government could control virtually all aspects of its citizens' lives was not conceivable in prior times.

Is It a Coincidence that Obama is Beset by Multiple Crises?

The cable news programs are enjoying a boom time. They have so much scandalous material to choose from that it's a challenge to cover all the domestic and international crises in a one hour program. Indeed, the attention of the American people is increasingly drawn to an incredibly wide and varied series of crises and scandals. Not any one of them compares in seriousness to 9/11 or Pearl Harbor; but in breadth and number, they represent a panoply of domestic and foreign crises that is arguably unparalleled in American history.

Obama's Most Serious Scandal

My online Merriam Webster gives the following definitions of scandal: "an occurrence in which people are shocked and upset because of behavior that is morally or legally wrong; circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it."

As If Israel Did Not Have Enough to Worry About

The tiny nation of Israel is beset by many challenges, some of them unique in kind among the countries of the world. The challenges are well-known to interested parties and a brief summary of the main ones will be assembled below. But here I wish to focus primarily on a crisis that apparently concerns only the Jewish population of the United States, but which, in fact, poses a severe challenge for Israel as well--a challenge that might be nearly as dangerous as any of the well-known ones to be described.

Are Conservatives Kidding Themselves?

Many conservatives are salivating at the prospect of the coming Congressional midterm elections. They think that a Republican takeover of the Senate is increasingly likely.

Who Can Resist the Liberal Brainwashing?

If you are a conservative parent who doesn't realize that your offspring are subject to a rigorous brainwashing in their local public school, then you are not paying attention. In all red electoral districts and in a surprising number of blue ones, the cultural, political and economic education imparted to the school children is biased sharply to the left. Just to give a few examples, the children are taught that:

Do the Obamacrats Really Believe the Economic Garbage they Espouse?

The Obama presidency is in tatters. From ObamaCare to numerous scandals (e.g., Benghazi, IRS, Fast & Furious) to economic stagnation to palpable American decline, the shards of disaster over which the big O presides – and much of which he has caused – are bleeding the Republic and torturing its people.