Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book The Change Manifesto (Sourcebooks) He can be contacted at
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. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org
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Tuesday, 17 August 2010 07:26
John W. Whitehead
By John W. Whitehead
“We are still fighting two increasingly trying wars overseas, witnessing terrifying new levels of creativity from would-be terrorists (underwear bombs, etc.), mopping up a greasy mess in the Gulf of Mexico and trying to right an economy that seems insistent on remaining off the rails. And the so-called lead er of the free world thinks the best use of his time is to yuk it up with Whoopi Goldberg.”—S.E. Cupp, New York Daily News (July 28, 2010)
America is in dire straits.
Unemployment stands at 9.5% (and a staggering 34.5% for young black men), with more than 15 million Americans out of work, and 6.3 million of them having been unemployed for six months or longer. More than 11 million mortgages are now underwater. In fact, July 2010 marked the 17th consecutive month in which more than 300,000 American homes were undergoing foreclosure.
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Friday, 16 July 2010 07:42
John W. Whitehead
By John W. Whitehead
"Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine."—Henry David Thoreau
Democratic government is breaking down, and we are reaching a crisis point in American society. Increasingly, America resembles a police state. Everywhere we go, we are watched as the government amasses massive data files on us. We are plagued by a faltering economy and a monstrous financial deficit that threatens to bankrupt the country.
Black oil continues to poison the Gulf, devastating the environment and those who depend on it for their livelihood. Overtaxed Americans are losing their jobs and homes. Small businesses are preparing to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of red tape arising from Congress' health reform legislation. State governments are struggling to remain operational. Partisan politics has put a stranglehold on any real hope for governmental reform. The Supreme Court has adopted a pro-business, pro-government, pro-political correctness mindset that bodes ill for individual freedom. And to top it all off, our elected representatives in Washington DC are jetting around at taxpayer expense, enjoying perks the likes of which the average American will never experience.
Wednesday, 07 July 2010 09:38
John W. Whitehead
By John W. Whitehead
"If we give in on religious liberty, we will lose credibility with oppressed peoples around the world. We give a license to the states that violate human rights. We fail to assist totalitarian states in their movement toward freedom. And, most of all, we cease to be true to ourselves—cease to be a nation that, more than any other, testifies to the compatibility of modernity and religion."—Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things (June 28, 2010)
The First Amendment is a marvelous thing. It is what stands between us as citizens and an authoritarian regime. It affirms our right to freedom of speech, freedom of the media, freedom of religion and the right to assemble and protest—in other words, that we not only have the right to be difficult but different, as well, and cannot be discriminated against for being either.
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Wednesday, 30 June 2010 11:34
John W. Whitehead
By John W. Whitehead
Let me tell you about 56 men who risked everything—their fortunes and their lives—to take a stand for truth. These men laid everything on the line, pledged it all—"our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor"—because they believed in a radical idea: that all people are created to be free. They believed that freedom is a spiritual concept in that the rights we possess are, in their words, given to us by the Creator. Let me emphasize: at the heart of these rights is a radical freedom—the freedom to speak, to dissent, to protest and to seek relief, if necessary, against an unjust government—that is, one that won't listen to the people.
Tuesday, 29 June 2010 06:58
John W. Whitehead
By John W. Whitehead
"A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home."—James Madison
The U.S. government has a history of commandeering military technology for use against Americans. We saw this happen with tear gas, tasers and sound cannons, all of which were first used on the battlefield before being deployed against civilians at home. Now the drones—pilotless, remote controlled aircraft that have been used in Iraq and Afghanistan—are coming home to roost.
Drones, a $2 billion cornerstone of the Obama administration's war efforts, have increasingly found favor with both military and law enforcement officials. "The more we have used them," stated Defense Secretary Robert Gates, "the more we have identified their potential in a broader and broader set of circumstances."
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