The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution

December 5, 2019 in News, RBN Updates by RBN Staff

Source: John Birch Society, The New American Freedom Index

FULL LIST PDF: Freedom_Index_116-1


 

Enforce the Constitution

After asserting “all men … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” the Declaration of Independence also asserted “that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men.” The Founding Fathers created the Constitution in 1787 to institute just such a government.

However, the security of our rights is at risk due to Congress’s increasing disregard for obeying the Constitution. The solution — hold congressmen accountable to the Constitution with “The Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution.”

50 Years of Congressional Scorecards

The John Birch Society has been known for publishing congressional scorecards based on the Constitution for nearly 50 years. Back in the early 1970s its scorecard was called the “Conservative Index” and was published a couple times a year in the Society’s weekly newsmagazine, The Review of the News. The “Conservative Index” rated all U.S. senators and representatives on how consistently each adhered to “the principles of national sovereignty and individual liberty laid down in the Constitution of the United States.”

In 1985 the “Conservative Index” moved over to another JBS news magazine, The New American. Then in 2007 the name changed to the “Freedom Index: A Congressional Scorecard Based on the U.S. Constitution.” Finally, the “Freedom Index” became available in an online format at TheNewAmerican.com in 2013.

Hold Your Congress Accountable

To learn just how constitutional your representative and senators are, go to TheNewAmerican.com and click on “Freedom Index” in the menu bar. You’ll be taken to the home page of the online “Freedom Index” where you’ll see a list of the current members of Congress arranged by state and by congressional district within each state.

Immediately you’ll see a cumulative score for all 100 senators and 435 representatives in Congress based on votes cast since 1999. A score of 100 percent would mean that the congressman has voted constitutionally on every roll call vote analyzed by the “Freedom Index” staff. Click on any congressman’s cumulative score and you’ll be taken to brief explanations of all the bills that he has been rated on, including why the vote was considered constitutional or unconstitutional.