Source: Independent Institute
by Richard K Vedder

“We Americans are the luckiest bunch of humans to ever live. We are more affluent than ever before, even though most Americans also have much more leisure than earlier generations. Our success is demonstrated by the large numbers of immigrants trying to permanently enter our country, often illegally [sic] at great risk. Compared with a century or even a generation ago, our houses are bigger and nicer (with air conditioning and upscale kitchen appliances), our cars are more luxurious and reliable than those of earlier generations, and we have new pleasures like social media and ocean cruises to entertain and titillate us when we are not watching movies or shows on giant screens unheard of a generation ago or on technologically advanced hand-held devices.” (10/26/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/26/americas-best-of-times-worst-of-times-can-adam-smith-save-the-future/

Source: Liberalism.org
by James Strickland

“It has often been claimed that ‘all politics is local.’ That twentieth-century phrase is sometimes said, though incorrectly, to have originated with Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, who was known to say that the outcomes of congressional elections were determined by local issues. In other words, politicians running for national office must appeal to local voters and their concerns. Political scientists and others have since cast doubt on the influence of local voters and their concerns on national policy or trends. There may be less variety in local concerns or opinions across states or cities now than ever, and party platforms across states now resemble each other more than ever.” (10/26/26)

https://www.liberalism.org/p/is-all-politics-still-local

Source: Students For Liberty
by Dr. Tom G Palmer

“There are such things in the world as human rights. They rest upon no conventional foundation, but are eternal, universal and indestructible. Among these is the right of locomotion; the right of migration; the right which belongs to no particular race, but belongs to all and to all alike. It is the right you assert by staying here, and your fathers asserted by coming here. The presumption of liberty is embedded in America’s Founding documents. … The right to come and go, to converse with whom we wish, to exchange with others on mutually agreeable terms, and more are presumed rights of human beings. Any who would restrict a person from interacting voluntarily with people of another religion or language, county or country, must bear the burden of justifying such restrictions.” (10/26/26)

https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/the-equal-presumption-of-liberty-to-travel-and-exchange/

Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison

“Quitting a failed war is wiser and cheaper than prolonging it. It is the war in Iran that has so destabilized and endangered other countries in the region. Ending that war won’t solve other problems in the region, but it will at least mean that the U.S. is not exacerbating them as much as it was.” (10/26/26)

https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/ending-the-war-is-the-only-sane-option