Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Andrew Bernstein
“There are two extraordinary truths about the Brooklyn Bridge. The first is that its creation was one of the heroic feats of 19th-century American capitalism; the second is that it was the personal epic of John Roebling and his family. The bridge’s construction was akin to Cyrus Fields’s laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable, to Thomas Edison’s harnessing of electrical power, to James J. Hill’s privately funded construction of the Great Northern Railroad, and to numerous other notable achievements.” (03/16/26)
“What’s the difference between a 15-year-old and a transgender adult? The 15-year-old can drive legally in Kansas. It sounds like a joke, but it’s a cruel reality. As of Feb. 26, Kansas has invalidated the driver’s licenses of the approximately 1,700 trans Kansans whose licenses reflected their gender rather than their birth-assigned sex. Unlike states that never allowed changes to gender markers, Kansas’[s] move is a striking reversal of its prior permissive policy. This law, one of hundreds of pieces of anti-trans legislation across the country senselessly targets the small minority of people who happen to be trans.” (03/16/26)
“The anarchist as a figure in crime is distinct. His goals are not financial, and the terrorist acts committed under the heading of anarchism have ranged from assassinations of public figures to bombings of random civilians. He has also slid far enough into history to seem quaint, or vaguely romantic, from the vantage point of the twenty-first century.” (03/16/26)
“Hungary’s ruling and opposition parties each held major rallies on Sunday as they race to shore up support ahead of hotly contested elections on April 12. The rallies, held to mark the country’s national day, pitted right-wing, pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orban, 62, against opposition leader Peter Magyar, 44, who is seeking to end Orban’s 16-year rule and offer support to Ukraine. Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party has been trailing in polls against Magyar’s center-right Tisza party since last year and has turned to criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy more harshly. Tens of thousands of government supporters held a so-called ‘peace march’ that crossed the Danube River and headed towards Hungary’s parliament in Budapest. … Across town, Magyar accused Orban of ‘inviting Russian agents’ to ‘interfere in the elections.’ He addressed a crowd of at least 100,000 supporters at Budapest’s Heroes Square.” (03/16/26)
“The New York Times recently ran an article about efforts to pass medical freedom legislation in states across the nation. The article mischaracterized not only what health freedom advocates like myself seek, but also portrayed medical freedom as unpopular with the electorate. The article, and the fake polls it cited, was one of the reasons that my organization, Health Freedom Defense Fund, and Brownstone Institute collaborated to commission our own poll – an honest, objective survey which revealed staggering supermajority support for medical freedom, informed consent, transparency, and accountability.” (03/16/26)
“In the technology arms race between the United States and China for dominance in artificial intelligence (AI), we are often told that the decisive factor will be computational power: who can build more data centers, secure more advanced chips, and train larger models more cheaply. Those are not irrelevant, but nor are they the crux of the competition. The true contest is one of political culture.” (03/16/26)
“My son spent last week training in defensive pistol use at Gunsite Academy, in Arizona. The scheduling couldn’t have been timelier given the double terrorist attacks on Thursday. Both incidents were stopped by people at the scene who were willing and able to end the threat without waiting for police to arrive. It’s not something most of us want to think about. But if somebody decides to take out their grievances on innocents, any of us could become default defensive details for ourselves and the people around us.” (03/16/26)
