Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

“President Trump attacked Iran without approval from Congress, as was the Framers’ intent regarding offensive warfare, made plain in the debates at the Constitutional Convention. Trump also violated the War Powers Resolution of 1973 by not withdrawing U.S. forces within 60 to 90 days when Congress hadn’t declared war, given its legal approval or extended the statutory deadline—none of which happened. This is just one more recent example of a hyper-imperial executive thumbing his nose at a quiescent Congress. Yet the Constitution’s Framers intended for Congress, not the executive, to be the dominant branch of government; an independent executive and judiciary were meant to counteract and contain some of this predicted legislative preeminence.” (09/23/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/23/make-congress-great-again/

Source: Washington Monthly
by Carter Dougherty

“A proposed settlement would give Visa and Mastercard’s duopoly a free pass, and won’t deliver meaningful relief on swipe fees.” (09/23/26)

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/09/23/the-secret-monopoly-making-everything-more-expensive/

Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal

“Why are we forced to pretend not to know the solutions? To pretend solutions are mysterious or too hard? Because government doesn’t benefit from solved problems. It loses power when problems are solved and people no longer beg to be rescued. Often, getting government out of the way is the solution. Crime is a solved problem. To pretend that no one knows how to reduce crime is a lie that only serves the criminals — both freelance and governmental. The solution is to stop criminalizing things everyone has a natural human right to do, including both what they choose to put into their bodies, and defense of person and property with the most effective tools ever invented for the purpose.” (09/23/26)

https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/story/2026/09/23/voices/opinion-dont-violate-others-problem-solved/234227.html

Source: Independent Institute
by Edward J López & Jon Murphy

“A country’s overall BOP must sum to zero. That is by accounting definition. When domestic buyers send money out to bring imports in (the current account), foreign exporters return money domestically as investment (the capital & financial account). The BOP is a form of double-entry bookkeeping applied to international trade. But it also means that the current account—composed mostly of trade in goods and services—can be in deficit, while the capital & financial account is in surplus.” (09/23/26)

https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/23/unbalanced-treatment-balance-of-payments/

Source: Cato Institute
by Pierre Lemieux

“Politicians, government officials, and foreign policy analysts (especially of the ‘realist’ sort) regularly speak of the ‘national interest.’ The meaning of this expression may seem obvious: It is the public interest when the public considered is composed of the individuals within a ‘nation’ (as opposed to the ‘global public interest’ or a ‘sub-national public interest’). I take ‘nation’ to mean a society of individuals, not simply their state. But in reality, just as with the ‘public interest’ in general, the ‘national interest’ has little scientific or rationally ascertainable meaning.” (Fall 2026)

https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2026/dangerous-national-interest