Author: Thomas L. Knapp

Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Vincent Cook

“Being free to cast just one trifling vote among thousands or millions of votes for deciding how to run the breadline, how to assign living quarters, etc. is not some magical ‘power’ that gives you any meaningful control over your own life. Quite to the contrary, it’s the commissars and their enforcers (secret police, neighborhood watch committees, people’s tribunals, etc.) who would exercise a terrifying arbitrary power of life and death over all voters, rendering their voting rights irrelevant and any dignified life under their rule impossible.” (11/04/26)

https://mises.org/mises-wire/no-mayor-mamdani-voting-everything-doesnt-promote-dignity

Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov

“Trump says that he accepts the midterm results today. Perhaps this is a case like Hungary and Serbia, where the margins proved too big for Viktor Orban and Aleksandar Vucic to rig. We’ll see what the mercurial president says tomorrow. But who among Trump’s henchmen will stick their necks out for him now? Once seated, the new Congress must ensure there are consequences for the administration’s overreach and malfeasance—even in the unlikely event that Trump keeps up the conciliatory tone. Failure to do so will only invite another, more competent demagogue to attack American democracy.” (11/04/26)

https://www.thenextmove.org/p/a-mandate-if-you-can-keep-it

Source: The UnPopulist
by Shikha Dalmia

“Under authoritarian regimes, F.A. Hayek wrote, the worst get to the top because they are the only ones willing to engage in the kind of depravity that the Dear Leader demands. So this election season, Trump’s Own Party put its dregs on the ballot. By contrast, Democrats leaned into a strategy of liberal inclusion—meritocratic multiculturalism—and ferreted out political talent wherever it existed: Muslims, Hispanics, gays, even a Paralympian. What resulted was a contest between kakistocracy and meritocracy—and kakistocracy lost. Bigly. Even by the standards of authoritarians, Donald Trump is in a class apart—a rational strongman would have helped his party field candidates with the best shot at keeping its grip on Congress, or at least not losing as badly as it did.” (11/04/26)

https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trumps-authoritarianism-gutted-gop

Source: Rutherford Institute
by John & Nisha Whitehead

“After a midterm election that saw billions of dollars spent on political advertising and a Democratic wave sweep Republicans out of power in Congress, Americans have once again been promised a new direction for the country. The voters have spoken. The balance of power in Washington has shifted. A new Congress will have the opportunity to rein in an imperial presidency and hold the government accountable for its abuses. But the question that must rightfully be asked is: what comes next? Will Congress finally rein in the surveillance state, the militarization of the police, the detention machinery, the endless wars, the government spending spree and the corporate interests that profit from the American police state? Or will the politicians settle back into their comfortable routines while the government machine keeps right on running? This is where Hollywood’s dystopian warnings become disturbingly relevant.” (11/04/26)

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/the_machinery_of_oppression_remains