“In the contemporary imagination, liberalism means different things to different people. To some on the left, it means a set of deceptive platitudes masking an eventual, inevitable collaboration with fascists. To those on the populist right, it stands for out-of-touch technocracy, woke identity politics, and globalization hollowing out rural and industrial America. To many less ideological voters, it simply stands for the status quo and existing institutions—a status quo that many believe, or can be convinced to believe, is just not working for them. What liberalism isn’t, for the most part, is appealing. Liberalism is in peril not because of philosophical defects or better available alternatives, but because liberals have too often struggled to make liberalism seem attractive, compelling, and exciting.” (08/11/26)
“Keeping pace with new developments in the world of social media and artificial intelligence is no easy task. Almost as challenging is keeping up with the slew of regulatory, judicial, and civil society actions seeking greater transparency from Big Tech into the design parameters, data extraction, and internal research behind social media apps used extensively by children and adolescents. Last Wednesday, a U.S. Senate committee unanimously advanced the Kids Online Safety Act, which would mandate default privacy settings and require ‘reasonable care’ when designing platforms to minimize potential harm to minors. The next day, a New Mexico court fined Meta $567 million to address harms it knowingly caused to young people through design features of its Facebook and Instagram platforms. The range of recent and pending laws and legal actions is notable for a few key reasons.” (08/10/26)
“[Woodrow] Wilson’s central argument was that government should be split into two separate domains: politics, where elected officials set broad goals and policy direction, and administration, a technical, expert-driven sphere that should be run with ‘large powers and unhampered discretion’ and insulated from day-to-day political interference. Wilson suggested that government ought to be removed from the political process…in other words: ‘Democracy is too important to be left to voters.'” (08/11/26)
“[R]enewables are not cheaper than fossil fuels. If they were then we’d not even have a climate change problem in the first place – everyone would just be naturally scrambling for the now cheaper option and the problem would go away. Which does mean that every plan, every insistence, every fine and policy imposed is proof that renewables are not cheaper. Could even still be worthwhile, but not cheaper.” (08/11/26)
“New inventions and technologies, from the lightbulb to the farm tractor to the automobile to the laptop computer to Uber drivers, cause serious job market disruptions. They also cause a backlash, as horse and buggy operators, cab drivers, video rental stores, and typewriter makers inevitably predicted chaos and job losses. Artificial intelligence will make life much better and healthier for most people, but it will bring massive disruptions, too. What will happen to the people whose livelihoods are jeopardized by what ChatGPT or Claude can do faster, cheaper, and better? It is a fair question. But let’s look at one of the inventions of the past several decades that we almost all use routinely: the automated teller machine.” (08/11/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya
“In a recent controversy over ideological indoctrination at the Smithsonian museum, one member of staff mockingly said, ‘I didn’t realize all my colleagues were Marxists.’ The implication is that their critics are using the label ‘Marxist’ to denote any historical interpretations with which they disagree. The museum’s staff insist that their only goal is to offer an ‘inclusive’ portrayal of history. Similarly, many who support diversity, equity, and inclusiveness do not necessarily see themselves as neo-Marxists, even though they promote the tenets of cultural Marxism.” (08/11/26)
Source: The American Conservative
by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
“In his crusade to exorcise ‘wokeness’ from the military and imbue it with a new spirit of lethality, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is waging battles on the nation’s storied war colleges and service academies. But is he fighting the wrong war? … While no one who spoke to us believes there is a place for intrusive diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements or social engineering at these institutions, they agreed the attention should be on the schools’ broader inability to produce exceptional leaders who win wars—rather than ambitious yes-men with soft critical thinking skills who, despite losing records, collect stars, pensions, and lucrative post-service second careers with all the entitlement of entrenched bureaucrats.” (08/11/26)
“In the run-up to the 2024 election, many people claimed that, in ‘Econ 101,’ GDP goes down when imports increase because the last part of the GDP equation is Net Exports (exports – imports). This demonstrates a failure to understand precisely what GDP measures and why net exports appear at the end of the equation. Gross Domestic Product is a measure of the economy’s total value added, and measuring value added is pretty complicated in a global economy where almost everything we buy has ‘value added’ somewhere other than the United States, and many things people in foreign countries buy reflect value that was added in the United States.” (08/11/26)
“Almost 60 years ago, in his book Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal, historian Howard Zinn wrote a speech for Lyndon Johnson in which the then president announced a withdrawal and the end of the US attempt to control Vietnam. Unfortunately, Johnson did not embrace Zinn’s sensible approach. Instead, he announced the end of his reelection bid, and the US war effort continued for another six years, with the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement, or eight years, with the ending of the war and the reunification of Vietnam. President Donald Trump is at least as concerned as Johnson about not looking like a loser. So, my effort to compose a speech for Trump certainly seems like a quixotic effort. … Here is the speech I think Trump should deliver.” (08/11/26)
