“From the founding period and before, the American ruling class has understood that a strong, centralized, active U.S. government is the key to creating modern commercial power. If this seems counterintuitive, it is only because our political discourse has lately become invested in the deeply naive and ahistorical idea that the state is there to limit the power of private capital. No idea in our politics is more misguided and unmoored from the historical and empirical record. The folk belief that the American state serves as a real counterbalance to corporate interests is a shallow misconception contradicted by centuries of historical evidence.” (03/24/25)
“If you yearn for equality in your immediate neighborhood, move to a highly equal neighborhood. (Indeed, you could even try to join a fully egalitarian commune). If you yearn for equality in your state, move to a highly equal state. If you yearn for equality in your country, move to a highly equal country. Last step: Notice that virtually zero people actually relocate based on inequality. People routinely relocate for higher income, cheaper housing, lower crime, and closeness to family. But have you ever heard anyone — even the most fanatical leftist — claim to be ‘moving for equality?’ Indeed, how many fanatical leftists are even aware that the most equal states in the USA are Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Alaska?” (03/24/25)
“The economist Milton Friedman wrote that nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. It’s true that once an agency is funded and fills its cubicles with bureaucrats, advocates treat its existence as a necessity and any challenge to its continued existence as heresy no matter how well the world carried on prior to its establishment or how poorly it has performed. But we see a challenge to the usual rule in President Donald Trump’s executive order to wind down the federal Department of Education. Fully eliminating the useless 45-year-old bureaucracy will require an act of Congress, but there’s good reason to believe the president has room to maneuver until then.” (03/24/25)
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen
“Recent attempts at silencing dissent in the U.S. are frightening. They are not surprising; history has a way of repeating itself, especially when its a swinging pendulum. In the 1980s, many colleges instituted speech codes ostensibly meant to protect minorities on their campuses from hateful speech. Soon enough, those codes were used to punish minorities when they spoke against majority students. … Fortunately, those speech codes were mostly removed after they were judged unconstitutional and thus impermissible on campuses of state schools. The more recent but parallel story is the rise of ‘woke’ … students (and some professors) shouting down speakers. As in the earlier case, this too was soon turned upside down. Now we have government entities doing more than shouting. The federal government is seeking to deport college students that dissent from its approved views and to punish colleges that allow such dissent.” (03/24/25)
“While the media and the new Democrat Party grow hysterical over the Trump counter-revolution, they are missing some of the most revolutionary and insidious changes in American society of the last century. Much has been written about the collapse of the old orthodox Democratic Party, along with the growing irrelevance and dysfunction of the legacy media, elite universities, and state and federal agencies. But their growing unattractiveness is all related and was not just the result of top-down development. Rather, current Democrat Party radicalism, street theater, and violence were merely reflections of its own preexisting cultural antipathy toward the middle class.” (03/24/25)
“I bet I’m not the only person who typed ‘what is a correction’ into a search box this month for the first time ever. And what did I learn? This is not the kind of ‘correction’ you want if you or anyone you know of any age, family or friend, counts on the stock market for income, retirement, or the unimaginable costs of living a very long life. This kind of ‘correction’ means the market has lost 10 percent or more in value. … Unless Trump changes his mind, that’s what’s coming April 2 to a mall, supermarket, or car dealership near you: scarcity and higher prices thanks to an aggressive global tariff regime, or maybe a slightly less aggressive one, who knows. Because he’s always changing his mind.” (03/24/25)
“The Department of Education has been given nearly 50 years to work on improving education. Yet, instead of the Department of Education ushering in an education golden era, education in America has declined. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, approximately 70 percent of eighth graders are below proficiency in reading, while around 72 percent are below proficiency in math. The problem is not that the federal government spends too little on education. Further, Washington, DC imposing another ‘reform’ on schools will only ensure that more children are left behind. The real problem is education funding is controlled by politicians and bureaucrats who impose a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model on schools. The key to improving the education system is putting control of education back in the hands of those who best know a child’s unique needs and abilities — parents.” (03/24/25)
“They are like a classic comedy team crafted in a 1950s Hollywood studio. There’s the old and grump straight man, Sen. Bernie Sanders set in his Marxist ways, and there’s the young, bubbly comedian Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, always smiling or dancing or making cute TikTok videos. Last week, Sanders & AOC launched a national tour to perform for tens of thousands. … why are they on the road? The 2026 midterm elections are more than 19 months away, so why would two Democrats whose seats are safe as houses spend millions of dollars and untold man hours on this traveling circus today? The answer is that Sanders & AOC are confronting an emergency, just not the one they say they are. They want you to think the emergency is President Donald Trump’s second term, but the real emergency is that America is firmly rejecting their brand of far-left progressivism.” (03/23/25)
“It is crucial for any American administration to recognize that, regardless of political agendas, the views of the American public regarding the situation in Palestine and Israel are undergoing a significant shift. A critical mass of opinion is rapidly forming, and this change is becoming undeniable. Paradoxically, while Islamophobia continues to rise across the US, sentiments supporting Palestinians and opposing Israeli occupation are steadily increasing. In theory, this means that the pro-Israeli media’s success in linking Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people to the so-called ‘war on terror’ – a narrative that has demonized Islam and Muslims for many years – is faltering. Americans are increasingly viewing the situation in Palestine as a human rights issue, and one that is deeply relevant to domestic politics.” (03/24/25)
“Allow me to stipulate that I do not wish to die. In fact, had anyone consulted me about the construction of the universe, I would have made my views on the subject quite clear: mortality is a terrible idea. I’m opposed to it in general. … Nonetheless, I’m also opposed to mortality on a personal level. I get too much pleasure out of being alive to want to give it up. And I’m curious enough that I don’t want to die before I learn how it all comes out …. In fact, my antipathy to death is so extreme that I think it’s fair to say I’m a coward. That’s probably why, in hopes of combatting that cowardice, I’ve occasionally done silly things like running around in a war zone, trying to stop a U.S. intervention.” (03/24/25)
