Source: Independent Institute
by William J Watkins, Jr.
“An appreciation of the Constitution’s role in fashioning the American republic must begin with the American Revolution. More precisely, the impetus for the Revolution. The literature of the period yields one overarching theme: self-government.” (09/08/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/08/a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it/
Source: Liberalism.org
by Sarah Skwire
“One of the reasons some people scoff at virtue signaling is because they say it is performative—that the actions taken by virtue signalers are only done because other people see them. … But I think the performative aspect is exactly why virtue signaling is valuable. I marched because I wanted my kids to know that anti-immigrant actions and sentiments are not something that I will silently accept. I marched because I wanted my neighbors to know the same thing. And, though I didn’t know it when I set out, I marched because I wanted the families who stood in their doorways wearing traditional dress from their home countries to see friendly faces on the sidewalks of their town on a day when they felt threatened. None of that will change the political kerfuffle over immigration one bit. But it might help change my neighborhood just a little. And that’s valuable to me.” (09/08/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/bite-by-bite-the-value-of-virtue-signaling
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by staff
“We live in a world of surveillance states, militarized police, and crackdowns on dissent. Meanwhile, corporate behemoths will often ally with the state to shut down dissident speech or aid and abet surveillance. In this context, it’s important for independent groups to develop and maintain encrypted communications platforms and independent web hosting. But the Trump administration recently declared that an Italian tech collective is a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ for doing exactly this. … The executive branch can unilaterally declare that a provider of web hosting, email services, and other communications infrastructure is a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist.’ By doing so, they can impose sanctions, and thereby destroy that provider. This can impose serious costs on speakers, organizers, and researchers that use the providers’ services. And the executive branch can do all of this unilaterally. No charges, warrants, trial, or due process is necessary.” (09/08/260
Source: Fox News
by Ted Jenkin
“You work. You get paid. Washington takes its cut. But have you ever stopped to ask one simple question: Where does the money actually go? Forget trillion-dollar numbers for a minute. Most Americans can’t comprehend the difference between $1 trillion and $7 trillion anyway. Let’s shrink Washington down to something we all understand: a $100 bill. In fiscal year 2025, the federal government spent roughly $7 trillion. Social Security alone consumed about $1.6 trillion. Major federal health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, were another enormous piece. Defense approached $900 billion. And then there’s the number that should make every taxpayer spit out their morning coffee: interest. The federal government spent about $970 billion just on net interest on the national debt. Not roads. Not teachers. Not soldiers. Not Social Security checks.” (09/08/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/congress-spends-7-trillion-heres-math-works-100
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“A cultural rot pervades the West. It oozes into the tissues of society, making our civilization infirm. Those who remain unseized by it are becoming acutely aware of its reach. Awareness is the first step to understanding it and giving it an honest assessment. If we are to stop it, we can no longer afford to simply ignore it and hope it goes away. It originates in three underlying pathologies—all psychosocial—that spread like contagions. All three reinforce a central idea that personal responsibility is dead.” (09/08/26)
Source: USA Today
by Maddie Salamone & Caitlin Styrsky
“A new Medicare pilot program covers hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products to treat certain patients, even as Congress is moving forward with a law that will effectively wipe those same products off the market. The resulting policy quagmire threatens patient access, undermines the work of entrepreneurs and highlights a deeper truth: Hemp already plays a role in American health care, whether federal lawmakers are ready to acknowledge it or not. Millions of Americans across the country are using full-spectrum CBD products not for recreation, but for relief.” (09/08/26)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2026/09/08/medicare-cbd-costs-health-insurance/91547732007/
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley
“‘You better get ready for … war’. Across the country, radicals are openly planning for the next stage of their movement, and notably, the Democratic establishment is not part of their plans. Despite the talk of a ‘Big Tent Party’, socialists are riding high on a surge of support and talking purges and revolution. In Chicago, radicals gathered for a conference on Marxism during what many view as the heyday of socialism in the United States. The Democratic Socialists of America is now larger and more powerful than at any time in our history. Socialist candidates are winning elections across the country as Democratic establishment figures from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA) pander to the movement. Speakers in Chicago used the conference to push supporters to the next stage in the movement, including some openly calling for violence and the end to capitalism.” (09/08/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Karyann Parkinson has just been convicted by a Virginia judge of ‘contributing to the delinquency of a minor.’ How did she supposedly do that? She let her 5-year-old son walk to a pond near their home in a gated community to collect goose feathers. An HOA security guard interrupted the kid’s quest, returned him to his mother, and called the cops. Parkinson was arrested and then convicted. The case raises important issues regarding parental rights, children’s rights, and the role of the state in matters relating to the welfare of children. Rather than address the Parkinson case, however, I wish to confront what I consider is a much bigger problem regarding parent-child relations: the role of the American people as child-adults and the role of the federal government’s role as their daddy.” (09/08/260
Source: New York Post
by Isaac Schorr
“Americans’ continued exasperation with the cost of living crisis is no hoax, but Democrats’ affordability theater is little more than a dubious con job. After watching Zohran Mamdani upset Andrew Cuomo in last year’s mayoral race, both radicals and relative moderates alike took the hint: Voters are desperate for candidates who speak to the frustration they feel at the gas pump, in the grocery line and after every utility payment. It’s a lesson they’ve taken to heart on the campaign trail this election cycle. Embattled Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer won’t shut up about his conference’s ‘affordability agenda’, and the progressive caucus in the House is pitching itself using the exact same phrase. ‘Democrats in Key Senate Races Campaign on Addressing GOP Affordability Crisis, Bringing Down Costs, and Making Life Easier’, crowed the wordy headline of a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee press release issued on Friday.” (09/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/09/07/opinion/democrats-faux-affordability-agenda-will-cost-americans/
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall
“The US health care system includes many employers, each competing for the money that can be made off the services of a nurse. The NHS is the – near – monopsonistic employer of nurses in the United Kingdom. Karl was quite right, the workers get screwed by the single employer. There’s not all that much Marx did get right – and most of what he did was what he cribbed from Smith and Ricardo – but this part, monopoly purchase of labour being bad for workers is one of those few things correct that he independently arrived at.” (09/08/260
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/to-take-marxs-warning-about-monopoly-capitalism-seriously