“Conservatives should oppose the SAVE America Act for the same reason many of us spent years opposing Democratic efforts to nationalize election administration: because elections in the United States are run by the states. That principle didn’t disappear just because Republicans are now the ones pushing the bill. If anything, this is exactly the kind of legislation conservatives used to warn about — federal mandates, national standards, and Washington inserting itself into decisions that have traditionally been made at the state and local level. For years, conservatives argued — correctly — that sweeping federal election laws undermine federalism, weaken local accountability, and create tools that will inevitably be abused by a future administration.” (02/10/26)
“The more economic democracy we have then the more it is politics that determines who is allowed to do what. Access to that decision making process thus has a higher value, more cash is offered for it. More simply, the more politicians decide the more valuable paying politicians is. Humans do more of things that are more valuable — economic democracy thus means more political corruption. The method of beating this is to make bribing — sorry, paying cash for access to — politicians not worth the game. Less politics in economic decision making that is.” (02/11/26)
“I could defend open borders by appealing to economics, pointing to trillion dollar bills on the sidewalk. We need immigrants to fill jobs native-born Americans cannot or will no longer perform. Or I could talk about how immigrants contribute to economic growth and contribute more over time to the public fisc than they take out. I could fixate on the terrible plight of refugees, and how it’s a humanitarian imperative to take in the needy stranger. … These are all true, and they are solid reasons to favor liberal immigration. But for my part, we should welcome the foreigner, and embrace them as a friend and potential American for the simple reason that migration is the pursuit of freedom and happiness by one’s own lights.” (02/11/26)
“If you believe the best solution to any problem, real or imagined, is to give government more control, you’re off base. The government-created issue of ‘immigration’ illustrates this perfectly. … Typically, you have people on one side who want government to ignore the Constitution and ‘control immigration’ pitted against people on the other side who want government to import every basket case from every third-world country, and then support them for the rest of their lives on tax money stolen from the productive residents. I want government out of the game altogether. Live where you want; make it on your own.” (02/11/26)
“President Donald Trump’s call to nationalize elections ahead of November has rightfully garnered plenty of opposition from Democrats, with many sounding the alarm for an authoritarian plot aimed at artificially boosting Republicans’ prospects. Democrats are rightly concerned with the federal government administering elections, which are a constitutional responsibility of the states. Thankfully, it won’t likely happen, but the response reveals something about this debate. Trump has wreaked havoc on the separation of powers and abused the power of his office. This is exacerbated by an increasingly powerful federal government and presidency. So I want to ask Democrats, progressives and anyone else to my left who have criticized the conservative views of limited government, federalism and separation of powers for years: Are you convinced yet?” (02/11/26)
Source: The Hill
by Kim A Snyder & Audrey Wilson-Youngblood
“Political strategists and commentators are looking at Democrat Taylor Rehmet’s stunning special election victory in Texas state Senate District 9 to forecast electoral shifts ahead of 2026’s midterms. But those trying to understand this election’s surprise outcome also need to consider the local politics at play. Rehmet’s opponent was Republican Leigh Wambsganss, chief communications officer of conservative media company Patriot Mobile. She has been a primary architect behind the movement to populate North Texas school boards with candidates willing to orchestrate an extreme, right-wing takeover of public schools. These school board takeovers resulted in unprecedented book bans and attacks on residents’ right to read.” (02/11/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Olivia Webb Kosloff & Emma Freer
“During back-to-back congressional hearings last month, lawmakers grilled the CEOs of five major health insurers about their vertically integrated business models. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for breakup legislation modeled on the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which structurally separated commercial and investment banking. The idea of bank-style regulation for health insurers isn’t as far off as it sounds. As Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR) pointed out, insurance companies take in premiums and invest that money (known as ‘float’) before having to pay it out in claims. ‘That, of course, is what leads to people calling insurers banks, doing a side business as health care,’ Bentz explained. ‘[Y]ou charge the premium, you collect the money, you put the money in the bank, it earns interest, and then you pay it out.'” (02/11/25)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“In what can be called an act of grand-jury nullification, a federal grand jury has rebuffed an effort by the U.S. Justice Department to seek criminal indictments of six members of Congress for having the audacity to remind American military personnel of their duty to refuse to obey unlawful orders of their superiors, including the president, who serves as commander in chief of the military. The grand-jury rebuff is shocking if for no other reason than a criminal indictment is one of the easiest things that a prosecutor can get.” (02/11/26)
“Trump officials, sagging under the weight of relentless bad headlines, must be breathing a sigh of relief as the January job numbers came in much higher than expected, with 130,000 jobs added. But if you look a bit under the surface, you find a reality that’s a little more difficult for them to brag about. 2025 had some of the weakest job growth on record outside of an official recession. And most of the job growth in that year and this January has been in care work: healthcare and social services; 60 percent of all jobs in last month’s spike are in those fields. That’s important work, but it betokens an aging and ailing population.” (02/11/26)
“Can you imagine any American leader agreeing to gutting the country’s defensive capabilities because a foreign government and its client demanded that we give it up or face an attack? Even if the governments threatening us were much more powerful and had already proven their willingness to attack us without cause, our leaders would rightly refuse to give in. They would understand that making concessions on these issues would just invite further aggression. The U.S. should not attack Iran, and it certainly shouldn’t do it to serve Netanyahu’s aggressive agenda.” (02/11/26)
