Source: Inequality.org
by Danielle Atkinson & Kelly Little
“This country depends on caregivers, but too often it fails the very people holding our families and communities together. As we head into the midterms, we have the chance to make our voices heard on the policies that affect our lives and families’ futures. A 2025 AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving survey found that 63 million Americans identify as caregivers, nearly 50% more than the decade prior. That’s millions of people raising children, caring for aging parents, supporting loved ones with disabilities, all while balancing that labor with jobs and bills of their own. Caregiver needs and experiences deserve to be represented in the decisions we make at the ballot box. Both of us are parents (one of us is a mother to six beautiful children and leads an advocacy organization and the other is a father and maternal health advocate).” (11/03/26)
“According to a September Gallup poll, Americans’ satisfaction with K-12 education has fallen to 32 percent, the lowest level since Gallup began tracking the issue 27 years ago. Nearly half of Americans said the country’s schools did a poor job of preparing students to think critically and solve problems. ‘Preparing students for the current world of work’ and ‘preparing students to work effectively with others’ also received low ratings. The results of any poll raise questions about its accuracy. But, as former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Policy Bruno Manno notes, a second survey from 2025, the Phi Delta Kappa Poll, asks a different question. It asks Americans to grade schools like a report card rather than rate their satisfaction, and its findings mirror the Gallup poll. Just 13 percent of respondents gave U.S. public schools an A or B, and scores have fallen every year since 2017.” (11/03/26)
“Biological evolution, scientific progress and the market economy run on the same engine. Something new is tried. Most attempts fail. The few that survive are kept and built upon. Genes, theories and businesses all advance this way, by trial and the elimination of error. The obvious objection is that nature is random while science and commerce are purposive. Mutations happen by accident. Scientists and entrepreneurs act by design. Surely that changes everything? It changes less than it seems. What is random in nature is the variation, not the selection.” (11/03/26)
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may be looking for his next job. According to Puck, senators are discussing Hegseth’s interest in an appointment to Marsha Blackburn’s seat if she wins Tuesday’s election to become Tennessee governor. The prospect comes as lawmakers prepare to pursue Hegseth’s impeachment over his conduct in office. The Pentagon has dismissed the reporting as gossip and insists Hegseth’s priority remains leading the department. Whether he stays or goes, Congress must require him to answer for his record.” (11/03/26)
“How do I see Election Day through Russian eyes? In Russia, we had a couple of elections in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At first, they were free and mostly fair. After Boris Yeltsin forced through a new constitution and invaded Chechnya, those elections were free but no longer fair. Anyone could run, and anyone could vote, but the playing field was tilted heavily in the government’s favor. Yet even this stunted democracy proved to be an aberration in Russian history. By the end of the decade, we fell back into our old habits. Every other freedom rests on the freedom to choose our leaders. That is why, in the early days of Vladimir’s Putin’s reign, I joined a broad-based opposition movement.” (11/03/26)
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes
“On October 9, EU finance ministers reached a political agreement to move supervision of Europe’s largest cross-border trading venues and market infrastructure from national regulators to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in Paris. EU leaders want the package agreed by the end of the year. ‘Europe has the savings. Now it’s time to put them to work,’ said Ireland’s finance minister, Simon Harris, whose country holds the rotating Council presidency until the end of 2026. He meant the roughly €10 trillion that, according to the Council, European households keep in low-yield bank deposits. Brussels insists no one will be forced to move a single euro. Meanwhile, it is building an entire system to move that euro where it wants it to go. The plan raises a question about the legitimacy of a state that treats family savings as a resource it can exploit.” (11/03/26)
“The divisions in this election are deep and widening across the country. When I called this ‘an age of rage’ years ago, I noted that the rage historically tends to burn off in time. We are clearly still at the flow rather than the ebb stage as rage politics continues. However, the most worrisome elements of this period are fundamental changes being demanded to our constitutional and economic systems. A new poll by The Economist/YouGov is consistent with other polls showing rising support among Democrats for socialism. More Democrats (38%) prefer socialism to capitalism (25%). Other polls show 60% had a favorable view of socialism and only 32% had favorable views of capitalism. Capitalism is still favored by 79% of Republicans in comparison to only 5% favoring socialism. The poll of independents showed 44% favored capitalism, with only 21% favoring socialism.” (11/03/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Charles Hugh Smith
“The core dynamic of this era is the notion that controlling the narrative controls the world, as persuading the populace to believe something is true controls their convictions which then control their behaviors. Centralized powers discovered the potential for narrative control to control the world in the 20th century, as mass communications enabled centralized control of what is presented as true and important. Propaganda has an ugly tone, so now we say narrative control, which is of course a comically obvious propaganda technique. … But narrative control doesn’t actually control the world.” (11/03/26)
“Voting is only the beginning for those united against fascism. In fact, I expect our hardest days are still ahead—and we are going to need each other to get through them.” (11/03/26)
