“United States Founding Father Thomas Jefferson was a firm believer in ‘the good sense of the people’ when it came to exercising citizenship in a democracy. To promote constructive public engagement, he urged, ‘give them full information … thro’ the channel of the public papers’. ‘Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,’ Mr. Jefferson wrote to a friend in 1787. The third U.S. president could likely not have imagined the huge volume and varied forms of today’s ‘newspapers’ – accessed 24/7, in print, over the airwaves, and online. However, even as media access has increased exponentially, press freedoms in 2025 are shrinking globally. News outlets are facing unprecedented political and financial pressures, and journalists are increasingly being silenced or targeted.” (12/10/25)
“Mike Johnson has lost control of the House of Representatives. Since reopening the chamber in November after a 53-day sojourn, he has seen continued Republican retirements and resignations in advance of an expected loss of power in next year’s midterms. Voting days have often devolved into recriminations involving individual members. Consensus to avoid a major legislative embarrassment by allowing Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums to skyrocket has been lacking. And Johnson has on several occasions lost control of the agenda-setting power to schedule floor votes, the most basic authority of a House Speaker. Discharge petitions, which if signed by a majority of House members can go around the Speaker and obtain an automatic floor vote, have succeeded on two occasions in recent weeks.” (12/11/25)
“The Donald is not (in our opinion) a particularly likeable person. He has significant personal faults, can be very irritating, and does not appear (to us) to be a strong advocate for liberty and freedom. He has compromised on many things. So we here at The Price of Liberty are no great fans of The Donald. He is boastful and arrogant, has many other character faults, and (like others who have held his office) he fails to understand the nature of human liberty and the proper role of human government. He has made a lot of mistakes, not just in his first term. But we recognize that while he is bad, relative to those people who were the alternatives? He is definitely the least of two evils. (We are talking Obama, Clinton, Biden, and especially Harris.)” [editor’s note: Sure, if by “definitely the least of,” one means “exactly like the others” – TLK] (12/10/25)
“Though I’m painfully aware of the ubiquity of false accusations of fascism, one glaring expression of fascism hides in plain sight all over the world: anti-immigration policies. The fascist nature of U.S. anti-immigration policies has been especially blatant this year. The Department of Homeland Security claims to have deported over 400,000 people. The vast majority of them are accused of no crime against person or property. Instead, they are being violently detained and expelled simply for breathing the air of our country without government permission — permission that is almost impossible to obtain. Even migrants who managed to get this elusive permission have had it revoked. Not because of anything they did, but simply because the government didn’t want them to keep breathing our air.” (12/10/25)
“It has always bothered me how much of the news is concerned with what government is doing. In a way, I understand. When there’s a rabid dog at your door, you need to know about it. Unfortunately, talking about it doesn’t solve the problem. The rabid dog is still there, threatening us. F. William ‘Bill’ Schmidt, a man of impressive accomplishments whom I only learned about after his recent death at the age of 92, wrote: ‘Why is Government always the principal subject of public discussion? Because the existence of Government violates the Natural Rights of everyone; and everyone is struggling to understand this malevolent institution which inevitably creates conflicts and chaos.’ He was right.” (12/10/25)
“‘It’s not time to admit that the vaccines don’t stop Covid transmission? The data is clear,’ [Alex] Berenson posted on his Twitter in August 2021. His statement was simply true. … The next day, Twitter permanently banned him. The reason given: violation of rules for spreading ‘false information about Covid-19.’ Soon afterward, it was proven that the White House had pressured social media platforms to censor numerous journalists, scientists, and whistleblowers who pointed out that the vaccine propaganda was misleading. … In the United States, freedom of speech is so deeply rooted in society that, in the name of that principle, they tolerate people marching down the street carrying Nazi flags. In other words, in the US you can walk around with one of those flags in public, but you cannot point out that there is misleading advertising about a pharmaceutical product. That crosses the line.” (12/10/25)
“College sought to protect students from discomfort. The economy demands they perform under pressure. The resulting collision is reshaping early-career outcomes.” (12/10/25)
“Do not expect the Constitution’s language and structure to impede what decades of presidential practices have made normal: presidents doing what they choose regarding warmaking. The current president has pushed prerogative to absurdity (e.g., defining war as something waged by suspected drug smugglers). In domestic affairs (e.g., a bogus ’emergency’ justifying tariffs; an executive order amending the 14th Amendment regarding birthright citizenship), the Constitution probably soon will restrain him. Regarding warmaking, however, the Constitution, Congress and norms are cobwebs inadequate for lassoing a presidential locomotive. So, voters are learning the Constitution’s limited ability to mitigate the consequences of their choices. Neither the language of the law (constitutional or other), nor what are now shadows of norms, can substitute for what is indispensable: an occupant of the presidency whose constitutional conscience causes him or her to distinguish the proper from the merely possible.” (12/10/25)
“At its core, mercantilism emphasizes using tariffs and trade restrictions to boost national exports, limit imports, and accumulate wealth or power, rather than relying on free-market trade flows to optimize global welfare. The current trade strategy of President Trump and his administration largely echoes those principles, with aggressive and broad tariffs on imports, plus reciprocal tariffs meant to penalize trade partners. Some commentators call this a new mercantilism,adapted for 21st-century global trade conflicts. It is characterized by combining tariffs, trade restrictions, and industrial policy aimed at re-shoring manufacturing and reducing dependency on rival powers. … in terms of motivation and tools, the US seems to be embracing a mercantilist trade-power strategy again, even if it doesn’t use the same rhetoric as 18th-century mercantilist states.” (12/10/25)
“In their current push for patient choice, Republicans in Congress and the administration are focused primarily on the demand side by adjusting the offerings available in the Affordable Care Act marketplace and pursuing aggressive price transparency requirements for hospitals and insurers. Together, these reform efforts aim to make patients more price-sensitive shoppers with greater direct control over their healthcare spending. This year, Republicans greatly expanded the reach of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) – tools that individuals can use to pay directly for health expenses when paired with cheaper, higher-deductible insurance plans. … these reforms often rely on a competitively responsive supply side. In reality, a worsening doctor shortage and the erosion of independent, lower-cost providers make clear that the supply side is unlikely to meet this moment for patients without similar reforms.” (12/10/25)
