Source: Independent Institute
by Phillip W Magness & Marc Wheat
“On February 19, the Supreme Court ruled in Learning Resources v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not confer upon the president the power to impose tariffs. Obviously prepared for the loss, in the same news cycle, the president announced a 10 percent tariff under Section 122, which he increased to 15 percent only hours later. The problem? Section 122 does not empower the president to impose these tariffs either.” (03/03/26)
“Can you imagine how long it took for ignorant men and women to learn metallurgy? Or crop rotation? Or a hundred other things we can barely imagine being without? Our lives are advanced only because they created new ways of living and passed them down to us. Hundreds of generations of people just like us lived through dark times, fighting toward whatever bits of light they could find, opposed by others most of the way, to bring us where we are now. Someday our generation will also be gone, and we will have played – whether we’ve understood it or not – the crucial role of transmitting civilization to following generations. What do we want them to be like? How do we want them to live?” (03/03/26)
“This is no way for a constitutional republic to go to war. The ever-changing rationales, the failure to consult Congress, and Congress’ refusal to demand consultation and authorization, is an outrage no matter how this war ends. If the war and its aftermath are deemed successful, there will still be a price to pay as our system of checks and balances will seem to future presidents as even more of a dead letter. Conversely, if this ends in disaster, one could see a renewed effort to restore that system to prevent such calamities in the future. Everything unfolding in and above Iran depends on the consequences, intended and unintended, of one man’s unilateral decision to launch a war. In short, we’re all on blowback watch.” (03/03/26)
“Physicians are not interchangeable technicians. They are moral agents. In a free society, the government should not force a doctor to participate in a non-emergency procedure that violates deeply held beliefs.” (03/03/26)
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Deborah Palma
“The governance of modern societies is in permanent tension between the immediate appeal of emotion and the need for enduring principles. Emotion — when converted into the driving force of state policy — frequently transforms into a mechanism of institutional erosion. The substitution of economic and moral principles by emotional imperatives does not represent a technical failure, but a profound philosophical divergence about human nature and the function of the state. In other words, policies based on principles are anchored in reason, empirical evidence, and the recognition of scarcity. On the other hand, political decisions oriented by irrational emotion disregard long-lasting structural effects.” (03/03/26)
“Power is felt, attributed, invisible, all-important, descriptive, without shape, and so much more. There is personal power, governmental power, and the collective power of the people. Power can be bought, sold, traded, bestowed, even rescinded. It can be good or bad, positive or corrupt. However you might wish to describe power, one thing is clear: how it’s used depends on the society in which we live. At present, of course, our society is one in which President Donald J. Trump is the quintessential seeker of power, a man who needs power the way most of us need food. And as it happens, he has at his beck and call not just the entire military establishment, but ICE (and so much more). With him in the White House, power is distinctly in fashion.” (03/03/26)
“ast week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a referendum for October 19. It will ask Albertans a slate of policy and constitutional questions. Independence, she said the next day, will be added to the ballot if the requisite number of signatures is met in the petition drive, which is likely. Albertans will get their chance to say if they want to leave Canada. But Canadian federalists can relax. The Alberta premier is one of them. The referendum is the fix to defeat Alberta independence. It will undermine the separatist cause and split the independence vote.” (03/03/26)
“By most measures, cannabis legalization is a resounding success for the 24 states (plus D.C.) that have implemented it. That’s why no state has ever repealed its legalization laws, and public support for the policy remains near all-time highs. Nonetheless, the policy still has its critics. Among them are the editors at the New York Times who, in a recent editorial, opinedthat states have rushed to legalize the substance ‘without adequately regulating it.’ In truth, however, state marijuana markets are highly regulated — and many of the options they proposed are either redundant or would inadvertently strengthen the illicit marketplace.” (03/03/26)
