“Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr. -.along with the rest of the founders and old revolutionaries – knew that freedom cannot exist with a government that doesn’t have strict rules. A clear line in the sand that it’s not allowed to cross. In other words – when government determines the extent of its own power. The lessons they learned in the American Revolution gave birth to the written constitution. But what they told us are the reasons for it – are completely ignored by the government-run ‘education’ system.” (07/16/26)
“A new nation needs many things. A way of ordering its political life. A way of protecting itself. A way of sustaining its population. But a nation also needs something far less practical. It needs a story to tell itself about itself. These kinds of origin stories have often been told in the form of poetry. … One of the most prolific—but now most forgotten—poetic mythmakers was the editor of Philadelphia’s National Gazette, friend of James Madison, critic of the Federalists, sea captain, and abolitionist Philip Freneau (1752–1832). One could pull nearly any poem from his list of works and find something interesting to say about American identity and the revolutionary era.” (07/15/26)
“The Department of Justice recently charged 455 defendants with $6.5 billion in healthcare fraud, one of a spate of recent revelations of fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) tied to government programs. The insight of Nobel Laureate economist Gary Becker, the experience of America’s Framers, and the wisdom of an ancient guru from India reveal that the route forward entails a combination of tighter auditing and greater punishment. People, even the most virtuous ones, drawn to public service, respond to incentives. Good governance recognizes that universal truth and deliberately constructs incentive systems designed to catch and punish wrongdoers. The mere establishment of well-designed incentive systems stops most FWA in its tracks by creating an expectation that crime will not pay.” (07/15/26)
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by the Monitor’s Editorial Board
“Individual and institutional confidence in the credibility of official data from the United States, the world’s largest economy, is the grease that helps keep the engines of global productivity and commerce humming. And, as with most engines, a timely tuneup helps ensure smooth and predictable functioning, avoiding hiccups or holdups.” (07/15/26)
“Last month, after Abdul El-Sayed and I wrapped up our interview in the Detroit suburbs, I mentioned the ongoing effort by centrist Democrats to link him to Graham Platner. The candidate laughed. El-Sayed rose on his strength during short TV hits, where he would talk about his issues — ‘Medicare for All,’ no more wars — and the interviewer would ask about newsy topics like Platner, who used some of the same consultants as him. El-Sayed liked to joke that he was already running for Senate as a Muslim with the middle name Muhammad, ‘and now I have to carry that guy?’ If centrists have their way: Yes, he does.” (07/15/26)
“Casinos compete with online prediction markets. One way to compete is just to compete. If some of your casino customers are drifting to online betting, find ways to make the in-person experience more appealing. Improve advertising. Jigger the odds ever-so-slightly more in favor of players. Increase the dollar value of wins. Etc. We might call this the economic means of competition. The other way to compete? Deploy the political means: cajole government to bludgeon competitors. Thus the American Gaming Association, which represents casinos, would like the federal government to do something to impede online prediction markets — the trading of contracts about what’s going to happen in sports and otherwise on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.” (07/15/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“My novel Salamander is a fantasy in which some mages are truthtellers. I did not put as much thought as I should have into the question of how a society would be different if it was possible to tell when someone was (subjectively) lying, a question relevant to fictional worlds but also to possible futures. A better understanding of how the mind works might produce a real lie detector, one that reliably reported whether a speaker believed that what he said was true. What effects would it have on our society, assuming the lie detector was inexpensive and available to almost everyone?” (07/15/26)
“At the end of May, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) put forward a proposal for rules governing federal financial assistance, which includes almost all grant making in the United States including scientific research. OMB, which is run by the conservative machinator Russell Vought, has been a nexus of major Trump demolition jobs, including the immediate impoundment of scientific grants when Trump retook office in 2025. So scientific research in the United States was already on the run before this latest proposal. The Trump administration hates America’s research institutions.” (07/15/26)
“Congress returned to Washington DC this week after its July 4 recess. With President Donald Trump having recently declared the memorandum of understanding with Iran ‘over’ and with the two countries exchanging attacks, the war has predictably taken center stage. Congressional Democrats have been mostly unified against the war, but this week has presented opportunities for members to use new vehicles to express their opposition via the power of the purse. On Tuesday, every present Democratic Senator voted to block debate over the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which authorizes the appropriation of Pentagon funds. The bill, which needed 60 votes to advance, failed by a 50-46 tally.” (07/15/26)
“In his book, The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790, Ritchie Robertson uses the term ‘Enlighteners’ to describe the proponents of the Enlightenment. I will briefly describe Robertson’s book before explaining how my reading of it has caused me to consider the question posed above.” (07/15/26)
