Source: The Daily Economy
by Peter Jacobsen
“Politicians routinely promise benefits to current voters at future taxpayers’ expense. The president’s offer simply strips away the pretense.” (10/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/trumps-5000-offer-reveals-how-washington-works/
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Patrick Tuohey
“You can plug a 1,500-watt space heater into your living room wall without asking anyone. Plug in a 1,200-watt solar panel, however, and Missouri treats you like a small power plant. The two aren’t identical, since the panel can push power back into the wiring. But that difference calls for a safety standard, not a permit process built for commercial grade rooftop arrays. Under Missouri’s net-metering law, a panel that feeds power into a home’s wiring is a ‘customer-generator.’ Its owner must file an interconnection application with a wiring diagram, wait for the utility’s approval, and have a qualified electrician or engineer certify the installation. Bright Saver, a nonprofit that sells plug-in solar kits, won’t ship them to Missouri until the law changes. Two bills filed in the 2026 legislative session would have fixed that.” (10/20/26)
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Scott Boykin
“Voting is almost never instrumentally rational because we control only one vote, our own, and in an election of any significance, our own vote will make no difference in the result. By ‘instrumental’ rationality, I mean taking a reasonably efficient means of accomplishing one’s ends. It is true that in local elections with a very small electorate, it is conceivable that our vote matters, but in congressional and statewide elections, our votes have only an insignificant impact on the outcome. Furthermore, voting involves some cost. … Instrumental rationality is not a reason to vote, but that does not exhaust the kinds of reasons we may have for voting.” (10/20/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/is-it-rational-to-vote-in-the-midterms
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“‘A billion here, a billion there,’ the late US Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL) mused, ‘and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.’ Government spending is almost always about buying votes, but never more obviously than during campaign season. … Of course, all that faux generosity has to be paid for … and it gets paid for by, at least in part, the same people the ‘free money’ lands on. In order to spend money, the government has to have money. Which means it either taxes you to get the money, or it borrows the money and promises to beat it out of you later (with interest).” (10/20/26)
Source: Antiwar.com
by Harrison Berger
“Vance is often cast as a principled restrainer, privately skeptical of the Iran War. In fact, he has spent the past two years building the case for the war he will soon hope to distance himself from. With the 2028 circus set to begin, as it always does, once next month’s midterms are over, it is worth reviewing Vance’s hawkish record and dispelling the notion that he is the sensible peacemaker he and his surrogates will present him as.” (10/20/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/harrison_berger/2026/10/19/jd-vance-is-not-our-guy
Source: The Daily Economy
by Daniel J Smith
“As both major parties embrace government ownership, look to history: socialism and political freedom have never coexisted for long.” (10/20/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-road-to-serfdom-runs-through-both-parties/
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders
“Blaise Pascal thought of faith as a cosmic wager. If God exists, belief offers eternal bliss and unbelief risks eternal loss. If God does not exist, the believer sacrifices only finite pleasures and possibilities in mortal life. The stakes are asymmetrical: a limited earthly cost weighed against a potentially infinite reward. Pascal thought we ought to wager on God. We cannot know the outcome in advance, but we cannot avoid betting. Among AI researchers and observers, estimates of the risks and rewards vary wildly. Some envision a superintelligence that solves humanity’s greatest problems. Others foresee catastrophe, even extinction. Between these extremes lie countless futures in which AI makes human life better in some respects and worse in others. No one knows the odds. But the stakes are enormous, and the wager is already underway.” (10/20/26)
Source: American Greatness
by Victor Davis Hanson
“There are two ways of looking at the midterms, now less than three weeks away: One is as a simple referendum on the issues and politicians of the day. The other involves a far deeper conflict of visions (as Thomas Sowell puts it): socialism versus capitalism, intrusive versus limited government, and the destruction of time-honored institutions and traditions versus their preservation and renewal. Rarely in American history have the two parties been so far apart or the choice between them so stark. In brief, Islamist-sympathizing socialism is on the ballot against free-market capitalism and American exceptionalism. The new Islamist-allied socialist Democratic Party is confident, largely because the party holding the White House has increased its share of House seats in a midterm election only three times since 1900. Each of those exceptions arose under unusual circumstances.” (10/20/26)
Source: The Hill
by Richard L Revesz
“Five decades ago, when the United States faced unusually high fuel prices and energy-security concerns from the slowdown of Middle East exports, President Ford successfully urged Congress to pass the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. This bipartisan legislation gave the national highway authority the ability to promulgate fuel efficiency standards, which have reduced Americans’ fuel costs while also producing significant environmental and climate change benefits ever since. Now, the United States faces similar concerns with fuel prices and energy security, self-inflicted as a result of President Trump’s decision to attack Iran. But this time, the administration has eviscerated Congress’s solution.” (10/20/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/6158816-fuel-efficiency-rollback-costs/
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“Intuitively, we tend to think that power flows from an ability to inflict punishment. Governments have power because they will imprison you or confiscate your property if you break the law. Employers have power because they will fire or demote you if you disobey orders. Teachers have power because they will give you a bad grade if you don’t do your work. Parents have power because they will ground you or take away your allowance if you don’t do what you’re told. What Milgram shows, however, is that this is only part of the story.” (10/20/26)