“As Congress debates the 2027 defense budget, members must confront an essential reality: their children and grandchildren will be left footing the bill. Many of the dollars that will be appropriated for military purposes in 2027 will be borrowed and tacked onto the ballooning national debt. But that is only part of the problem. Defense policies established today become spending obligations for future generations. If members of Congress are seriously considering $1.5 trillion in defense spending for 2027, it is in part because they must cover the expenses resulting from policy decisions made years ago by people who have long-since passed from the scene.” (06/22/26)
“With each passing day, it looks more and more likely that Democrats will control at least one—if not both—houses of Congress after this November’s midterm elections. Continued increases in the cost of living, a strategic quagmire in the Middle East, and President Trump’s own personal unpopularity all seem set to give Democrats an opportunity to overcome structural headwinds like partisan gerrymandering and the Senate’s rural bias that would otherwise advantage their Republican rivals. When Democrats win majorities in Congress they will need a national security agenda of their own to counter the Trump administration’s gangster-style foreign policy as best they can.” (06/22/26)
“Abundance liberals’ enthusiasm for growth faces a major obstacle with Democrats’ sharp turn against tech. AI and data centers are the enemy. Even though tech may be the biggest contributor to American economic growth right now, Democratic voters want it to stop. No amount of abundance rhetoric can convince them otherwise. These state and local contests offer a possible preview of what the 2028 Democratic presidential primary may look like. For all the efforts spent by Newsom and others to move to the center, they may all be forced to cater to their party’s radical elements to have any hope of winning the nomination.” (06/22/26)
“I recently got the chance to walk through the exhibits of the Barack Obama Presidential Center before its opening on Thursday. Looking at photos of the young Obama as a community organizer in Chicago, watching video clips of those iconic speeches that marked his dream-like rise from a nobody to leader of the free world, I was reminded of a time when our politics was more hopeful, our social sector was more constructive, and the two were aligned in the service of the nation.” (06/21/26)
“Campaign finance disclosures released over the weekend provide a clearer picture of the millions of dollars pro-Israel PACs United Democracy Project (an affiliate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC) and Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) have spent thus far in the midterm primaries, and the lengths to which they have gone to hide their true influence. In 2026, more than 1 out of every 4 dollars in independent expenditures that the two groups have disbursed (almost $8 million out of a total of $30.66 million) have been funneled to nine different partners and shell PACs. Those numbers are likely higher, since the disclosures made to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) only go through the end of May, and they do not count possible outlays to dark-money PACs that do not have to disclose their spending.” (06/22/26)
“‘The state,’ 19th century French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote, ‘is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.’ Many, maybe even most, people seem to believe that without government we not only wouldn’t, but couldn’t, have things like roads, schools, mail delivery, and electricity. And yet all those things existed long before any of the governments that provide them today existed, and in some cases long before political government itself, as we understand it, existed.” (06/21/26)
“On Wednesday the Interior Department announced that it would pay the energy developer Invenergy $765 million not to develop three offshore wind farms. This is the third such payment by the Trump administration to undo offshore wind projects that have been years in the planning. Trump has so far committed $2.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to killing renewable energy projects. … Yet here’s the irony: Donald Trump’s disastrous Iran war has delivered a huge boost for renewable energy around the world — except in the U.S.. Trump has so far done more to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy than any other single individual in history.” (06/19/26)
“With Elon Musk’s ascent to trillionaire status following last Friday’s SpaceX IPO, progressive politicians are once again calling for a wealth tax. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and more argue that taxing immense fortunes would provide the revenue needed to fund everything from universal childcare to expanded healthcare and housing programs. Listening to them, one gets the impression that society is perpetually just one new tax away from solving its big problems. That’s fantastical thinking. The wealth tax is often presented as an obvious way to fund government programs—basically free money. Yet its proponents rarely grapple with two realities. First, the tax may be practically unworkable. Second, even if it could be implemented, the revenue would not solve the problems these politicians identify, and may even worsen them. These are separate questions, and both deserve examination.” (06/20/26)
“AI is everywhere. It’s getting incorporated into everything. That’s simply progress, we’re told. And therefore we need to embrace it, lest we look like a Luddite and let China win (whatever that means). Yet, simultaneously, a lot of people also are afraid because of AI. Very afraid. And sometimes, we’re told that we should be afraid too. However, in public discourse surrounding AI, there often can be a lack of detail regarding what specifically we’re supposed to be afraid of. Sometimes it is not even clear what is meant by the term ‘AI.’ … these more hyperbolic, sci-fi depictions of the threat(s) posed by AI tend to get more attention than, and consequently distract from, more realistic and more imminent threats pertaining to privacy, freedom, autonomy, and even just a way of life many of us have come to enjoy.” (06/19/26)
