“Politics has high enough stakes without the losers being sent to prison — or losing their heads. Jailing opponents or condemning them to death is what dictatorships do, not democracies. But times are changing, rapidly — and democracy isn’t what it used to be, thanks to a vengeful spirit that’s taken hold from Brazil to South Korea. And we’ve had a taste of it as well. As Americans think about what’s in store for the next two years after a new Congress is sworn in next January, with the 2028 presidential election now on the horizon, we should take heed of just how far ‘lawfare’ is going in other parts of the world. In Seoul, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has literally been on trial for his life. Prosecutors last week renewed demands that Yoon be put to death for his attempt to impose martial law in late 2024.” (11/02/26)
“I can assure you, speaking as a midwestern transplant to California, that Lake Tahoe is every bit as majestic as you’ve heard. The impossible Mediterranean blue clarity and its blinding reflection, the redwooded Sierra Nevadas rimming the basin, and not least the scrappy, outdoorsy, work-a-day people who are part of the Tahoe tapestry. Lake Tahoe’s people understand the treasure that is theirs to nurture—and for the world to experience. And we should reward them for stewarding one of the wonders of the world. Alas, American systems of rural community governance, contrary to popular belief, are not well structured for their tasks. They fail to reward either labor or entrepreneurship.” (11/02/26)
“In an era of clueless voters and profoundly dishonest candidates, cynicism is one of the last best checks on political power run amok. Regardless of the final vote count in Tuesday’s mid-term congressional elections, both Republicans and Democrats have earned all the distrust they will reap.” (11/02/26)
“Four years ago, when longtime Pittsburgh Democrat Mike Doyle retired from Congress, a left-wing legislator named Summer Lee won the primary to replace him. Republicans nominated a local politician from the suburbs to face her who had a fortuitous name: Mike Doyle. … There was no federal investigation of the Doyle scheme; no demands not to seat Doyle if he won; no statement from the governor saying that he might not certify the election. All of that has unfolded in Alaska this cycle.” (11/02/26)
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Joe Wolverton, II
“On Tuesday, November 3, Americans will file into school gymnasiums and church fellowship halls and choose the men and women who will next stand before a flag, raise a right hand, and swear before Almighty God that they will support the Constitution of the United States. Many of them will be lying. Some of them already know it. That is not hyperbole. It is the record.” (11/02/26)
“Madison’s first principle of representative government highlights the importance of November 3. Voters are the first and last line in the defense of liberty. Voting stand as the ultimate check in our constitutional system. We should trust ourselves, not our leaders. The only assurance of their virtue lies in our choice of members of the House of Representatives and Senate who will preserve the internal checks inscribed in the Constitution and not be complicit in abusing power.” (11/02/26)
“In November 1894, President Grover Cleveland suffered one of the most devastating midterm defeats in American history. His Democratic Party lost 125 seats in the House of Representatives, surrendering its majority to the Republicans. Democrats also lost control of the Senate. The election severely curtailed Cleveland’s ability to lead his party, and foreshadowed a major transformation in American politics, as Democrats moved to abandon his conservative economic policies in favor of populism. More than 130 years later, there is reason to revisit 1894.” (11/02/26)
“Election Day is always relatively serene. There’s nothing much to do other than wait for results. We’re in a state of suspended animation, waiting to discover the future after the polls close. The evidence collected from polls, spending announcements, ground reports, and more, points to a big Democratic victory. But let’s go a layer deeper. Here are ten questions we will get clarity about with the election results. There’s a difference between a bad night and a catastrophic one, a tough result that can be overcome in a couple of years and something that will realign the country for a long time. The way that Republicans are acting right now suggests they are trying to stave off the latter.” (11/03/26)
“The U.S. Constitution says ‘the times, places and manner of holding elections’ for senators and representatives ‘shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof,’ although Congress ‘may at any time by law make or alter such regulations.’ Yet in the run-up to Tuesday’s elections, the Trump administration has unilaterally and repeatedly tried to impose its own restrictions on that constitutional power, resulting in a remarkable series of rebukes by federal courts, including four issued during the last five days.” (11/02/26)
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“Some of the reasons doom might not happen depend on facts that we have no way to influence, but not all. There may be no way of preventing the creation of AI’s that do not care about human welfare but it might be possible to improve the odds of the creation of some that do. We are a great deal smarter than other living things but some of us still care about some of them.” (11/02/26)
