Source: Libertarian Institute
by RT Hadley

“Frédéric Bastiat’s mid-nineteenth century satire exposed the folly of shielding inefficient industries, yet today’s politicians repeat the same error with tariffs that tax global trade to prop up costly domestic production. Like candlemakers demanding shuttered windows, these policies burden families, farmers, and small businesses with higher prices, stifle growth, and betray the sound economics of fiscal prudence while testing constitutional limits. If we pay attention, Bastiat’s wisdom exposed how today’s tariffs undermine American prosperity. Common sense calls for a return to free enterprise where markets, not erratic mandates, light the way.” (10/01/25)

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/tariffs-dont-lighten-the-way-forward-they-darken-it

Source: Quillette
by Helen Dale

“Two recent Australian Federal Court judgments illustrate the good things that the rule of law may confer on a society, even when it conflicts with ideals like freedom of speech and freedom of religion.” (10/01/25)

https://quillette.com/2025/10/01/liberalism-v-the-rule-of-law-free-speech-australia/

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“A mystery confounds the minds of North Dakota’s legislators. It has a fake part and a real part. The fake part itself has two parts: 1) how to learn whether voters support term limits, and 2) how to learn how a legislative body can function unless incumbents, whose advantages over challengers enable them to return to office sporting reelection rates exceeding 90 percent, may remain in place until ousted by death or scandal? The answer to the first everyone knows. The answer to the second is to write down procedures and give tutorials and guidebooks on how the legislature works to newcomers in legislative halls. The real mystery, though, is how to overthrow term limits given voters’ massive continuing support?” (10/01/25)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2025/10/01/go-ask-gary/

Source: Semafor
by David Weigel & Eleanor Mueller

“A government shutdown would unfold just weeks before statewide elections in New Jersey and Virginia, with furloughs and layoffs hitting while more voters are tuning in. But neither party expects to get an advantage from the resulting chaos, in either state. It’s a surprising reality that points to how little the risk of a shutdown has broken through with voters or outside-the-Beltway media. Democrats are confident that voters would associate a shutdown with the Trump administration and see any layoffs as an extension of Elon Musk’s unpopular DOGE, but they’re not planning to hammer it home. And Republicans sense they have other, stronger issues to close out their off-year races, viewing the shutdown as more of a distraction.” (09/30/25)

https://www.semafor.com/article/09/30/2025/us-shutdown-isnt-landing-in-key-2025-elections