Source: The American Prospect
by Chris Murphy

“In my recent book, Crisis of the Common Good, I make the argument that our hyper-individualistic, market-obsessed culture has made us more isolated and less powerful. I think Donald Trump is a symptom of this spiritual unspooling. My book argues that happiness comes from a sense of connection and shared purpose with others, and that government should not outsource virtue or morality to private markets. I do not suggest the public sector should dictate one single version of ‘the good life’. I suggest it should instead seek, as an agent of the public will, to order our economy in a way that gives power and dignity to every actor in it, and our culture in a way that encourages communion and shared experience. The Argument’s Jerusalem Demsas, in her critique ‘No, Senator Murphy, I don’t want to join your cult,’ argues confidently for more or less a maintenance of the status quo.” (09/16/26)

https://prospect.org/2026/09/16/hidden-divide-that-shapes-our-politics/

Source: Washington Post
by Theodore R Johnson

“If the last 18 months are any guide, President Donald Trump is not going to send you $5,000. At last week’s two-night midterm convention in Dallas, he promised every adult citizen a ‘Trump dividend’ should Republicans win both houses of Congress in November. It pushes his running tab of unpaid cash pledges past $13,000 per person. On the first night, he described the payout as a profit-sharing distribution: ‘because our country is making so much money.’ During the second night, Trump morphed it into reparations for surviving Joe Biden’s presidency: ‘We went through hell.’ … Given Trump’s track record of broken promises, the offer itself is the point, not the payout — and it’s aimed squarely at his base. Rather than a proposal meant to persuade midterm swing voters or flip those who lean Democratic, the ‘Trump dividend’ mostly serves as a turnout incentive, gladly offering a payday for a vote on Election Tuesday.” (09/16/26)

https://archive.is/rdPu3

Source: Liberal Currents
by Georgiy Kistiakowsky

“The free world no longer has the luxury of regarding nuclear deterrence like a snow globe on a shelf.” (09/16/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/nuclear-arms-and-the-new-free-world/

Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates

“I understand that the American revolutionaries saw election of representatives as the primary vehicle for consent. That view of consent appears to have much in common with the concept of ‘government legitimacy’ as described by modern political scientists who focus on procedural rules such as the existence of free and fair elections. It also appears to have a lot in common with the concept of ‘tacit consent’ as described by John Locke …. [Max] Borders argues that consent of the governed means ‘a real, contractual civil association that a sovereign person selects in a governance market’. I will outline his ideal model of consent after considering the case he makes that we should be concerned about consent.” (09/16/26)

https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/09/what-kind-of-politics-is-consistent.html

Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin

“September 16, 1774: Paul Revere galloped into Philadelphia with urgent business from Boston, a document that laid out a blueprint for total resistance. If the Continental Congress adopted it, secession from the British Empire would be unavoidable. The very next day, after a round of wild applause, they did just that. This is the story of Joseph Warren’s forgotten and ignored Suffolk Resolves, the American Revolution’s step-by-step guide for beating an empire and defeating tyranny.” (09/15/26)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/09/15/suffolk-resolves-the-revolutions-blueprint-for-beating-an-empire/