Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates

“This essay was prompted by my reading of John Passmore’s book, The Perfectibility of Man, which was first published in 1969. I read the book mainly because of James M. Buchanan’s suggestion that ‘it remains the most definitive work on the history of ideas’ relating to the extent to which classical liberalism depends on some presumption that man is perfectible.” (03/05/26)

https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/03/does-human-perfectibility-pose-problem.html

Source: The Bulwark
by Jane Harman

“Congress is scrambling to insert itself into the debate over next steps in Iran. The Senate on Wednesday weighed opening up a debate about whether the conflict fits within the scope of the War Powers Act—a Vietnam-vintage law riddled with loopholes that would be unlikely to constrain this White House anyway. The House is likely to vote on similar measures. Although Congress was not included in the leadup to this conflict, many members in both chambers simply do not want to authorize this war for fear of ‘owning’ it if things go wrong. But there is a far more direct way for Congress to intervene and to show constituents it remains focused on the kitchen-table issues that decide elections: the power of the purse.” (03/05/26)

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/congress-can-control-trumps-iran-war

Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum

“Every time the U.S. military blows up a suspected drug boat, President Donald Trump claims, it saves ‘25,000 American lives.’ As of late January, Trump’s deadly campaign against cocaine couriers had destroyed 37 vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, killing 126 people. According to Trump’s math, he had already prevented 925,000 U.S. drug deaths — 11 times the total recorded in 2024. Although Trump has repeatedly touted that improbable estimate, the basis for it remains fuzzy. But it seems to derive from several empirical and logical errors.” (03/05/26)

https://reason.com/2026/03/05/trump-math-is-a-drug-fueled-fantasy/

Source: Niskanen Center
by Rachel Levine & Grace Olsen

“A new era of load growth will require a far more abundant supply of electricity. Yet on its current trajectory, the U.S. risks falling short of meeting rising demand. While policymakers acknowledged the scale of the challenge, last year offered little concrete progress that the gap is closing fast enough. Federal and state leaders are grappling with this issue in markedly different ways.” (03/05/26)

https://www.niskanencenter.org/2025-didnt-close-the-transmission-gap-and-2026-wont-either-without-change

Source: Show-Me Institute
by Cory Koedel

“The 74’s Bright Spots project identifies public schools across the country that are beating the odds in reading. Specifically, ‘Bright Spot’ schools have literacy rates that are significantly higher than what is predicted based on their student poverty rates. In other words, these schools are outperforming expectations in terms of teaching kids to read. The project is impressive in both scope and purpose. Using data from 41,883 schools across 10,414 districts in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., it shines a light on excelling schools. Too often, education debates fixate on failure. Highlighting success—and learning from it—is just as important. While there are surely all kinds of interesting tidbits in the data, in this post I want to focus on the disproportionate representation of charter schools among Bright Spots. Charter schools make up seven percent of The 74’s national sample, but 11 percent of schools identified as Bright Spots.” (03/05/26)

https://showmeinstitute.org/article/education/charter-schools-are-more-likely-to-be-bright-spots/