The Purpose of Political Demigods like Lincoln and the “Founding Fathers”
Crisis of the Two Constitutions: The Rise, Decline, and Recovery of American Greatnessby Charles R. KeslerEncounter Books, 2021xviii + 451 pp. Charles Kesler, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and editor of the Claremont Review of Books, has presented in
India’s Farming Reform: A Lesson in Interest Group Politics
If Punjabi farmers had been portrayed as affluent, the media would view them as greedy entrepreneurs. But leveraging the political capital of perceived powerlessness has allowed them to obscure their true status as rent seekers. Original Article: ""India's Farming Reform: A
“Weapons of Mass Destruction”: The Last Refuge of the Global Interventionist
The threat of “nuclear proliferation” remains one of the great catch-all reasons—the other being “humanitarian” intervention—given for why the US regime and its allies ought to be given unlimited power to invade foreign states and impose sanctions at any given
Bitcoin, Gold, and the Rush to National Digital Currencies
Bitcoin as a money is just very unremarkable. Yet this digital coin is well on its way to becoming one of financial history’s great epic stories. Its promotors just hit lucky in finding themselves in the midst of a monetary
Dr. Philipp Bagus on the Political Economy of Mass Hysteria
Normally we discuss books on The Human Action Podcast, but this new academic paper by Professor Philipp Bagus is too important to ignore. "COVID-19 and the Political Economy of Mass Hysteria" is the one journal article you need to read
Minimum Wage, Maximum Discrimination
Since the days of Adam Smith, economists have sought a set of social institutions which permit “neither dominion, nor discrimination,” to use Nobel Prize–winning economist James Buchanan’s phrase. In this, economists are joined by all people of goodwill—including those in the Biden administration, which has
American Households Made Economic Gains before Covid, but This Progress Can Be Lost
Before 2020, there were growing signs of increasing economic prosperity for a wide variety of income groups in America. Whether or not this prosperity survives covid lockdowns and ever higher levels of government regulations remains to be seen. But in spite of increasingly
Hormetics: A Principle of Health and Fitness, with Charlie Deist
Our guest is Charlie Deist, author of Hormetics: Physical Fitness for Free People. We have an engaging and somewhat philosophical conversation on principles of health. How do we identify good nutritional and exercise habits? Amongst the myriad of fads, what
Some Coloradoans Want to Break Off and Join Wyoming. They Should at Least Get to Vote On It.
A state's borders should change over time to reflect demographic and ideological realities. By denying this, political leaders are effectively saying that the rights of minority populations don't matter. Original Article: "Some Coloradoans Want to Break Off and Join Wyoming. They
The Omnipotent Power to Assassinate
How did the federal government acquire this omnipotent power? Certainly not by constitutional amendment. It acquired it by converting the federal government after World War II from a limited-government republic to a national security state. Original Article: "The Omnipotent Power to