Edifice of Trust

Watching a golf tournament on Sunday afternoon has become a non-stop barrage of adverts for betting, announcers discussing of the odds for each player and other incentives to gamble even more from the PGA tour's official sportsbook, FanDuel. People may have a right to gamble(although Jefferson did not include that right in his list of unalienable rights) but that does not mean they should gamble. In this commentary we look at the rights people have to engage in destructive behavior and what we need to do to limit the harm it is doing to our society.

The Supreme Court's decision to strike down minority-majority voting districts presumably required under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been denounced as attack by a right-wing Court dominated by Trump appointees on the civil rights of African Americans. But the Court correctly asserted that such racially gerrymandered districts were unconstitutional. In this commentary we look at how this decision gives us an opportunity to reform the practice of gerrymandering that has promoted the divisiveness that afflicts our country.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a speech at the University of Texas celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and praising its principles and values. But he went on to say that the goals of progressivism are antithetical to those of the Declaration unleashing a deluge of outrage from the left. Robert Reich called him the Worst Justice Ever. In this commentary we look at why Justice Thomas is correct and Mr. Reich is wrong.

Danielle Allen describes in her book, Our Declaration, the lengthy and difficult process behind the writing of the Declaration of Independence. But the process behind the Declaration mirrored the democracy it sought to create. In this commentary, we look at how democracy is a process and discuss how this process is lacking in our current politics.

The No Kings protests were touted as a great success as millions turned out into the streets while the rest of us were inundated by widespread and generally favorable press coverage. But other than making them feel proud of themselves and superior to the MAGA deplorables what did they actually accomplish? The Democrats appear to be doubling down on the same policies that propelled Donald Trump back into the presidency. In this commentary we look at what they are saying and the policy implications of what they want to do.

Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani say that billionaires shouldn't exist. But the truth of the matter is that our welfare system is dependent on those billionaires and other productive workers that produce much more than they consume. In this commentary we analyze the economic forces driving the American welfare state and show how that system is unsustainable.

The Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have suffered heavy damage in personnel and equipment from the joint American and Israeli airstrikes against their country. But they are counting on high gas prices and sagging poll numbers to sap the American will to continue this fight. But there are consequences to ending this war prematurely. In this commentary we look at why we need to finish this unpopular war.

Will the killing of Ali Khamenei and many of his top Islamic supporters mimic the capture and arrest of Maduro in Venezuela? Maduro and his regime were more profit hungry drug dealers than true believers in socialism or communism. It remains to be seen if the Islamic regime in Iran was made up to true believers or money-hungry profiteers. In this commentary we will try to look beyond the current fighting to see what a likely outcome will be.

Time is running out for Donald Trump to establish his legacy. The legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte, for good or ill, has lasted over 200 years since his death. Will Mr. Trump's legacy last centuries? And what will be his legacy? In this commentary we will investigate Mr. Trump's efforts and try to answer those questions.