Though it’s rare to hear someone praise the military-industrial-congressional complex, it is only the latter component that masks a praiseworthy feat. Markets—also known as “people” voluntarily exchanging—have devised the most efficient methods for producing weapons...
Ely Ratner’s latest offering in Foreign Affairs, “The Case for a Pacific Defense Pact,” is a textbook example of how groupthink, careerism, and militarist ideology continue to warp U.S. foreign policy discourse. Ratner, now back at the Marathon Initiative after a...
Just as state action is a zero-sum game, so is politics: some win and others lose. But if the term “populism” is supposed to be meaningful, populism must have some distinctive elements for it not to be confused with mere democracy. Although politics occur in different...
As Americans prepare to celebrate the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we should also toast the 250th anniversary of a savvy political two-step that paved the way to formally breaking with Britain the following year. “We, your Majesty’s faithful...
On June 16, 2025, President Donald Trump threatened the 10 million inhabitants of Tehran, Iran, with death, for their government’s alleged nuclear aspirations: Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply...
Iran didn’t violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States did. When the U.S. bombed Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities on June 23, they didn’t just violate the cardinal rule of international law by attacking a sovereign nation, without Security...
There are great reasons for the United States to adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy. Some of these are ethical, such as not violating the rights of other people and not supporting or engaging in aggressive conduct generally. Others are partly ethical and...
Democracies end up anti-democratic because only a tiny minority of radicals (politicians, interest groups, major corporations, etc.) achieve power centralized in the capital. They work the levers of government, place their servants in power, and advertise via...
The likely temporary Israel-Iran ceasefire notwithstanding, if you need proof of how despicable Donald Trump is, consider this: When asked last week if he would ask Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop bombing Iran, which had already said it would stop retaliating...
In a New York Times opinion article on June 21, Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israel’s military intelligence, attempted to defend Israel’s recent decision to start a war with Iran, in which Israel was briefly joined by the U.S. government under the administration of...
In the recently published Inflation and the Family, Jason Degner delivers a compelling, accessible, and deeply necessary work—one that lays bare the real, grinding consequences of inflationary policies on everyday American families. For those concerned with economic...
As a stampede of weasels just sought to con America into supporting another Mideast war, it is time remember America’s most underrated critic of bellicose folly. H.L. Mencken is famous for his smackdowns of politicians and ridicule of government and of much of...
Many libertarians claim that morality is an objective, universal code that dictates right from wrong. They believe objective morality exists as a universal principle that applies regardless of personal beliefs, people's cultures, or historical context. This view...
Donald Trump’s “America First” message promised an end to foreign entanglements, but his aggressive Iran policy tells us a different story. His administration’s decision to carry out airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz on June 21,...
Two weeks ago, Joel Berry, the managing editor of the satirical Babylon Bee, tried to defend the Israeli surprise attack on Iran by framing it as a boon for evangelical Christianity. Evangelical Christianity is the fastest growing religion in Iran, and Israel just...
