Edifice of Trust

I promise this will be the last commentary on Trump's National Security Strategy. Much of the controversy about NSS 2025 has been about the Trump administration's attitude toward Europe accusing the countries of Europe of losing their traditional cultures amid waves of mass migration. In addition, their lagging economies and heavy expenditures on social welfare have caused them to underfund their...

The Trump administration's recently published National Security Strategy of the United States has been praised by the right and condemned by the left. But mostly for the wrong reasons. NSS 2025 is a rejection of the ideals and principals on which America was founded, the ideals and principals that made America exceptional. In this commentary we look at how this document seeks to reinstate policies...

Our political leaders try to blame others for all the problems we face. Illegal immigrants, greedy corporations, drug cartels, white men, you name it. They want us to believe that we are victims not responsible for the difficulties that afflict us. But like the Michael Jackson song, Man in the Mirror, if we want to make the world a better place, the first thing we must do is change ourselves. In t...

President Trump conflates his interests and desires with those of the country and accuses any who opposes him of sedition or treason. He accuses Marjorie Taylor Greene of being a traitor for pushing the release of the Epstein materials even though this was clearly the will of the people. A 35% approval rating means that he does not represent the will of the people but is actually opposing it. In t...

Our leftist friends suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome cannot get anyone to agree with their rejection of Trump's policies because their arguments are based on emotion and not logic. Only others equally afflicted by this syndrome can sympathize. But now our friends on the right are suffering from a similar syndrome, Mamdani Derangement Syndrome. In this commentary we look at how our MAGA fr...

An article in the most recent issue of the Atlantic Magazine casts doubt on the validity of an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution citing the hopelessly archaic and undemocratic beliefs of many of the Founders. But the progressive reforms recommended by the author would only facilitate the concentration of power in the Executive Branch that President Trump is currently attempting. In...

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is running for mayor of New York City on what he calls an affordability agenda. He apparently does not realize that it is capitalism that makes things affordable. Socialism just makes things scarce. In this commentary we look at why Mr. Mamdani's affordability agenda is doomed to failure (and some other matters).

The situation in the Middle East is changing quickly. The euphoria of a ceasefire and exchange of hostages has deteriorated into the reality of public executions on the streets of Gaza. But the war against Israel is only one front of the larger war against the West. In this commentary we look at the threats to the peaceful Middle East we hoped would follow this ceasefire.

Remember the old saying, "it is always darkest before the dawn?" This maxim is intended as a message of hope. No matter how bad things are there is always the hope of a better future, and we are currently living in pretty dark times. But this future dawn doesn't just happen. We have to make it happen. In this commentary we look at some things we can do to help bring on the dawn.

As a politician Donald Trump has always been controversial and many of his campaign promises were outlandish and impracticable. In his first term his close advisors and cabinet members were able to dissuade him from following through on some of the more outrageous ideas. In his second term he has been unchecked by his cabinet and advisors so his ideas have been immediately implemented no matter ho...

The horizontal nature of American society (as described by Gordon S. Wood in his book The Radicalism of the American Revolution) is a key factor in what makes our country exceptional. But over time that exceptional social structure, which empowers millions of citizens, has been eroded as more and more power becomes concentrated in Washington. In this commentary we look at how our current divisiven...

Realizing that having no message other than resistance to President Trump will not gain them enough seats to wrest either the House or the Senate from the Republicans, Democrats are seeking a new message to attract voters. One idea gaining popularity is the Abundance Movement that is based on the book Abundance written by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. In this commentary we look at the pros and co...

Democrats across the country are outraged that Texas Governor Abbott wants to redraw the Congressional district map in order to favor Republicans a concept called gerrymandering (although many Democratic states are more gerrymandered than Texas). Both Republicans and Democrats gerrymander even though they also denounce the process. In this commentary we discuss how to get rid of gerrymandering if...

A Living Document is the Death of Democracy. The viability and credibility of America's public institutions are threatened by executive overreach, underperformance by Congress, a Federal Reserve tasked beyond its capabilities, political parties controlled by extremists and a Supreme Court in disrepute. Most of these institutions suffer from mission creep but the Supreme Court is being pilloried fo...

The dueling ideologies of the left and right are, in reality, the expression of two aspects of our human nature, an independent individual within a larger society where the needs of the group are in conflict with the needs of the individual. How can we create a good society if our conflicts are buried deep in our human nature? In this commentary, we look at ways to make progress in building a good...

Rumors are flying around Washington about the imminent (and perhaps untimely) departure of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell along with speculation about possible replacements for this critical role. In this commentary we look at some of the implications of this change in leadership at this institution forced to take on outsized responsibilities for the US (and world) economy.

The difference between capitalism and socialism is easy to explain, capitalism creates wealth and socialism distributes wealth. The important thing to keep in mind is the difference between creators and distributors. In this commentary we will look at some of those differences.

As president Trump flies off to join other world leaders at the NATO meeting in the Netherlands, it is a good time to analyze the nature of that alliance and the necessity of other alliances as well. In this commentary we will address the question of whether we need allies or not and, if we do needs allies, how do we rebuild our network of alliances that President Trump is in the process of destro...

Amidst all the chaos swirling around us, all is calm in the eye of the storm. President Trump is at the center of this storm of activity announcing new policies and issuing executive orders while he remains calm and confident. In this commentary we discuss why maybe you shouldn't be so calm and confident.

What kind of Post-Trump world do we want to live in? The MAGA-Republicans and progressive left Democrats are in a bitter fight for the vote of American citizens, one side offering tax cuts galore for wealthy citizens and favored industries (funded by massive and unsustainable increases in the public debt), the other side offering an avalanche of benefits for favored identities and favored industri...

There are many barriers to our goal of rejuvenating America in a post-Trump world. The first step in this rejuvenation effort is getting a government that works so that we have a solid foundation which can support our efforts. The US congress can't pass a budget, can't manage our finances and can't get important policies approved with a bipartisan consensus. In order to get a government that works...

Last week President Trump travelled to the M idle East with 60 CEOs in tow to be feted with parades and receptions galore and gifted a 747 airplane to replace his aging Air Force one. But amongst all the hoopla President Trump made a major foreign policy speech denouncing "interventionalists" who tried to impose Western values on Middle Eastern potentates to no avail. His speech asserted his posit...

If we believe that the second Trump administration is the culmination of a vicious downward spiral that has afflicted the United States throughout the 21st century and we want to do something to break out of this malaise then we cannot replicate the same old politics of the past. We must do something different to change the slope of this spiral. In this commentary we look at four critical elements...

You may think it is premature to start thinking about what we need to do after Donald Trump leaves the White House. But it is not! In 2028, it is likely that the MAGA Republicans will nominate a Donald Trump clone and the progressive Democrats will nominate someone even further left than Kamala Harris recreating the divisive 2024 election all over again. In this commentary we will discuss why we n...