Hungarian Nationalism Is a Dead End
Hungary's brand of nationalism generates not just cronyist domestic policy but tawdry foreign policy as well.
Politics
This Year Wasn't as Bad as 2020, But We Deserve Better
It sucked for avoidable reasons.
The Year's Highlights in Blame Shifting
Politicians and cops found creative ways to dodge responsibility in 2021.
Mindfulness Is What's Missing From the Political Arena
Politics isn’t going away, so we can at least try to make it less bad.
As With Gun Control, Democrats' Voting Reform Bills Unlikely To Make a Difference
The bills call for reforms that would be nearly impossible to implement and will not prevent a repeat of 2020.
America's Divisions May Have Passed the Tipping Point
If we can’t learn to leave each other alone, the country may have a violent meltdown.
Deng Xiaoping and the Communist Party Don't Deserve Credit for Chinese Economic Power
China's economic reforms were bottom-up, not top-down.
Look Past Partisan Rhetoric To Understand California's Recent Crime Problems
California's leaders can take the recent rise in property crime seriously without repeating the same "tough on crime" mistakes of the past.
George Will Loves To Argue About America
The octogenarian columnist has a lot to say about happiness and history in the United States.
She Survived China's Attempt to Erase Her
“We have been through horrific things, but I’m still proud of being Uyghur," says Tursunay Ziyawudun, a survivor of China's torture camps.
Kim Kardashian's Love of Lower Taxes and Individual Rights Has Made Her Politically Homeless
It's a fairly benign thing to say. And yet it's a landmine in our media landscape.
Why Is It So Hard To Admit When You're Wrong?
When it comes to political polarization, it's confirmation bias all the way down.
Inflation Hits Highest Level Since 1982
Plus: Evidence that redistricting reforms are working to prevent extreme gerrymandering, what Squid Game has to say about communism, and more...
D.C. Circuit Rejects Trump Effort to Block Release of Documents to January 6 Committee
Will the Supreme Court step in?
Squid Game Says More About Communism Than Capitalism
The breakout Netflix series contains critiques of a decidedly "anti-capitalist" political and economic system that's haunted the Korean Peninsula.
Biden Supreme Court Commission Issues Final Report
The report doesn't endorse court-packing or term limits. But it's generally more favorable to the latter than the former. It also provides valuable overview of a wide range of SCOTUS-related issues.
Maryland Democrats Hate Gerrymandering So Much, They're Trying To Eliminate the State's Lone Republican District
When it comes to drawing congressional districts, concerns about the legitimacy of democracy seemingly go out the window.
Politics Has Too Much Posturing and Not Enough Problem-Solving
During a speech to a conservative group this month, Hawley depicted a decline in masculinity as one of the nation's foremost problems. Really?
Against the Education Status Quo
After doing the jobs of teacher, coach, and cafeteria monitor for more than a year, many parents resented being told to sit down and shut up.
Should NATO Open Its Doors to Georgia?
Conflict with Russia has been an ever-present threat in the three decades since Georgia broke away from the collapsing Soviet Union.
Turkmenistan's Record-Setting Repression
The most oppressive of the former Soviet countries is run by a dictator with a strange cult of personality.
South Dakota's Governor Succeeds in Blocking Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization
The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that the ballot initiative violated the "single subject" rule for constitutional amendments.
Foucault in the Panopticon
How Michel Foucault's encounters in Poland's heavily policed gay community informed his ideas
Terrorwashing a Genocide
How the war on terror facilitated Communist China's repression of Uyghurs
This Thanksgiving, I'm Grateful for America's Generosity and Unprecedented Charitable Giving
The unique civic and economic role of voluntarism and charity has been a core part of American culture for centuries.
The Baltic Way
How Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania ended up with relatively high degrees of economic freedom and political stability
Private Property Rights Made the First Thanksgiving Possible
Something to be grateful for.
COVID-19 Made Democracies More Authoritarian and Authoritarian Regimes Even Worse
A new report says many democracies have taken steps that are "disproportionate, unnecessary, or illegal" to curb COVID.
Two More Lawyers Sanctioned for Filing Frivolous Election Challenges
A federal magistrate judge in Colorado orders two attorneys to pay over $180K in fees to cover defendants' legal costs.
Meet the New Boss in Azerbaijan
A look at Azerbaijan’s rampant corruption, unfair elections, and flimsy institutions
Kyle Rittenhouse Case Unlikely To Bring Tighter Gun Laws
Restrictions have little chance of moving beyond political theater, or of winning compliance if passed.
Lost in Transition
30 years after the Soviet collapse, what happened to the Russian dream of a free economy?
The Sick Man of Central Asia
Tajikistan remains economically underdeveloped despite plentiful natural resources.
The Pope Who Helped Bring Down Communism
"I have no doubt," Polish President Lech Wałęsa once said, that without John Paul II "the birth of Solidarity would not have been possible."
Should We Lower the Voting Age to Six?
British political scientist David Runciman says the answer is "yes." And he makes a stronger case than you might think.
The TSA's 20th Birthday Should Be Its Last
Plus: A dispatch from the National Conservatism Conference, a progressive FCC nominee gets a surprising backer, and more...
Eugene Huskey on the Soviet Legacy in Central Asia
"This is the nature of an authoritarian regime. You don't quite know where the boundaries of acceptable discourse are. Everything is uncertain."
Court Rejects Michigan Lawmakers Challenge to State's Term Limits Law
Whether or not term limits for state legislators are wise, they are constitutional.
A Glimmer of Success in Miserable Moldova
Maia Sandu, Moldova's new president, has cleverly positioned her new government as being in thrall neither to Moscow nor to Brussels.
Kamala Harris Was Unpopular Before She Became Vice President. Nothing Seems To Have Changed.
Harris' attempts at evolving her political image away from being a law-and-order prosecutor have been disingenuous and unconvincing.
Leaving Uzbekistan
Why is it so hard for Uzbek citizens to get permission to travel abroad?
Ukraine Still Hungers for Independence
For two years in the 1930s, the people of Ukraine were forced to starve in service of a political idea.
Communism Destroyed Russian Cooking
Soviet rule promised abundance. Instead it brought misery and starvation.
The Anarchic Interlude
In 1990s Prague, wonderful things happened in the chaotic space between the end of communism and the rise of its replacement.
DC Circuit Temporarily Blocks Release of White House of January 6 Documents
A panel of the court will hear Trump’s challenge to the release of material on an expedited basis.
Watching Mikhail Gorbachev Resign in Moscow
The day the Soviet flag was lowered for the last time
The Virginia Governor's Race Was an Advertisement for School Choice
Children are too important to be entrusted to unions or government monopolies.
