The Degraded Currency of the Shadow Government
Official secrets keep proliferating.
Features
The Zoning Theory of Everything
Land use policies explain the battles over everything from the Great Recession to abortion to Donald Trump.
The Drug Exception to the Second Amendment
Conservatives have been slow to recognize the threat that drug prohibition poses to gun rights and other civil liberties.
The Luddites' Veto
Beware of activists touting "responsible research and innovation." The sensible-sounding slogan masks a reactionary agenda.
Speak Loudly and Carry a Big Bat: Ron DeSantis Is on Deck
Does he want to limit government, or is he just out to win at all costs?
How a Public Housing Project Became an Unplanned Neighborhood
A favela in southern Brazil shows the upside of an "invasive" urban form—and offers lessons for U.S. housing policy.
Across the Globe, Government Health Care Systems Are Failing Us
By restricting private health care choices, the NHS and other beloved single-payer systems were doomed from the start.
Examining America's War in Iraq After 20 Years
It was a blunder. Worse than that, it was a crime.
The U.S. Probation System Has Become a Quagmire
What was originally intended as an alternative to incarceration has become a system for mass state control.
How the CDC Became the Speech Police
Secret internal Facebook emails reveal the feds' campaign to pressure social media companies into banning COVID "misinformation."
Kamala Harris Is a Flop
The underwhelming vice presidency of an unpopular former prosecutor has created a succession problem for the Democrats.
A Modern History of 'Groomer' Politics
The social changes that paved the way for gay and trans acceptance have made pedophile acceptance less likely, not more.
Don't Underestimate Clarence Thomas
Justice Thomas' footprints are all over the Court's recently concluded term.
Absolute Immunity Puts Prosecutors Above the Law
By giving powerful law enforcement officials absolute immunity from civil liability, the Supreme Court leaves their victims with no recourse.
Pandemic Repairs Were Supposed To Put D.C. Metro Back on Track. Then It Literally Went Off the Rails.
Putting the district's train system back on track will take more than better bureaucracy.
Governments Scramble To Manage, Regulate, and Throttle Crypto
Most dangerously of all, they're starting to make their own central bank digital currencies.
We Are Going to the Moon
Thanks to the rise of private spaceflight companies, mankind will have a future off-Earth.
Comic: Robert A. Heinlein in 'The Moon Is a Hot Babe'
An aeronautical engineer considers writing a novel about a new start on the moon.
The FCC: America's Other Space Agency
How the FCC went from regulating telegraphs to regulating satellites
Space Is an Opportunity To Rethink Property Rights
Here's what could happen when John Locke and Henry George go to the moon.
Robert Heinlein's Dream of Private Space Travel Is Coming True
A new generation of companies has made space travel affordable.
How Corporations' Good Social and Environmental Intentions Undermine the Common Good
An excerpt from The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World.
What the 1970s Can Teach Us About Today's Inflationary Politics
Inflation is a problem for politicians. Unfortunately for them, it's not a problem they know how to solve.
The Twin Crusades Against Drugs and Guns
The war on drugs conspires with the war on guns to make a mockery of justice.
American Elections Are a Mess, and They Always Have Been
The long, weird history of partisan electoral shenanigans
The Fight To Stop Research Into a Cheap, Effective Backup Plan for Climate Change
Why are activists trying to stop research into a promising backup plan to handle climate change?
Both Left and Right Are Converging on Authoritarianism
The problem with American politics isn't polarization—it's rising illiberalism.
Goodbye, Globalization?
As American politicians turn against economic openness, history suggests the consequences could be dire.
It's (Almost) Always the Feds: How the FBI Fabricates Schemes To Entrap Would-Be Radicals
The FBI's long history of using informants and manufactured plots to prosecute extremists
The Libertarian Party's Internal Strife Is as Old as the Party Itself
An oral history of the Libertarian Party
How J.K. Rowling Became Targeted by Both Progressive Millennials and Christian Conservatives
Perhaps Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has the mark of a great story—everyone can find cause both to love it and to hate it.
Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses Enraged the Muslim World
In 1989, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author and those involved in the book's publication to be put to death.
How Removing Toni Morrison's Beloved From Curriculum Helped Glenn Youngkin Win in Virginia
Virginia lawmakers passed a bill allowing parents to opt out of certain lessons, which was vetoed by then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
How Wiseguy Challenged New York's 'Son of Sam' Laws
Turning terrible events into art is good, actually.
How Slaughterhouse-Five Became a Repeated Target of Book Burners
As recently as 2011, a school board in Missouri barred the book from the curriculum and ordered it confined to a special section of the school's library.
How Stalin Toyed With Mikhail Bulgakov
The author of The Master and Margarita faced a bewildering mixture of rewards and censorship.
The Failed Campaign To Kill To Kill a Mockingbird
Recent moves to censor the book have come from Virginia, Mississippi, and California.
Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems Triggered Confiscations, Arrests
San Francisco port officials seized copies of Howl and Other Poems in 1957, accusing publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti of obscenity.
London Libel Lawsuits Punish Truth Tellers
The U.S. shouldn't import British defamation law, no matter how much Donald Trump would like to.
Fahrenheit 451 Was Once Sanitized for Public Schools
A publishing company ironically removed the original version of the Ray Bradbury novel depicting mass media censorship.
Dr. Seuss' Books Gained Popularity After They Were Removed
And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street and other titles shot up Amazon's bestseller list after being self-censored by Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
Dav Pilkey's The Adventures of Ook and Gluk Is Charming, Not Racist
Pilkey's whole gag is that the censorial impulse is ridiculous and kids instinctively know it should be mocked.
Lady Chatterley's Lover Case Dealt a Blow to U.S. Book Censors
Up through the 1950s, federal agents kept confiscating books they deemed obscene. But in 1959, a judge ruled that D.H. Lawrence's book deserved First Amendment protection.
Hobbes' Leviathan and Thousands of Others Were Off-Limits to Catholics
Leviathan was a challenge to the governing independence of the Holy See.
You Can't Stop Pirate Libraries
Where there's demand for books, the internet will supply them.
