Principles of Government

The U.S. Won Afghanistan Before Losing It B

By Toby Harnden - Aug. 3, 2021

Principles of Government · September 3, 2021 ·

By Toby Harnden – Messrs. Seeger and Tyson knew that imposing American solutions on Afghanistan wouldn’t work. They managed tribal rivalries but didn’t seek to turn Afghan leaders into paragons of virtue. The U.S. role wasn’t to defeat the Taliban for the Afghans. It was their fight and their country….Victory came quickly. So did warnings of the pitfalls of deeper American involvement in Afghanistan—ethnic rivalries, false surrenders, mistreatment of prisoners and errant bombs. In December 2001, Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-backed new president of Afghanistan, sought to strike a deal with the remnants of the Taliban, a practice consistent with Afghan tradition. The Bush administration blocked the deal, branding the entire Taliban as terrorists no different from al Qaeda…At that juncture, the U.S. could have negotiated from a position of strength. Instead, 20 years later, the Biden administration is rushing for the exits, desperate to secure a deal that amounts to surrender. Read More

Russia and China Eye a Retreating U.S. B

By John Bolton - August 30, 2021

Principles of Government · August 2, 2023 ·

By John Bolton – Over the longer term, Beijing and Moscow enjoy a natural division of labor in threatening America and its allies, in three distinct theaters: China on its periphery’s long arc from Japan across Southeast Asia out to India and Pakistan; Russia in Eastern and Central Europe; and the Russian-Iranian-Chinese entente cordiale in the Middle East. U.S. planning must contemplate many threats arising simultaneously across these and other theaters. This underscores how strained our defense capabilities are to protect our far-flung interests, especially given the unprecedented domestic spending demands President Biden is now making. Read More

Congress Needs to Rein In a Too-Powerful Federal Reserve A

By Judy Shelton - Sept. 1, 2021

Principles of Government · September 3, 2022 ·

By Judy Shelton – Our nation’s central bank has become too prominent, too political and too powerful. The Fed’s ability to purchase massive quantities of U.S. Treasury securities is the dominant factor influencing interest rates across the board and thus the valuation of financial assets. The entire term structure of bond yields reflecting the relationship between short-term and long-term rates is keyed to the 10-year Treasury note rate. What would that benchmark yield reveal if Fed purchases weren’t distorting the market?

The Fed’s prominence not only undermines supply-and-demand interactions for accurately pricing the cost of investment capital; it also compromises the relationship between fiscal and monetary policy. The Fed’s accommodation of deficit spending by lawmakers poses a conflict of interest with political implications. Besides ensuring that the government’s interest expense for servicing debt is reduced, the Fed remits back to Treasury the earnings on its own holdings. Read More

Chips Are U.S. Achilles Heel A

By Gerald F. Seib - July 27, 2021

Principles of Government · August 7, 2023 ·

By Gerald F. Seib – Yet both the economic vulnerability and geopolitical risk are more acute than that picture makes it appear. A single company in Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. , makes almost all of the world’s most sophisticated chips. It is the world’s most important semiconductor company, and its 11th most valuable one.

And what if that Taiwanese company becomes a Chinese company? Chinese President Xi Jinping this month repeated his intention to complete “reunification” with Taiwan, and the head of U.S. forces in the Pacific recently warned China could invade Taiwan by 2027 to do exactly that. While other military leaders don’t think the Chinese timetable for action is that aggressive, a takeover of Taiwan would put China in an overwhelmingly dominant position in the semiconductor business, at a time when computer chips are becoming a strategic commodity just as important as oil became in the 1970s and 1980s.

In short, the specter of semiconductor dominance could provide China an added incentive to move on Taiwan, and the U.S. an added incentive to stop China from doing so. It’s no exaggeration to say that semiconductors have the potential to cause international tension and turmoil—and even, in an extreme scenario, war. Read More

The U.S. Won Afghanistan Before Losing It B

Russia and China Eye a Retreating U.S. B

Congress Needs to Rein In a Too-Powerful Federal Reserve A

Chips Are U.S. Achilles Heel A

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Characteristics of Government

Principles of Good Government

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