Articles

What Went Wrong After 9/11 AA

By William A. Galston Sept. 8, 2026

Principles of Government · September 12, 2026 ·

By William A. Galston Sept. 8, 2026 – A series of errors over a quarter-century leaves the U.S. in dire need of rebalancing…. On Sept. 10, 2001, the U.S. was at the peak of its post-Cold War dominance. Our response to the attacks … began a process that diminished our status, step by step…. the decision to wage expensive wars in the Middle East while cutting taxes disrupted the … hard-won return to fiscal discipline. … our excessive focus on the Middle East diverted us from the most important foreign policy challenge of the 21st century—the rise of China. Read More

Americans Are Getting Caught in the Safety Net AA

By Paul Ryan and Les Ford Aug. 20, 2026

Principles of Government · September 7, 2026 ·

By Paul Ryan and Les Ford Aug. 20, 2026 – …America’s safety net is badly broken. It often punishes families who make progress toward financial stability. Parents who work more hours or increase their salaries can lose more in benefits than they gain in income…. a hypothetical single parent in the District of Columbia gains nothing financially as earnings rise from $11,000 to $65,000. When these “benefit cliffs” punish parents for earning more or getting married, they weaken the foundations of self-sufficiency and help transmit poverty from one generation to the next….UBI doesn’t solve any of this and creates another benefit cliff. Rather than reforming the safety net that discourages work and marriage, UBI would make unconditional assistance a permanent feature. Read More

Move Fast and Regulate Later: The Paradox of China’s Economic Dynamism AA

By By Carl Benedikt Frey July 31, 2026

Principles of Government · August 24, 2025 ·

By Carl Benedikt Frey July 31, 2026 – How does a country with such casual regard for the rule of law produce so much dynamism?…The answer is that the rule of law, in China …is not one thing. It has a liberal side—secure property rights, courts that constrain the state… It also has a regulatory side that can wall off competition… America used to be alive to this distinction. It is no longer…….CHINA’S DYNAMISM does not come from the absence of law. It comes from the sequence in which laws are enacted. The Communist Party allows firms to scale in regulatory gray zones, when a sector serves growth, employment or strategic competition….The pattern recurs: firms scale first; law and politics arrive later, often together…. Dynamism occurs when newcomers can innovate before lawyers—or regulators—arrive….…But every rule proposed today should be tested against a simple counterfactual: had it been on the books a decade ago, would the firm we are now regulating have ever been built? Read More

Debt Has Always Been the Ruin of Great Powers. Is the U.S. Next? AA

By Niall Ferguson Feb. 21, 2025

Principles of Government · August 24, 2026 ·

By Niall Ferguson Feb. 21, 2025 – What I call Ferguson’s Law states that any great power that spends more on debt service than on defense risks ceasing to be a great power. The insight is not mine but originates with the Scottish political theorist Adam Ferguson, whose “Essay on the History of Civil Society” (1767) brilliantly identified the perils of excessive public debt. Read More

What Went Wrong After 9/11 AA

Characteristics of Government

Principles of Good Government

Resources

Articles

Footer

Characteristics of Government

Principles of Good Government

Resources