Principles Of Government

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This site is designed to generate ideas for a supplementary section on think tank websites.
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Foundational articles (AA) are repeated in Section (A). Both (AA) and (A) articles provide key insights on major policy and cultural issues, while (B) articles address currently urgent or more technical topics that may be replaced more frequently as they become dated.

Articles

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    The Best Defense Against AI Is AI

    By John O. McGinnis Oct. 15, 2026

    Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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    By John O. McGinnis Oct. 15, 2026 – slowing down AI may delay defenses against AI that the wrongdoers already possess or will acquire regardless of what we do….This point is even clearer when it comes to geopolitical threats. The U.S. government could take advantage of models from frontier companies…. This access could give the U.S. a military advantage that may be decisive in this technological age. And because other nations know this, they may be deterred from attacking in the first place…. Frontier AI is itself a firewall. Slowing its development can postpone new defenses and leave existing threats in place. A slowdown can cost protection as well as progress. Read More

    Can David Hume Save the Democratic Party?

    By Ryan Streeter Aug. 24, 2026

    Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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    By Ryan Streeter Aug. 24, 2026 – … Hume criticizes “parties from principle,” those organized around ideology. “Parties from principle, especially abstract speculative principle, are known only to modern times, and are, perhaps, the most extraordinary and unaccountable phaenomenon, that has yet appeared in human affairs.”…He contrasts them with parties “from interest,” which form around professional and geographical interests…. Parties from principle produce fanatical behavior in a way that parties from interest don’t… Parties of interest compromise to get what they want, but ideological purists don’t. This was the root of religious wars and of present-day culture wars. Read More

    Habits for Humanity in the Age of AI AA

    By Ben Sasse May 8, 2026

    Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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    By Ben Sasse May 8, 2026 – Character, whether of an individual or of a nation, is molded by habits and by time. This republic requires men and women to do long-form deliberation, serious thinking, honest humility and daily striving. What good is it to gain the whole world if we forfeit the souls that we’re supposed to form? We can’t expect to remain free without being virtuous, we can’t be bold without being rooted, we can’t be great without aiming first to be good. To stave off Huxley’s dystopia, we must deliberately shape our children’s souls so that they can be creators, doers and thinkers embracing the next frontier. Read More

    Habits for Americans in an Age of Disruption AA

    By Ben Sasse May 6, 2026

    Copyright ©2026 Manhattan Institute

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    Ben Sasse May 6, 2026 – What I’m suggesting tonight requires us to reject the relatively new but culturally pervasive assumption we have that school is the primary institution of character formation. If there’s a villain in my story, it’s John Dewey. As Americans, we have sleepwalked into a culture now defined by one man’s bureaucratic thinking. … too much of childhood today is defined by Dewey’s vision of an institutionalized childhood…. We have led the next generation on a path to more soul-deadening complacency, and this is the institution we’ve decided to outsource habit formation to? Modern schooling is systematically terrible at forming well-adjusted, curious, intellectually creative, entrepreneurial adults…. Fewer than half of Americans read a book last year. That is a national crisis. We have to develop the intentional habit of reading. A nation that does not read will not thrive. Shorter attention spans are killing our imagination…. This republic requires men and women to do long-form deliberation, serious thinking, honest humility, and daily striving.  Read More

    What Went Wrong After 9/11 AA

    By William A. Galston Sept. 8, 2026

    Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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    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