Principles Of Government

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(A) Articles are foundational content and (B) Articles are urgently important but may be replaced as they become dated

(A) Constitutional Issues, Federalism, Federal Agencies and Administrative Law

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    • America Needs the Filibuster AA

    By Ben Sasse July 19, 2026

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    By Ben Sasse July 19, 2026 – The filibuster prevents the dramatic pendulum swings that are the natural result of simple-majority lawmaking. Every election and every vote becomes an existential crisis in a system that no longer plods through checks and balances but instead rushes to European-style referenda…. It’s a partisan’s dream: Court packing, new states, federal takeover of state elections…Sweeping changes to nearly every aspect of national and local life….The reality is that once the dam breaks, the stakes will climb endlessly higher. Read More

    Big Government Inevitably Invites Corruption AA

    By Marian L. Tupy July 20, 2026

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    By Marian L. Tupy July 20, 2026 – But what makes such conduct possible in the first place? Democrats rightly blame the man….But there is another culprit. The power of the federal government, which commands the fate of every major enterprise in America. A tariff waiver can mean billions for one company and bankruptcy for its rival. An antitrust filing can erase a decade of shareholder value in an afternoon. A procurement decision can build a company, and a regulatory finding can bury one. When the government holds that much influence, officials need not even demand tribute. Tribute arrives on its own…. When government can make or break a business, businesses will invest in making friends with government, and the return on a lobbyist will exceed the return on an engineer. Corruption and discretionary power go hand in hand. Read More

    India’s Affirmative-Action Lesson for America

    By By Sadanand Dhume July 15, 2026

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    By Sadanand Dhume July 15, 2026 – Quotas hold the country back, even as China’s meritocracy fuels its economic advancement….“The biggest challenge for 21st-century India is how to go forward with democracy and merit,” Mr. Das said. He pointed out that India could learn from China’s “remarkable success” in recent decades at dramatically reducing poverty and becoming “a middle-class nation.” Mr. Das argued that China’s embrace of the principle of merit—in both education and leadership selection—played a large role in the country’s transformation. Read More

    Trump Can Restore Standards to Federal Hiring

    By Charles Murray June 19, 2026

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    Charles Murray June 19, 2026 – Bring back an updated version of the Federal Service Entrance Examination and apply the Rule of Three for all new hires. (the “Rule of Three”…limited the hiring official to a choice among the three highest-scoring candidates—the only truly effective way to limit the role of personal preferences in hiring decisions). It won’t transform the civil service immediately, but it would dramatically improve the competence of new hires and the fairness of their selection. Read More

    Justice Thomas: Progressives vs. the Declaration AA

    By Justice Clarence Thomas speech excerps

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    By Justice Clarence Thomas- Progressivism was the first mainstream American political movement—…—to openly oppose the principles of the Declaration. Progressives strove to undo the Declaration’s commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident….But we were fortunate not to trade our Lockean bounds for the supposedly enlightened world of Hegel, Marx and their followers. Fascism—which, after all, was a national socialism—triggered wars in Europe and Asia that killed tens of millions. The socialism of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China proceeded to kill more tens of millions of their own people. This is what happens when natural rights give way to the higher good of notions of history, progress, or, as Thomas Sowell has written, the “vision of the anointed.” Read More