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Principles Of Government

All material on this site is for educational purposes only.
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.
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  • ARTICLES
  • Characteristics of Government
    • INTRODUCTION
    • SOCIALISM
    • COMPETITION
    • DEMOCRACY AND VOTING
    • SOCIAL POLICIES EFFECTS ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
    • GOALS OF PROGRESSIVISM AND THE MODERN LEFT
    • EVOLVING IDEOLOGIES
    • DEMOCRACIES AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
  • Principles of Government
    • INTRODUCTION
    • CITIZENSHIP
    • BELIEF SYSTEM
    • GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
    • FISCAL POLICIES
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    • SOUND MONEY
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(Foundational) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations

Can David Hume Save the Democratic Party?

By Ryan Streeter Aug. 24, 2026

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

Principles of Government · October 17, 2026 ·

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

Filed Under: (Foundational) Culture, Character and Ideology, (Foundational) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, Articles

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

By By Carl Benedikt Frey July 31, 2026

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

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

Filed Under: (A) China and the Far East, (A) Constitutional Issues, Federalism, Federal Agencies and Administrative Law, (A) Culture, Character and Ideology, (A) National Defense and Foreign Policy, (A) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, (A) Science, Technology and Innovation, (A) Social Policy, Transfers and Entitlements, (Foundational) China and the Far East, (Foundational) Constitutional Issues, Federalism, Federal Agencies and Administrative Law, (Foundational) National Defense and Foreign Policy, (Foundational) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, (Foundational) Science, Technology and Innovation, (Foundational) Social Policy, Transfers and Entitlements, Articles

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

By Niall Ferguson Feb. 21, 2025

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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

Filed Under: (A) China and the Far East, (A) Fiscal Policy, (A) National Defense and Foreign Policy, (A) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, (A) Social Policy, Transfers and Entitlements, (Foundational) China and the Far East, (Foundational) Fiscal Policy, (Foundational) Monetary Policy, (Foundational) National Defense and Foreign Policy, (Foundational) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, (Foundational) Social Policy, Transfers and Entitlements, Articles

The AI Revolution Will Bring Prosperity AA

By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon Nov. 2, 2025

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Principles of Government · August 24, 2026 ·

By Phil Gramm and Michael Solon Nov. 2, 2025 – Amid all the pessimism and calls for government protection, it’s important to remember that our only window into the future is the past. From the colossal changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Revolution of the last quarter-century, improvements in technology have created an array of jobs that far exceeded—in quantity and quality—the ones eliminated, elevating standards of living. History offers cautionary tales of how special interests and public fear can spawn government policies that delay progress and raise the cost of the transition. Read More

Filed Under: (A) Fiscal Policy, (A) Science, Technology and Innovation, (A) Social Policy, Transfers and Entitlements, (Foundational) China and the Far East, (Foundational) National Defense and Foreign Policy, (Foundational) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, (Foundational) Science, Technology and Innovation, (Foundational) Social Policy, Transfers and Entitlements, Articles

America Needs the Filibuster AA

By Ben Sasse July 19, 2026

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

Principles of Government · July 26, 2026 ·

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

Filed Under: (A) Constitutional Issues, Federalism, Federal Agencies and Administrative Law, (A) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, (Foundational) Constitutional Issues, Federalism, Federal Agencies and Administrative Law, (Foundational) Fiscal Policy, (Foundational) Politics, Political Parties, Election Regulations, Articles

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Characteristics of Government

  • INTRODUCTION
  • SOCIALISM
  • COMPETITION
  • DEMOCRACY AND VOTING
  • SOCIAL POLICIES EFFECTS ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
  • GOALS OF PROGRESSIVISM AND THE MODERN LEFT
  • EVOLVING IDEOLOGIES
  • DEMOCRACIES AND NATIONAL DEFENSE

Principles of Government

  • INTRODUCTION
  • CITIZENSHIP
  • BELIEF SYSTEM
  • GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
  • FISCAL POLICIES
  • SOCIAL POLICIES
  • FREE MARKETS AND REGULATION
  • SOUND MONEY
  • THE RULE OF LAW
  • DEFENSE AND FOREIGN POLICY
  • Conservation and Environment

Voting

  • Introduction

Resources

  • Featured Articles
  • ARTICLES
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Books
  • MAJOR THINK TANKS
  • CIVIC EDUCATION WEB RESOURCES
  • Important Conservative Organizations
  • Conservative American Colleges and Universities
  • Print Resources
* All material on this site is for educational purposes only.

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Characteristics of Government

  • INTRODUCTION
  • SOCIALISM
  • COMPETITION
  • DEMOCRACY AND VOTING
  • SOCIAL POLICIES EFFECTS ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT
  • GOALS OF PROGRESSIVISM AND THE MODERN LEFT
  • EVOLVING IDEOLOGIES
  • DEMOCRACIES AND NATIONAL DEFENSE

Principles of Good Government

  • INTRODUCTION
  • CITIZENSHIP
  • BELIEF SYSTEM
  • GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND POLITICAL SYSTEM
  • FISCAL POLICIES
  • SOCIAL POLICIES
  • FREE MARKETS AND REGULATION
  • SOUND MONEY
  • THE RULE OF LAW
  • DEFENSE AND FOREIGN POLICY
  • Conservation and Environment

Resources

  • Featured Articles
  • ARTICLES
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Books
  • MAJOR THINK TANKS
  • CIVIC EDUCATION WEB RESOURCES
  • Important Conservative Organizations
  • Conservative American Colleges and Universities
  • Print Resources

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