Why Do Governments Exist
Government was forged in war, and war remains its most irreplaceable function.
Link Roundup, 8/19/2018
A political orphan’s guide to current events.
Revenge of the Idiocrats
With government under pressure from Idiocrats and straining against its own inherent limitations, private companies are taking on more and more of the functions we once thought belonged entirely in the public realm.
Voting Machines, Fake News, and the Future of Democracy
The biggest threat to the integrity of our elections isn’t the machines, but the users.
What Will Replace Democracy?
What’s Next after democracy may already be ascendant.
Andrew Yang is Running for President
Andrew Yang is a model of the new capitalist, a breed of pragmatic business professionals thrilled by the potential of markets, yet keenly conscious of market limitations. Tech professionals like Yang are just beginning to exercise their political leverage.
After ‘The End of History’
If liberal democracy isn’t the pinnacle of human social order, then what is?
The Fall of the Roman Republic, Reconsidered
The Caesars of the world only arrive when the ground has been prepared for them.
Indictment of Maria Butina
I’m reluctant to get sucked into the fine details of this case as it emerges. This will be a long process, with many turns and lots and lots of arrests. However, this indictment was just too good to stop reading. Between the operational details it revealed, the figures it fingered without revealing names, and the “Boris and Natasha”-style mangled English, it’s delightful. Enjoy.
Joseph Campbell on Netflix
Forty years ago, PBS released a series of Bill Moyers’ conversations with professor Joseph Campbell, who is famous research on mythology. Netflix has commemorated this anniversary by making the series available on their streaming service.