There are two major political parties in America, but there are at least three major political tendencies. The first is orthodox liberalism, a belief in using government to maximize equality. The second is free-market conservatism, the belief in limiting government to maximize freedom. ...more

October 28, 2008

Corn blankets eastern Nebraska in the summer. Straight roads glide over the hills, dividing the fields like measuring tape. In the 19th century the Homestead Act sectioned the land into neat plots for new settlers. ...more

July 14, 2008

Alexander Hamilton was an ambitious young striver, and he created an economy where people like him could rise and succeed. He used government to rouse the energies of the merchant class, to widen the circle of property owners and to dissolve the constraints on commerce and mobility. ...more

October 14, 2007