Times of Glorious Change!
Has a presidential transition ever been so much fun? Doubtful. Plus for the first time in the history of the world, we have a minute-by-minute front row seat to watch all the action.
BY BROWNSTONE INSTITUTE
Has a presidential transition ever been so much fun? Doubtful. Plus for the first time in the history of the world, we have a minute-by-minute front-row seat to watch all the action. Everyone is involved, cheering this pick and booing that one.
It’s all important but don’t forget about the big picture: we do seem to have turned the corner on the darkest times. That’s not to say the hard times are over. Turning around the trends of many years is not an easy task, and no one person can do it, not even a huge team. The mess is on a level of complexity that defies human comprehension.
Plus, an economic crisis awaits. We need to be honest about the predicament we are in. It’s been nearly five years of utter insanity and the level of suffering is unspeakable. New presidents and appointments in powerful positions can help but they cannot be the whole solution.
The expectations for the next administration already far outstrip any realistic expectation, and that is a potential problem. There are already signs of the classic internal firing squad developing, with claims of betrayal everywhere. There are historical references here that conjure up good results and terrible ones.
So our fate is far from determined and our job is far from over. Brownstone Institute has always played the long game apart from political trends. We are to be the sanctuary of ideas and support for great minds who dare to depart from the consensus. We publish the best books and in-depth articles. We sponsor private retreats for scholars, Fellows, and others, in addition to supper clubs and other public events.
Your vision and faith have supported this work and now we see how it all plays out, slowly and then all at once. Again, all dramatic social and political change absolutely needs a philosophical infrastructure of interpretative support. We have surely learned that much, which is precisely why you can be fully confident that your donation to this work is a mighty investment in a bright future.
The West Hartford supper club is December 18, and features essayist and best-selling author Charles Eisenstein. The form to register is not yet live but put this on your calendar and check the site in a few days.
The next Philadelphia supper club is Thursday, December 5. Our guest speaker is fearless legal warrior, New York Civil Rights attorney, and Brownstone Fellow Bobbie Anne Cox. She’ll tell us all about her epic legal battle against Governor Hochul and the NYS Department of Health’s “quarantine camp” regulation and where the lawsuit stands.
Here is some content since our last email.
Something Wicked Your Way Comes By Ann Bauer. What’s left is a pleasant and cohesive story that follows a direct and unsurprising plot, reminiscent of the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory but without the dryness or wacky turns. Instead, Wicked is pure kitsch and sparkle.
An Open Letter to Councilman Lincoln Restler By Josh Stylman. If you still stand behind these policies, I welcome the opportunity to engage in public dialogue about their impact. This could be a chance for both sides to be heard. Your willingness to participate would demonstrate confidence in your position.
What Kennedy Must Do to Defeat Regulatory Capture By Bretigne Shaffer. Kennedy has an unprecedented opportunity to strike at the root of what makes our healthcare system so dysfunctional: to dismantle the institutions that stifle the production of medicine, distort information about its safety, and suppress alternatives.
First Amendment Blues By Philip Davies. I live in the UK, the home of the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta, the mother of parliamentary democracy. But those days seem long gone when police knock on your door to arrest you for an X post.
Europe Sleepwalks into Irrelevance as the U.S. Ascends By Christiaan W.J.M. Alting von Geusau. The EU and European nations should work on establishing a relationship with the new leadership in the White House and on Capitol Hill so as to be able to influence the outcome of the greatest geopolitical upheaval of our time.
Our Last Innocent Moment Is Our First Step Forward By Julie Ponesse. When the history of our time is written, this period will be a case study for students of global corruption, classical tragedies, and mass psychosis, and will be used as an example of what humans must never do again.
Six Simple Steps to Pharma Reform By Clayton J. Baker. While not easy, should the political will be mustered, the process of breaking the stranglehold Big Pharma has on us would be surprisingly simple. Six changes in Federal law – four repeals of existing law, and two new pieces of legislation – would go a long way toward reining in and even reforming Big Pharma.
Peanut and Puppycide By Robert Blumen. The puppycide movement made a good effort. The ACLU took it one step further, situating violence against our pets within the scope of the militarization of policing. While the ACLU was directionally correct, policing is downstream of something more fundamental.
How to Cut $2 Trillion of Fat from the Federal Budget By David Stockman. A goal of $2 trillion of budget savings is crucial to the future of Constitutional democracy and capitalist prosperity in America. The Federal budget threatens to become a self-fueling financial doomsday machine. So more power to Musk and Ramaswamy.
Gattaca’s Warning against Vaccine Passports By Bert Olivier. Unless their advice regarding the withdrawal of the vaccines is heeded, we could face the dystopian prospect of a world which – like the fictional one in Gattaca – is riven into two irreconcilable groups, the ‘vaccine valids’ and the ‘vaccine in-valids.’
A Diagram of Elite Wickedness By Daniel Klein. The good will be better able to fend off wickedness if they grow more competent in understanding how words (information, hate) are being weaponized by wicked elites. We grow our competency by applying sound moral philosophy to such matters.