The Cost of American Militarism and an Absence of Debate

The Cost of American Militarism and an Absence of Debate

A recent report by Brown University’s Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs on the cost of America’s wars in the aftermath of 9/11 estimates a sum totalling $5.9 Trillion. It is a figure virtually identical to the $6 Trillion figure projected by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2013 to be the eventual…

The Trump Administration’s Spoiler Foreign Policy

The Trump Administration’s Spoiler Foreign Policy

It is not possible to speak of “Donald Trump’s foreign policy” for the simple reason one can never tell whether the president or his minders are running it. Contradictions, reversals, and turns-on-a-dime have abounded since Trump took office. But this administration’s strategy abroad has assumed a discernible shape in recent weeks, whoever may be managing…

The Discarded Wisdom of America’s Founders

The Discarded Wisdom of America’s Founders

A good example of the discarded wisdom of America’s Founders is George Washington’s Farewell Address to the nation, delivered by him not orally but instead solely in printed form, published in Philadelphia by David C. Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser, on 19 September 1796, and distributed to the nation. The following extended excerpt from it is the most…