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Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.
OpEd News Member for 688 week(s) and 3 day(s)
1080 Articles, 0 Quick Links, 1335 Comments, 3 Diaries, 0 Polls
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Sunday, April 20, 2025
Freer Trade Makes Us Richer. Protectionism Makes Us Poorer. The real problem with Trump's trade war nonsense isn't that he's a mercurial nitwit, although that's true. The real problem with Trump's trade war nonsense is that freer trade makes us richer and economic "protectionist" schemes make us poorer.
Sunday, April 20, 2025Freer Trade Makes Us Richer. Protectionism Makes Us Poorer. The real problem with Trump's trade war nonsense isn't that he's a mercurial nitwit, although that's true. The real problem with Trump's trade war nonsense is that freer trade makes us richer and economic "protectionist" schemes make us poorer.
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Saturday, April 5, 2025
Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should My complaint here isn't with Trump, really. He is what he is, and I knew he was a snake when you picked him up. It's with Trump's enablers, and more specifically with those enablers who've been getting on my last nerve lately with a particular five-word chorus heard daily across the fruited plain: "I didn't vote for THIS!" Yes. You. Did.
Saturday, April 5, 2025Trump Will Never Accept Responsibility, But His Disappointed Voters Should My complaint here isn't with Trump, really. He is what he is, and I knew he was a snake when you picked him up. It's with Trump's enablers, and more specifically with those enablers who've been getting on my last nerve lately with a particular five-word chorus heard daily across the fruited plain: "I didn't vote for THIS!" Yes. You. Did.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Will The Courts Protect Us? A Ghost Story American government -- legislative, executive, and judicial branches alike -- point to the Constitution when it supports their desires and ignores it when it thwarts those desires.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025Will The Courts Protect Us? A Ghost Story American government -- legislative, executive, and judicial branches alike -- point to the Constitution when it supports their desires and ignores it when it thwarts those desires.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Trump Auto Tariffs: File Under "Victory, Pyrrhic" Average car prices, adjusted for inflation, are already nearly 30% higher now than they were in 1993. Trump's 25% tax on imports, which will result in a near-25% price increase on domestically produced cars and a massive increase in the price of used cars, will have the following result: Americans will buy fewer cars. Not just fewer imported cars, fewer cars, period.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025Trump Auto Tariffs: File Under "Victory, Pyrrhic" Average car prices, adjusted for inflation, are already nearly 30% higher now than they were in 1993. Trump's 25% tax on imports, which will result in a near-25% price increase on domestically produced cars and a massive increase in the price of used cars, will have the following result: Americans will buy fewer cars. Not just fewer imported cars, fewer cars, period.
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Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Mixed Signal: The Other Side of the "Unitary Executive" Coin If the president's "executive power" extends so far, so does the president's responsibility for both the details and the consequences. The Constitution, after all, also charges the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
Tuesday, April 1, 2025Mixed Signal: The Other Side of the "Unitary Executive" Coin If the president's "executive power" extends so far, so does the president's responsibility for both the details and the consequences. The Constitution, after all, also charges the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
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Monday, March 24, 2025
Cleveland Rocks (In Some Ways Trump Should But Doesn't) Cleveland, of course, has been noticed lately for some of his similarities with Trump. The differences between the two, however, are more interesting.
Monday, March 24, 2025Cleveland Rocks (In Some Ways Trump Should But Doesn't) Cleveland, of course, has been noticed lately for some of his similarities with Trump. The differences between the two, however, are more interesting.
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Thursday, March 20, 2025
Turn Off That (Government) Radio! I'd personally prefer a more combative and inquisitive American press to "private sector" government propaganda mills, but that ship has sailed. Why continue paying government to do what it's managed to cow the "private sector" into doing for it? Give USAGM the ax.
Thursday, March 20, 2025Turn Off That (Government) Radio! I'd personally prefer a more combative and inquisitive American press to "private sector" government propaganda mills, but that ship has sailed. Why continue paying government to do what it's managed to cow the "private sector" into doing for it? Give USAGM the ax.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Schumer's Surrender: Much Ado About Nothing Surprising Political government itself is "non-essential" and then some, at least to normal people. Its sole purpose is to transfer wealth and power from the productive class to the political class. It's only "essential" to the preening, posturing sociopaths who sit in, or visit to lobby, offices on Capitol Hill.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025Schumer's Surrender: Much Ado About Nothing Surprising Political government itself is "non-essential" and then some, at least to normal people. Its sole purpose is to transfer wealth and power from the productive class to the political class. It's only "essential" to the preening, posturing sociopaths who sit in, or visit to lobby, offices on Capitol Hill.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2025
One Way The Other: Is Trump Driving Us Down The Road To War? At some point, Trump's options will come down to extracting his cranium from his rectum on trade and economics, or distracting you with a war. The likelihood of the former, based on his record, looks slim.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025One Way The Other: Is Trump Driving Us Down The Road To War? At some point, Trump's options will come down to extracting his cranium from his rectum on trade and economics, or distracting you with a war. The likelihood of the former, based on his record, looks slim.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Jeff Bezos: Going Post "L?" If I had a nickel for every time the word "libertarian" -- or even phrases like "personal liberties and free markets" -- got used incorrectly or dishonestly, I could spend my time racing my Ferrari between a Manhattan apartment and a gated-community LA McMansion instead of submitting libertarian op-eds to newspapers.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025Jeff Bezos: Going Post "L?" If I had a nickel for every time the word "libertarian" -- or even phrases like "personal liberties and free markets" -- got used incorrectly or dishonestly, I could spend my time racing my Ferrari between a Manhattan apartment and a gated-community LA McMansion instead of submitting libertarian op-eds to newspapers.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2025
The Press Is More Important Than The President -- And Should Start Acting Like It I suspect many Americans wish that the president (not just this one -- I'm speaking of the office, not the man) acted a lot less like Dr. Phil (loud, annoying, omnipresent) and more like Punxsutawney Phil (silent, cute, and only very occasionally demanding our attention). That said, if the press wants to cover the presidency, I suggest that the agencies, publications, and journalists get together and turn the tables.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025The Press Is More Important Than The President -- And Should Start Acting Like It I suspect many Americans wish that the president (not just this one -- I'm speaking of the office, not the man) acted a lot less like Dr. Phil (loud, annoying, omnipresent) and more like Punxsutawney Phil (silent, cute, and only very occasionally demanding our attention). That said, if the press wants to cover the presidency, I suggest that the agencies, publications, and journalists get together and turn the tables.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2025
I Asked Elon Musk's AI For Its Government Efficiency Recommendation I asked Grok, the generative AI chatbot associated with Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) platform, to "suggest the most efficient organizational chart for the federal government's executive branch."
Tuesday, March 11, 2025I Asked Elon Musk's AI For Its Government Efficiency Recommendation I asked Grok, the generative AI chatbot associated with Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) platform, to "suggest the most efficient organizational chart for the federal government's executive branch."
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Saturday, February 22, 2025
"DOGE Dividend": Stimulus Redux That "DOGE Dividend" check, if it comes, will just be Trump trying to buy back your love with your own money, to partially and insufficiently make up for the damage he's doing to you.
Saturday, February 22, 2025"DOGE Dividend": Stimulus Redux That "DOGE Dividend" check, if it comes, will just be Trump trying to buy back your love with your own money, to partially and insufficiently make up for the damage he's doing to you.
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Saturday, February 22, 2025
Without Congressional Action, DOGE Is Mostly Just An Enjoyable Distraction Maybe we WILL actually see a more "efficient" executive branch out of all this, an organization with fewer extraneous employees and with less inclination to pay (an old example) $435 for a $15 hammer. But without congressional action to cut spending, it will all end up costing us at least as much, and probably more, than it did before.
Saturday, February 22, 2025Without Congressional Action, DOGE Is Mostly Just An Enjoyable Distraction Maybe we WILL actually see a more "efficient" executive branch out of all this, an organization with fewer extraneous employees and with less inclination to pay (an old example) $435 for a $15 hammer. But without congressional action to cut spending, it will all end up costing us at least as much, and probably more, than it did before.
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Saturday, February 15, 2025
Trump's Tariff Schemes Hurt Even More When He Flip-Flops "In this world," Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1789, "nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Tariff roulette removes even that second element of certainty. And all we get in exchange is reduced general prosperity.
Saturday, February 15, 2025Trump's Tariff Schemes Hurt Even More When He Flip-Flops "In this world," Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1789, "nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Tariff roulette removes even that second element of certainty. And all we get in exchange is reduced general prosperity.
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Saturday, February 15, 2025
Why Trump Shouldn't Negotiate With Putin On Ukraine Donald Trump negotiating with Vladimir Putin on behalf of Ukraine can't plausibly produce an agreement which either side -- let alone the Ukrainian side -- considers itself bound by.
Saturday, February 15, 2025Why Trump Shouldn't Negotiate With Putin On Ukraine Donald Trump negotiating with Vladimir Putin on behalf of Ukraine can't plausibly produce an agreement which either side -- let alone the Ukrainian side -- considers itself bound by.
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Saturday, February 15, 2025
Sleeping or Not, DOGEs Lie As Friedrich Nietzsche noted in the 19th century, "everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen." A collective entity built on lies must necessarily be made up of individual liars.
Saturday, February 15, 2025Sleeping or Not, DOGEs Lie As Friedrich Nietzsche noted in the 19th century, "everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen." A collective entity built on lies must necessarily be made up of individual liars.
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Friday, February 7, 2025
Trump/Musk "Buyout" Program: A Win For America, But Only On One Condition The federal government employs about three million people, not including military personnel (who presumably didn't receive the buyout offer). Given the limited scope and power of that government, according to its own Constitution, cutting the federal workforce by 90% would probably leave it still much fatter than it has any plausible reason to be.
Friday, February 7, 2025Trump/Musk "Buyout" Program: A Win For America, But Only On One Condition The federal government employs about three million people, not including military personnel (who presumably didn't receive the buyout offer). Given the limited scope and power of that government, according to its own Constitution, cutting the federal workforce by 90% would probably leave it still much fatter than it has any plausible reason to be.
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Friday, February 7, 2025
Why The New Boss Could Be Worse Than The Old Boss ... By Being The Same As The Old Boss While there are good reasons for actors both good and bad to consider Trump an especially dangerous politician, he is and always has been just a politician.
Friday, February 7, 2025Why The New Boss Could Be Worse Than The Old Boss ... By Being The Same As The Old Boss While there are good reasons for actors both good and bad to consider Trump an especially dangerous politician, he is and always has been just a politician.
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Thursday, January 30, 2025
Trump's "Return to Office" Order: The Opposite of DOGE? From a "government efficiency" standpoint, the "return to office" mandate is a disaster in conception and will likely prove a disaster in execution. Let us count the ways.
Thursday, January 30, 2025Trump's "Return to Office" Order: The Opposite of DOGE? From a "government efficiency" standpoint, the "return to office" mandate is a disaster in conception and will likely prove a disaster in execution. Let us count the ways.
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