Elections Elections are obviously essential to preserving freedom around the world. It offers the most direct check on power available to any individual, and a robust election system ensures the government serves its people instead of oligarchs. It’s more than just having an election though. There need to be multiple parties competing. Political outsiders need …
Author Archives: stidmatt
2024 was lost on turnout
Year 2020 2024 Difference Total 158429631 155238302 White % 67% 71% White 106,147,852.77 110,219,194.42 Black % 13% 11% Black 20,595,852.03 17,076,213.22 Hispanic % 13% 11% Hispanic 20,595,852.03 17,076,213.22 White D % 41% 42% White R % 58% 57% Black D % 0.87 0.86 Black R % 0.12 0.13 Hispanic D % 0.65 0.51 Hispanic …
A post-NATO world
With Donald Trump as President effectively allying himself as president, it gives the world a very different global political structure for the next 4 years. The first impact of this is US alliances, which expand across 5 continents and the US is the cornerstone of the global democratic world. As I described on Wednesday, there …
SAVE Act
Read the text here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text/ih78 Every system that determines citizenship is based on a chain of trust. Once a citizen has proven they are a citizen once to get a document, that document should be proof of citizenship. However, the law is no longer written to recognize this. For starters, it is already a felony …
American Mutual Protection Pacts
The United States is the most defended country in the world, and not just because our military is the largest, but through our network of alliances we are protected by the militaries of all of our allies combined. We have mutual protection pacts with countries on every continent except Africa, and our alliances have overall …
Gas prices
Let’s think about the total impact on gas prices over the budget of the average household. You have an average income of around $55,000, so let’s be pessimistic and say you make $50,000 per year because the math is easier. You drive a car that gets around 30 miles per gallon, you live 10 miles …
A short history of Moldova
Maps are taken from https://www.oldmapsonline.org The Principality of Moldavia was the westernmost part of the Mongol Empire from 1241 to 1346. Events before then are not important for understanding how Moldova became an independent republic from Romania. Before then the region was occupied by Turkic peoples. After independence, the Principality of Moldavia was formed in …
Honey or vinegar
There is an age-old question, will you catch more flies with honey or vinegar? We know of course that you will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and this expression has lasted for so many centuries because it is a useful metaphor for everything in life. David Ricardo was one of my favorite …
More on visa policies
As we see here, GDP per capita is a major factor in determining the travel freedom of citizens of a given country. Citizens of countries that have a GDP per capita under $1000 generally have very limited options in terms of countries they can travel to visa-free. Citizens of wealthy countries with a GDP per …
Party Vote Trifectas
So I have a spreadsheet where I have recorded the partisan alignment of the federal government and how Americans have voted for the President, House, and Senate. This data is from Wikipedia. If you navigate to the Organized table this is as easy to understand as I’ve figured out how to make it so far. …