Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — Policy disagreement is normal. What feels different is the willingness to treat ordinary opposition as illegitimate. When large parts of the public and the political class see the other side as an existential threat, the strain lands on courts, election processes, law enforcement, and the basic norms around transferring power. … Continue reading Is the growing political polarization in the United States now a greater threat to institutional stability than any single policy disagreement?
How can the United States reduce the risk of another major aviation safety failure after the Boeing 737 MAX grounding without creating excessive regulatory delay?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — The MAX showed gaps in how new systems were certified and in how internal schedule pressure was managed. Those are two different failures and the second one is the one my profession recognizes. I've worked under a launch date. Everybody has. What keeps a launch date from killing somebody is a … Continue reading How can the United States reduce the risk of another major aviation safety failure after the Boeing 737 MAX grounding without creating excessive regulatory delay?
Will the rapid expansion of online content moderation by private platforms ultimately create a new form of de facto public censorship?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — When a handful of private platforms become the primary public square, their moderation decisions start to function like public rules without any of the accountability that attaches to public rules. I see this at the level of my clients, which is smaller than the free-speech argument but more concrete. A professional … Continue reading Will the rapid expansion of online content moderation by private platforms ultimately create a new form of de facto public censorship?
Should the impeachment process be reserved for clear criminal conduct, or is it a legitimate political tool for checking executive power?
Prescott Valley, Arizona Correspondent — The constitutional text and the early history treat impeachment as a political remedy for serious abuses of power rather than as a criminal trial. Restricting it to indictable crimes would narrow a check designed to be broader. Using it as a routine instrument for policy disagreement drains its legitimacy and … Continue reading Should the impeachment process be reserved for clear criminal conduct, or is it a legitimate political tool for checking executive power?
Is the current trajectory of U.S.–China economic decoupling more likely to produce strategic resilience or mutual economic damage?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — Partial decoupling in the critical sectors can improve resilience if it's deliberate and paired with real capacity, domestic or allied. Semiconductors, certain rare earths, advanced telecom. Broad, rapid separation across the whole relationship produces mutual damage — higher costs, disrupted chains, slower innovation on both ends. What I'd watch for is … Continue reading Is the current trajectory of U.S.–China economic decoupling more likely to produce strategic resilience or mutual economic damage?
Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Q&A Session from 16th Annual Symposium
Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL and Washington, D.C. January 3, 2020—Thinking Outside the Boxe has released the transcripts of the question and answer session from its 2019 Annual Symposium. Participants included correspondents from Prescott Valley, Arizona; Wheeling, West Virginia; Dayton, Ohio; and Bismarck, North Dakota. Discussion centered on U.S.–China decoupling, the proper use of impeachment, … Continue reading Thinking Outside the Boxe Releases Transcript of Q&A Session from 16th Annual Symposium
Should Congress reassert clearer statutory limits on the use of emergency economic powers by the executive branch?
Dayton, Ohio Correspondent — These authorities were written for genuine, time-limited crises. They've become a route for policy that would be harder to pass ordinarily. Tighter definitions, automatic sunsets, faster congressional review. That restores balance without stripping the ability to act when speed genuinely matters, which it sometimes does. The practical case from my side … Continue reading Should Congress reassert clearer statutory limits on the use of emergency economic powers by the executive branch?
Will the 2020 presidential election cycle further accelerate the nationalization of every local and state political contest?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — National money, national media, and national messaging have already turned a lot of state and local races into extensions of the presidential fight. Candidates get judged by their alignment with a national figure rather than by anything they did locally. In a state this small that's a genuine loss, because … Continue reading Will the 2020 presidential election cycle further accelerate the nationalization of every local and state political contest?
How can the United States improve the resilience of its pharmaceutical supply chains after repeated shortages of critical drugs?
Clermont, Florida Correspondent — The pattern in the shortages is worth stating plainly, because it isn't what people assume. The drugs that vanish are almost never the expensive new ones. They're cheap, old, off-patent sterile injectables — the things that cost four dollars a vial. That's an economics problem before it's a security problem. At … Continue reading How can the United States improve the resilience of its pharmaceutical supply chains after repeated shortages of critical drugs?
Is the growing use of national-security justifications for tariffs and investment restrictions creating a new form of permanent industrial policy?
Owatonna, MN Correspondent — National-security language is being applied to a widening set of economic measures. Some uses are legitimate. Others are conventional industrial policy wearing a more convenient label. The tell is usually the product. When the security case is made about uranium or semiconductors, it's at least arguable. When it's made about a … Continue reading Is the growing use of national-security justifications for tariffs and investment restrictions creating a new form of permanent industrial policy?
