History

History articles feature analysis of historical context in relation to censorship, policy, technology, media, economics, and social life.

All Brownstone Institute articles on the topic of history are translated into multiple languages.

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Brownstone Institute - Can Federalising Central Governments Fix...Federalism?

Can Federalising Central Governments Fix…Federalism?

By / / , , / 24 minute read / Articles
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The US, Australia, and the EU each started out as federalist ideas with extremely independent constituent states, and with constitutions that made the rise of a large central government illegal and impossible. Yet, in all three places, the federalist project has failed, and a giant central bureaucracy has arisen that is strangling the life out of both states and country, as we have opined previously. How did this hostile takeover happen, and how do we create a new federalism that is resistant to becoming a monster all over again?

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Brownstone Institute - Maybe More People Objected Than We Knew 

Maybe More People Objected Than We Knew 

By / / , / 7 minute read / Articles
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The problem of figuring out whether and to what extent people acquiesced to tyranny is an important one. It is complicated by accumulating evidence that the government worked with tech and media, and therefore with the main way people get their news, to actively suppress contrary voices, even when they came from recognized experts of great credibility. 

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Brownstone Institute - Our Last Innocent Moment

Where Are We Now?

By / / , , / 28 minute read / Articles, Popular
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I learned how easy it is for us to betray one another and how COVID exposed the fault lines in our relationships. But I also saw humanity all around. I saw hugs and connection and immense warmth everywhere I went. I saw the worst side of humanity and the best, and I witnessed the indomitable power of inconvenient truths. The COVID-19 battleground has certainly created its heroes and villains, and we have all taken sides about which is which. 

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Brownstone Institute - Filtration of Rooms Didn’t Work Either

Room Filtration Didn’t Work Either

By / / , , / 6 minute read / Articles
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Yes, you remember those days. Let’s say you have installed a new HVAC system. That’s good but it does not quite do the trick. You still must stay away from everyone. You have to mask up, outdoors even. You have to wash your hands constantly. You have to spray everything down with sanitizer. I mean, it seems like your whole life is consumed by fear of disease. 

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Brownstone Institute - Did Liberalism Fail the Test of Covid?

Did Liberalism Fail the Test of Covid?

By / / , , / 10 minute read / Articles
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I am completely obsessed with the question of whether liberalism failed in response to Covid. As I’ve written before, I think it is perhaps the most important question in the world right now. If liberalism failed then we are now seeking an alternative to liberalism. If liberalism did not fail (or was lynched) then perhaps we are seeking a return to liberalism (or the introduction of “true” liberalism for the first time). I believe that figuring out this question will provide a map to guide us out of the valley of death that we are currently in.

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Brownstone Institute - Gonsalves and the Origins of 'Six Feet Apart'

Gonsalves and the Origins of ‘Six Feet Apart’

By / / , , / 7 minute read / Articles
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Curious to see who had promoted this arbitrary rule that “sort of just appeared”, I began searching news articles and social media and ran across an expert declaration on Yale’s website, filed by Gregg Gonsalves with the School of Public Health and Yale Law School. Gonsalves also writes regularly for multiple media outlets, including The Nation where he is their public health correspondent. “Data from China indicates that the average infected person passes the virus on to 2-3 other people at distances of 3-6 feet,” Gonsalves claimed in a legal filing.

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Brownstone Institute - Exiles in Our Own Land

Exiles in Our Own Land

By / / , , / 9 minute read / Articles
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Authoritarians like our current crop have an Achilles’ heel to which they are almost invariably blind. They assume that everyone else views the world as hierarchically as they do; that is, as a place where dignity matters little and where the wisest course is always the supposedly practical one of “kissing up and kicking down.” 

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Brownstone Institute - The Heroism of Guido d’Arrezo

The Heroism of Guido d’Arezzo

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The salient fact of our times is the egregious failure of the elites to do the very thing they promised: give us health, security, and protection from danger. They were granted a free hand to manage the whole world and they made of their opportunity a huge disaster. Meanwhile, the dissidents pushing early treatments, human rights, free speech, and different ways generally have been punished. 

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On the Eve of Our Turning Point

On the Eve of Our Turning Point

By / / , / 6 minute read / Articles
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After millennia of human history and broad improvements in living conditions had enabled the world population to grow to 7.6 billion, why would anyone expect a virus unlike any other to suddenly, burst onto the scene and decimate humanity? How was a society-wide shutdown going to crush a virus? How could a thoroughly globalized nation of 330 million people or a New York Metro Area with 25 million residents in a 50-mile radius be permanently made sterile?

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Brownstone Institute - The Case of Typhoid Mary

The Case of Typhoid Mary

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For four years now, any talk of allowing society to function in the event of a pandemic has called forth cliches about Typhoid Mary. It’s remarkable how this real event, a paradigmatic case of awesome and egregious powers of public health, in which a poor Irish immigrant was scapegoated for typhoid infections in New York, still survives – fully 100 years later. 

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