Systems Analysis

In-depth analysis and multi-part series on political, social, and cultural dynamics. Strategic thinking and big-picture perspectives on systemic patterns and civic challenges.

Nobody Voted for This War. Nobody Gets the Old World Back.

by

The American presidency, in the wrong hands, with every institutional check removed, is powerful enough to destroy countries and break the interdependent global systems the modern world runs on.

The Leadership

I never fully understood how powerful the President of the United States actually is until now. When that position is held by a man with no capacity for consequence, no institutional check left to slow him down, and a circle of people who know exactly how to use him — he can destroy a country.

Read more

If America First Means Anything, It Means This Isn’t Our Job

by

Every government we’ve removed in an oil-producing country was replaced by something just as bad or by chaos that was worse. We don’t have the ability to fix what we break, and it’s not our place to try. If we actually wanted to help these people, we’d find ways that work, and don’t involve destroying their country.

We are good at destroying governments. We have never successfully replaced one in the Middle East.

Read more

Arizona billionaires

by

Review: The Copper Courier’s “Who is the richest Arizonan?” PHOENIX — Fifteen Arizona residents have landed on Forbes’ 2026 World’s Billionaires List, according to new reporting from The Copper Courier, which reviewed the latest rankings and wealth estimates. Leading the group is Ernest Garcia II, identified as the richest Arizonan with an estimated net worth … Read more

The Iran War Will Not Help the Iranian People

by

Every time the government says we’re going to free people by starting a war in the Middle East, those people end up worse off.1 Every single time.

We have been here before. The justifications shift from war to war — weapons of mass destruction, regional security, counterterrorism — but the humanitarian argument is always in there somewhere. It’s a reliable hook because Americans genuinely do care about people living under brutal governments. It’s just how we are. And it gets used every time.1

Read more

They’ve Been Picking My Pocket for Six Years

by

I live in Arizona, and for six years we have been targeted by a coordinated national campaign to scare voters with propaganda about election fraud. It has never produced a shred of evidence, because there was never any evidence to find. The Department of Justice is now demanding the voter files of five million Arizonans. … Read more

The Veto Number Is Real. The Context Is Missing.

by

Attack ads will say Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed 401 bills. The public record shows what those bills were, what the veto blocked, and it has cost Arizona taxpayers. Seventy of those vetoes were ordinary legislative friction, the kind that happens between any governor and any legislature regardless of party. The remaining 331 followed a pattern that is documented in the public record and consistent across three legislative sessions.