The Edifice of Trust is a podcast that provides discussion and analysis of today’s current events from the perspective of America’s Founding Principles. Based on Enlightenment philosophy as espoused by John Locke and economic freedom as described by Adam Smith, the host, Victor Bolles, provides listeners a path toward understanding current events from these timeless principles. Many Americans believe that the country is moving in the wrong direction, the podcast tries to point out a new cour ...
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Today we are going to discuss taxes. I could go on and on about taxes but today we will just investigate some broad concepts and not the specific proposals of the presidential candidates. That comes later.By Victor C. Bolles
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Replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris has not really improved the options we voters have in the 2024 presidential elections. The campaign promises of Trump and Harris run the gamut from dopey to scary. Most Americans do not support their radical agendas. Come this November we must vote wisely to protect America. In this podcast the Edifice of Trus…
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In her economic policy speech, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris blamed inflation on price gouging by greedy corporations. But Nobel prize winner Milton Friedman is famous for saying, “Inflation is made by Government and no one else.” Why does Ms. Harris and other progressives doubt that inflation is caused by government? In this podc…
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Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. We were fooled by Barack Obama. We were told that Joe Biden was the centrist alternative. Now we are being told that Kamala Harris has changed her mind on her progressive policies such as banning fracking and Medicare for all. Amid all the excitement about her candidacy are we going to be played…
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The little-known movement of National Conservatism rose to prominence after its recent conference featured many speakers from Donald Trump’s Republican Party including J. D. Vance who was named Trump’s vice-presidential running mate only days after his speech at the NatCon Conference. But what is national conservatism and what does it stand for? In…
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To better understand Trumpism we need to look at the policies he is proposing and how they will impact us after he is gone. In his rallies he proclaims a great new movement that will transform America and he has anointed a new acolyte to carry on this new movement after he is gone. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, will loo…
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So why does he lie? I don’t know. We can only speculate. We have gone from George Washington saying, “I cannot tell a lie” (which is probably a lie because there is no proof he ever said it) to “I cannot tell the truth because I don’t know what is the truth.” Lying is so pervasive now that has been renamed “gaslighting.” In this podcast the Edifice…
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Americans reacted with shock at the assassination attempt on former President Trump. It was as if they had no idea that all the apocalyptic diatribes from the presidential candidates, all the belligerent rhetoric of other candidates and all the hateful social media posts would ever be translated into action.…
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The Democrats howl because the Supreme Court does not bow down to the popular will not realizing that the entire purpose of the Court is to frustrate the fickle and often irrational urges of the popular will. Constitutional change requires broad and sustained consensus not a slim majority that could change at a moment’s notice. In this podcast, the…
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The fallout from Mr. Biden’s performance at last week’s presidential debate has resulted in many calls for him to withdraw from the race. But who else is there that can replace him? In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discusses some of the complexities in changing candidates at this late stage of the presidential campaign.…
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The results are in from last night’s debate and it doesn’t look good for Joe Biden. Here are the headlines.By Victor Bolles
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Today we are going to talk about the upcoming presidential debates and what you should expect to see and what you shouldn’t.By Victor C. Bolles
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After the Second World War the victorious allies created a series of international organizations designed to reduce conflict and promote peace between the countries of the world. These organizations worked pretty well for a while but now seem ineffectual and counterproductive. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at why t…
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The most recent of the many trials of former President Donald Trump by George Soros backed prosecutors will be going to the jury soon. But politically motivated show trials are usually associated with autocratic regimes, not with Western democracies. And if Democrats think that these trials have dampened the popularity of the former president, they…
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I Applaud Civil Disobedience - As Long as it is Civil
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Civil disobedience is an activity unique to modern Western Civilization. But disobedience of the law has consequences and many people protesting unjust laws or unwise policies have had to make sacrifices. The anti-Israel protesters are not only defying the tradition of non-violent civil disobedience, they are trying to avoid the consequences of the…
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City University of New York law professor Jeffrey Lax said it clearly in an interview with Stuart Varney on Fox Business news. He stated, referring to the anti-Israel protests, “This is not antisemitic, this is anti-American, this is anti-western culture, the jews are the low hanging fruit. Next is America, next is western culture.” In this podcast…
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Nationalism is on the rise across the globe – and Yoram Hazony thinks that’s a good thing. Mr. Hazony, Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation is a promoter of national conservatism and rejects the universal values such as the unalienable rights described in the Declaration of Independence. In this podcast, the edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles,…
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American youth are in a mental health crisis. Rates of anxiety, depression and suicide are soaring ever since the introduction of the smart phone as documented by Jonathan Haidt in his new book, The Anxious Generation. Even worse, the pathologies of smart phone addiction mirror the pathologies of a woke ideology that has tightened its grip on Ameri…
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Slavery has existed throughout human history and prehistory. But why? It all comes down to energy. Ancient humans only had the energy of their own body. The energy of slaves gave the slaveholder more power to do things for the benefit of him and his family. But slavery in America was different. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Boll…
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President Biden’s State of the Union address was an angry, divisive campaign. He went on to propose massive increases in taxes along with massive increases in spending that combine for a massive deficit of $1.8 trillion. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, looks at how both of the presumptive candidates for president of the U…
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The Founders of America thought that democracy was the best tool to secure the blessings of liberty to its citizens. And, although not perfect, our democracy did a pretty good job of doing that while also providing prosperity. But right now America appears to be heading in the wrong direction and democracy does not seem to be helping. In this podca…
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The No Labels organization is trying to get on the ballot in all 50 states for a presidential candidate yet to be named. Such a candidate might be able to save us from another Biden or Trump presidency but will do nothing to save us from the increasing divisiveness and extremism of our mainstream political parties. In this podcast, the Edifice of T…
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A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called the Michigan city of Dearborn a center of jihad and antisemitism. The mayor of Dearborn xed (tweeted) that the article was Islamophobic. The progressive left has changed the meaning of the word phobia and now uses it as a means to deflect criticism and avoid addressing the issues raised in the critiq…
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A lot of people think that diversity is a good thing. But is it? People have to go out of their way to be diverse. Left to their own, people will self-segregate into groups with other people similar to themselves. Blue collar workers don’t want to hobnob with a bunch of chardonnay sipping, hors d’oeuvre munching intellectuals. They prefer to down a…
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Recent commentaries in the Wall Street Journal set forth competing visions on whether Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs can be saved or should be eliminated. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, compares the two viewpoints and draws conclusions on which viewpoint seems more valid.…
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Ian Rowe, an educator in the Bronx, writes that developing a sense of agency is essential in liberating poor and minority kids from a dreary future of poverty. More than that, he has been on the streets providing kids with liberating education and teaching them American values for more than a decade. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Vict…
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Once again, while our so-called political leaders are completely absorbed by their campaigns for reelection, they ignore the urgent national priorities that need to be addressed, or worse, use those issues as political levers to galvanize their base at the expense of the American people. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, rev…
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how mislabeling political beliefs and governmental policies creates confusion and contributes to the divisiveness wracking our country.By Victor C. Bolles
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Why do so many people in America identify as victims, the victims of an oppressive system? What is the source of this feeling? Why do so many people believe that they have no ability to live their lives as they see fit but look to the power of government to solve their problems? In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, investigate…
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Scientific inquiry is the process where we learn more and more about our universe through experimentation to support or disprove our theories. But increasingly, we are asked to make drastic, expensive and irreversible decisions based on a consensus of scientists as if there were no more need for further inquiry or experimentation. In this commentar…
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If you call the swath of land east of the Mediterranean Sea the Levant instead of Israel and Palestine, you can see the recent conflicts in the region with a new perspective. The part of the Levant that is now Israel was settled by Jewish refugees from Europe who defeated Arab Muslims in the region that had defeated the Roman Byzantines who had def…
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Politicians are always promoting new laws and government programs to make things more fair. But fairness is not a good standard on which to base laws and programs because fairness is subjective and different people have different, and often completely opposite, ideas on what is fair. In this podcast the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles, discuss…
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To our Western minds the horrific attack on Israel by the Hamas terror group was irrational and incomprehensible. But even more irrational and incomprehensible have been the protests in support of the genocide espoused by Hamas across Europe and America. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, victor Bolles, looks at the ideology willing to sup…
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America has not been this divided since the Civil War. But poll after poll show that Americans left, right and center share many of the same values. So what is driving us apart. It is in the narrow self-interest of our political leaders to drive us apart for their political advantage. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles takes …
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From the dark days and widespread pessimism of the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s optimistic speeches gave American reason to hope for a better future. We are again living in dark days but today’s politicians give us little reason to hope for a better future. In this podcast, the Edifice of Trust host, Victor Bolles examines how today’s politicians a…
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Is America suffering from a plague of psychic epidemics? Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote that man has no adequate protection from psychic epidemics which can be more devastating than anything in nature. The divisive nature of American politics is creating psychic epidemics on both the left and the right that will even more devastating than Dr. J…
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Climate activists, parroting Bernie Sanders, hold up signs declaring “BILLIONAIRES SHOULD NOT EXIST” to justify vandalizing the property of rich people. But if billionaires did not exist we would be lacking many of the modern products and services we have come to rely on, like smart phones, flat panel televisions and lens replacement surgeries. In …
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Has China reached its peak of economic power as many talking heads and think tank fellows are writing and podcasting about? The reality doesn’t matter, only the perception of strength or weakness matters, and how that affects the thinking of Xi Jinping. And if President Xi believes that China has reached its economic peak, the countdown to confront…
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The Declaration of Independence states that we all are endowed with the right to pursue happiness and the things that make us happy are usually in our self-interest. Government often makes policies that are supposed to serve the common good but that do not match the self-interest of everyone. It is not easy to find the correct balance between the c…
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The world is changing, and if you are one of the billions of people who have benefitted from the Western rules-based world order, not in a good way. Change, of course, is inevitable. But countries that hope to survive in changing conditions, and possibly even thrive, need to prepare for a future that is not yet clear. But even as the world changes,…
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Many foreign policy experts have been recommending the armistice between North and South Korea as a model for the resolution of the war on Ukraine. The circumstances of these two conflicts are very different. The seventy years of relative peace on the Korean Peninsula has allowed South Korea to prosper but has required a continuing military commitm…
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A recent open letter from some leftist college professors urges President Biden to defy the recent Supreme Court decisions. The letter not only exposes how the progressive left views the US Constitution as an impediment to the implementation of their woke agenda, it also reveals what they really think about the American people. In this podcast, the…
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The welfare state was invented by German Chancellor Bismarck to placate the masses while he created an industrial empire to dominate Europe. The industrial empire envisioned by Bismarck has passed away but the welfare state remains. The never-ending welfare state is slowly debilitating Europe hastening its decline into irrelevance. In this podcast,…
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I really like Joe. I thought he would have made a good Vice President. What? No, I am not talking about Joe Biden. I am talking about Joe Lieberman. Joe Lieberman was elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 1989 but when the Democratic Party in Connecticut wanted to go further left, Joe Lieberman ran as an independent defeating the Democratic candid…
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The left is mad at the Supreme Court. They are mad because the Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is refusing to endorse the social justice policies that have been imposed on the American public through executive orders, administrative policies and even faulty opinions of previous courts – all without the benefit of having been made law by our …
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The Difference between Lying and Delusion
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Russian President Putin has a deluded vision of a Russian-led Eurasian civilization of which Ukraine is an integral part, justifying his invasion of that country. He lies a lot but it is hard to tell his lies from his delusion. But Putin is not alone. Many leaders around the world also suffer from delusions – and that includes in America. In this p…
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In their recent book, The Dawn of Everything, Authors David Graeber and David Wengrow attempt to redefine human prehistory through the lens of their progressive left ideology using the analytical techniques of postmodern philosophy. Using narratives, feelings and a lot of guesswork they attempt to show that human can create complex societies withou…
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Historian Stephen Kotkin asserts that the War on Ukraine has evolved into a war of attrition. He further asserts that two key elements to continue such a war are the ability to resupply the unceasing casualties and the depletion of military equipment and munitions backed by the willpower to continue the fight. The Ukrainians are willing to fight bu…
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Who is Vivek Ramaswamy? When Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president of the United States everyone (including me) said, “Who the heck is Vivek Ramaswamy?” Since that announcement, Mr. Ramaswamy has been writing position papers and appearing with the Sunday morning talking heads in order to become better …
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The bizarre and previously fringe philosophy that is postmodernism has become mainstream among US academics as the principal Counter-Enlightenment school of thought. It is the philosophical underpinning of the woke ideology that has infected the American left. But while postmodernism can be effective in pointing out the past transgressions of Weste…
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