Free Minds, Free Markets

The Transportation Security Administration is not a terrorist's nightmare, but rather a regular traveler's. People don’t fear the TSA because it’s effective at stopping threats; they fear it for confiscating their favorite food, treating them like a criminal for carrying 3.5 oz of toothpaste, or subjecting them to an invasive pat-down. Travelers are greeted with hostility, not professionalism. In 2024, taxpayers were forced to hand over $11.2 billion to fund these unpleasant experiences. Now, in 2025, the TSA is asking for even more: $11.8 billion. In 2015, the TSA operated on $4.8 billion, meaning their funding has increased by 133% in just a decade. Despite this massive increase, they’ve only become slower, more inefficient, and angrier at the people they’re supposed to serve. Competition Is Needed Competition works. People have different needs, and competition allows them to choose what works best for them. Businesses, in turn, have to improve to meet those needs or risk los...

Amtrak, a government passenger railroad corporation, has never made a profit since its inception in 1971. The government train company loses close to a billion dollars each year while sucking an extra $2-4 billion dollars a year from taxpayers to fund its failures. In addition to taxpayer funded bailouts, the continued losses Amtrak accumulates creates a far more deeper problem for everyone. WHAT EFFICIENCY IS Let's say you are in charge of constructing a train from City A to City B, but a mountain stands in the way of these two cities. As the manager of this project, you must choose to either build around the mountain or drill through it, in order to reach the other city. Building around this mountain will require a lot of steel but not as many engineers to design the extended railroad. On the contrary, drilling through the mountain will require less steel, but more engineers to design a tunnel. Between these two, you must account for one factor: both steel and engineers are also ...