Shows / Edifice of Trust
Edifice of Trust
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 course…
Episodes
Edifice of TrustPack It Up!
The Democrats cannot pack left-leaning justices onto the Supreme Court until they have a Democratic president who can nominate candidates with the correct…
Edifice of TrustWelfare and State Power
The welfare state, as practiced in Europe and recommended by Bernie Sanders and the progressive left in the US, is becoming unraveled in France as the country…
Edifice of TrustIf I were Trump
If I were in President Trump's shoes I would do things differently. Almost anyone would do things differently. President Trump may be likely to stay his course…
Edifice of TrustThere is Nothing to Debate
There are very few debates between rival candidates in the runup to the 2026 mid-term elections. And the few that have been held deteriorated into ad hominin…
Edifice of TrustOur French Future
French students are rioting in the streets because they want their government, already huge by any standard, to get even bigger. This despite the fact that…
Edifice of TrustWho Cares about November?
Who does care about election day this November? The outcome seems pretty much preordained even though the MAGA right and socialist left continue to fight it…
Edifice of TrustPrinciples versus Reality
This has been a difficult commentary to prepare. America has welcomed people of many different religions as visitors as well as citizens. But members of one…
Edifice of TrustLooking for Good News
My wife always complains that my commentaries are depressing because I only discuss the bad news out there. But there is good news out there as well, if you…
Edifice of TrustExploiting Exploitation
Greedy capitalists are not the only people exploiting workers and other so-called victims in the US. Political party platforms try to seduce people who feel…
Edifice of TrustLet's Get Real
Republicans and Democrats have been buying votes for decades with generous benefits and even more generous tax cuts – and now even the Democratic Socialists…
Edifice of TrustIs This Really Socialism?
There are a lot of policies being promoted under the name of socialism by Democrats in the runup to this fall's mid-term elections (and especially by the…
Edifice of TrustSocialism Upended
Within two months of his election as president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez held a referendum for a constitutional assembly to change the basic institutions of…
Edifice of TrustForever Negotiations
A few days ago President Trump announced a temporary pause in kinetic warfare against Iran in order to give diplomatic negotiations another chance. Another…
Edifice of TrustAmerican Suicide
For 250 years John Adams has been wrong about the imminent demise of American democracy. And while President Trump's vision of American greatness is distorted…
Edifice of TrustThere is no Deus Ex Machina
The campaign promises of politicians are similar to the theatrical plot device known as deus ex machina, something (in ancient Greek dramas an actor portraying…
Edifice of TrustMother Nature's Revenge
About a million years ago, our prehistoric ancestors were reduced to barely thirteen hundred individuals, a so-called genetic bottleneck. If our ancestors had…
Edifice of TrustGag Reflex
The candidates for the upcoming 2026 elections that are being chosen by the Republicans and Democrats (aka MAGA and DSA) are repellent to say the least. Voters…
Edifice of TrustOld Time Religion
Many of the early colonists came to North America so that they could practice their interpretation of the Christian faith for which they were being persecuted…
Edifice of TrustThe Next Greatest Generation
The Greatest Generation was made up of millions of ordinary Americans that rose to the challenges of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Past…
Edifice of TrustSo, Elon's a Trillionaire - Let's Tax the Hell Outta him
As the largest shareholder in the newly public company, SpaceX, Elon Musk is now the world's first trillionaire. And it is only a matter of time for calls to…
Edifice of TrustThe origin of MAGA Politics
Nicholas Wade, in his most recent book the Origin of Politics, tries to use evolution to justify why a nation state based on ethnicity, language and religion…
Edifice of TrustNo Art in this Deal
Peace talks with Iran are ongoing but, seemingly, going nowhere. As Condoleezza Rice stated in a recent op-ed, no deal is better than a bed deal. But any deal…
Edifice of TrustRooting for the Underdog
Americans love to root for the underdog. But rooting for an underdog doesn't mean we want to tilt the field in the underdog's favor. We want the underdog to…
Edifice of TrustStolen Franchise
There is no big tent in the Republican Party. Only loyalty to President Trump and his agenda is acceptable. Everyone else must be purged and President Trump…
Edifice of TrustSports Betting and Other Vices
Watching a golf tournament on Sunday afternoon has become a non-stop barrage of adverts for betting, announcers discussing of the odds for each player and…
Edifice of TrustIts not 1965 Anymore
The Supreme Court's decision to strike down minority-majority voting districts presumably required under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been denounced as…
Edifice of TrustMisunderstanding Democracy
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a speech at the University of Texas celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and…
Edifice of Trustdemocratic writing (small d democratic)
Danielle Allen describes in her book, Our Declaration, the lengthy and difficult process behind the writing of the Declaration of Independence. But the process…
Edifice of TrustAthens, Rome and Jerusalem
The well-educated Founders of America structured the new nation based on the classical literature of Democratic Athens and the Roman Republic that they had…
Edifice of TrustNo Commissars
The No Kings protests were touted as a great success as millions turned out into the streets while the rest of us were inundated by widespread and generally…
Edifice of TrustWhat's Worse than Billionaires?
Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani say that billionaires shouldn't exist. But the truth of the matter is that our welfare system is dependent on those…
Edifice of TrustFinish the War
The Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have suffered heavy damage in personnel and equipment from the joint American and Israeli…
Edifice of TrustRegime Change Trump-style
Will the killing of Ali Khamenei and many of his top Islamic supporters mimic the capture and arrest of Maduro in Venezuela? Maduro and his regime were more…
Edifice of TrustTrump Is No Bonaparte
Time is running out for Donald Trump to establish his legacy. The legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte, for good or ill, has lasted over 200 years since his death…
Edifice of TrustCompromise - A Dirty Word
Senator Chuck Schumer has announced that the Democrats will shut down the government if their demands aren't met. President Trump vilifies and tries to punish…
Edifice of TrustNo Safe Haven
Does the rising price of gold signal a looming financial crisis? The price of gold is just one of the forbidding economic signals we are confronting. In this…
Edifice of TrustIn Search of Order
CNBC's Squawk Box crew will probably not have to make their annual pilgrimage to Davos next year. The American-led rules-based world order that the World…
Edifice of TrustUnconstrained
President Trump's actions at home and abroad appear to be unconstrained by custom, decency or any rule of law. Hoover Institute fellow Thomas Sowell pointed…
Edifice of TrustDonroe in Action
President Trump is wasting no time to put into action the principles expounded in the recently published National Security Strategy (NSS 2025). It is a…
Edifice of TrustAdios Maduro. Bienvenidos a Quien?
Maduro is now gone but many of the factors that precipitated his capture and arrest are still in place. The socialist government is still in charge. The…
Edifice of TrustUrgent Priorities in a New World Order
As we enter the year 2026, we must confront the reality that we are living in a new world order. The old American led rules-based world order that was able to…
Edifice of TrustTrumpified Security
I promise this will be the last commentary on Trump's National Security Strategy. Much of the controversy about NSS 2025 has been about the Trump…
Edifice of TrustI Hate It when Trump's Right
The Trump administration's recently published National Security Strategy of the United States has been praised by the right and condemned by the left. But…
Edifice of TrustLook in the Mirror
Our political leaders try to blame others for all the problems we face. Illegal immigrants, greedy corporations, drug cartels, white men, you name it. They…
Edifice of TrustConflation Nation
President Trump conflates his interests and desires with those of the country and accuses any who opposes him of sedition or treason. He accuses Marjorie…
Edifice of TrustMamdani Derangement Syndrome
Our leftist friends suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome cannot get anyone to agree with their rejection of Trump's policies because their arguments are…
Edifice of TrustUnfinished Revolution
An article in the most recent issue of the Atlantic Magazine casts doubt on the validity of an originalist interpretation of the US Constitution citing the…
Edifice of TrustAffordability Agenda
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is running for mayor of New York City on what he calls an affordability agenda. He apparently does not realize that it is…
Edifice of TrustExplain This
The situation in the Middle East is changing quickly. The euphoria of a ceasefire and exchange of hostages has deteriorated into the reality of public…
Edifice of TrustDarkness before Dawn
Remember the old saying, "it is always darkest before the dawn?" This maxim is intended as a message of hope. No matter how bad things are there is always the…
Edifice of TrustHairbrained
As a politician Donald Trump has always been controversial and many of his campaign promises were outlandish and impracticable. In his first term his close…
Edifice of TrustVertical War in America
The horizontal nature of American society (as described by Gordon S. Wood in his book The Radicalism of the American Revolution) is a key factor in what makes…
Edifice of TrustUnaffordable Abundance
Realizing that having no message other than resistance to President Trump will not gain them enough seats to wrest either the House or the Senate from the…
Edifice of TrustFaux Outrage
Democrats across the country are outraged that Texas Governor Abbott wants to redraw the Congressional district map in order to favor Republicans a concept…
Edifice of TrustA Living Document
A Living Document is the Death of Democracy. The viability and credibility of America's public institutions are threatened by executive overreach…
Edifice of TrustHomo Duplex
The dueling ideologies of the left and right are, in reality, the expression of two aspects of our human nature, an independent individual within a larger…
Edifice of TrustThree Kevins
Rumors are flying around Washington about the imminent (and perhaps untimely) departure of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell along with speculation about possible…
Edifice of TrustThe Difference between Capitalism and Socialism
The difference between capitalism and socialism is easy to explain, capitalism creates wealth and socialism distributes wealth. The important thing to keep in…
Edifice of TrustWho Needs Allies?
As president Trump flies off to join other world leaders at the NATO meeting in the Netherlands, it is a good time to analyze the nature of that alliance and…