The Inner Monologue

By a Nebraska Corn and Soybean FarmerOctober 2025 Most mornings, I’m up before sunrise, coffee in hand, watching the eastern sky turn gray over the fields. It’s a quiet time to think — about the weather, the markets, the next bill due, and now, about Washington. The news says the federal government has “shut down.”…

Across two different deserts, in two different states, two great inland seas are dying. One—the Salton Sea of Southern California—is a century-old accident of human engineering. The other—the Great Salt Lake of Utah—is a natural wonder, older than civilization. Both are shrinking fast. Both are exposing toxic lakebeds that were never meant to breathe the…

Every nation measures poverty, but few measure it well. Politicians and economists love tidy thresholds—line graphs, percentile markers, and tidy claims that “the bottom 20% live in poverty.” It sounds scientific, manageable, and objective. But the reality of poverty is never a straight line; it is a web, a vortex, and sometimes a trap. Measuring…

Every night, nearly 800,000 Americans sleep without a permanent home. That number has quietly surpassed every modern record, even as the United States boasts more vacant housing units than homeless citizens by a factor of thirty. We are not suffering from a housing shortage so much as a coordination failure — a moral and economic…

For generations, America led the world by inventing the future. But leadership isn’t guaranteed. While we’ve been busy arguing, other nations quietly tested, refined, and implemented ideas that actually work — ideas that made their streets safer, their children healthier, their governments more efficient, and their economies more resilient. They’ve built on the shoulders of…

Or: Why You’re Not Special Enough to Dodge the Universe’s Pranks Let’s play a game. Say this out loud:“That would never happen to me.” Now, congratulations! You’ve just jinxed yourself in 47 languages. Here’s the thing—humanity runs on a delightful little delusion that we’re somehow exempt from the chaos of existence. We eat our salads,…

The party that governs by grievance. There’s a curious phenomenon in American politics today: a political party that proudly brands itself as the home of strength, toughness, and decisive leadership — yet simultaneously claims to be utterly powerless. According to its own members, Republicans control everything and nothing at the same time. They are the…

Why voice-controlled technology will never truly be mainstream For nearly two decades, Silicon Valley has been trying to convince us that the future is hands-free. That we’ll bark at our cars, our homes, our phones, and our appliances—and they’ll obey like loyal servants. It’s a vision of effortless control: no typing, no tapping, just words.…

Let’s talk about that person. You know the one. The one who slides into your DMs or lingers after a reading to say, “I love everything you write… except that one thing. You know, the one that felt a little… too real.” First of all, congratulations. You’ve just confirmed that I did my job. If…