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November 6, 2025

Welcome to The Lighthouse, the weekly email newsletter of the Independent Institute covering politics, economics, current events, and everything in between.

Dear Readers,

The federal government shutdown is setting a new record, with negotiations still at a standstill—and fresh calls to end filibuster are resurfacing. But America keeps moving while the shutdown persists. Many voters across the nation participated in several important contests, including the New York City mayoral race, which has captured national attention, along with the Virginia gubernatorial election and California’s Proposition 50.

This week, Ivan Eland writes about how Trump’s Western Hemisphere strategy smartly shifts focus from Europe but veers into counterproductive imperialism through militarized drug policy and aggressive posturing.

Sam Jenson recounts how government-led urban renewal and highway projects devastated West Oakland’s once-thriving black cultural hub, erasing its soul in the name of “progress.”

I criticize Proposition 50 as a retaliatory bid to counter Texas’s partisan gerrymandering that risks a nationwide degradation of electoral fairness.

Finally, Elen Irazabal Arana and Nikolai G. Wenzel dissect California’s new AI law, which prioritizes regulatory compliance over genuine safety, risking a shift from expert-led risk management to bureaucratic box-checking.

Happy reading.

Jonathan Hofer
Managing Editor

Top picks this week
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** Trump’s Focus on the Western Hemisphere Is Astute, but the Policy Needs Adjusting ([link removed])
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** by Ivan Eland
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The Trump administration deserves praise for focusing on regions close to home—yet its focus on the Western Hemisphere needs some work.
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** West Oakland Was a Beacon. Urban Renewal and Federal Policy Ruined It ([link removed])
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** by Sam Jenson
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This is the story of how West Oakland was decimated in the name of “progress.”
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** The Game of Prop 50 and the Redistricting Arms Race ([link removed])
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** by Jonathan Hofer
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Are we committed to living in a nation with a truly representative government? Then we cannot discard our existing, more representative system for the sake of partisan gamesmanship in Congress.
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** Moral Hazard and Risk Management: California’s AI Law Confuses Compliance with Safety ([link removed])
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** by Elen Irazabal Arana & Nikolai G. Wenzel
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Isn’t it long past time to set the politicians’ spending ratchet in reverse? Rather than regulating the actual harm that might come from AI, California has chosen to focus on … paperwork.
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** FEATURED BOOK — OUT NOW!
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** Beyond Homeless ([link removed])
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** Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, Transformative Solutions ([link removed])
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** Edited by Mary L. G. Theroux, Lawrence J. McQuillan, and Adam B. Summers
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“With an impressive array of scholars and data, Beyond Homeless should be essential reading for those curious about how to change course on homelessness.”

—Judge Glock, Director of Research and Senior Fellow at the

Manhattan Institute; contributing editor of City Journal
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