The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
Trump’s Personal Investments and Government by Deal
English Summary
The article argues that the Trump administration's tendency to treat policymaking as a series of personalized 'deals'—such as trading export permissions or government stakes for revenue—undermines predictable market function. Key evidence includes the president's personal investments in major companies like Nvidia, Intel, and Boeing, which are directly affected by the administration's discretionary policies. The core finding is that this 'government-by-deal' approach forces businesses to focus on political favor rather than sound business judgment. Therefore, the policy implication is that the executive branch must be restricted from wielding such broad, discretionary power over individual companies and sectors, favoring instead a neutral, predictable regulatory framework.
中文摘要
本文論述川普政府將政策制定視為一系列個人化的「交易」——例如以貿易出口許可或政府股權換取收入——的做法，損害了市場的預測性功能。關鍵證據包括總統在輝達（Nvidia）、英特爾（Intel）和波音（Boeing）等主要公司進行的個人投資，這些投資直接受到政府自由裁量政策的影響。核心發現是，這種「以交易為政府」的模式迫使企業將精力放在爭取政治青睞，而非依循穩健的商業判斷。因此，政策意涵是，行政部門必須限制行使如此廣泛的、針對個別公司和產業的酌情權力，而應轉向建立一個中立、可預測的監管框架。
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