Our Raison d’être: Why this site exists?
How did the American experiment transform from an agrarian republic into a multi-continent empire?
Most citizens cannot answer this question—not because they lack intelligence, but because our education system treats history as dates and facts rather than stories and motivations. We memorize when the Spanish-American War occurred without understanding how it established templates for intervention. We learn that World War I happened without grasping how it transformed constitutional governance. We recite that 9/11 changed everything without examining what, precisely, changed and whether it can ever change back.
Consequential Actions exists to fill this gap. Through articles, podcasts, and analysis, we trace the chronological development of American governance—the decisions, the personalities, the alternatives rejected, the consequences unleashed. We present the stories that allow readers to internalize what dates alone cannot convey. We give fair hearing to those who defend each expansion of power before offering our assessment.
Free peoples require government—this truth the founders understood well. Government exists as a necessary instrument for protecting the rights endowed by our Creator. But government is composed of human beings, and the nature of those who hold power is power accumulation. What begins as a tool for protecting liberty becomes, without constant vigilance, a mechanism for its destruction.
This is why accountability matters. This is why federalism matters. In a true federal system, power remains local enough that citizens can hold their representatives accountable. A mayor who abuses authority faces neighbors who elected him. A state legislator who overreaches faces a community he cannot escape. But as power centralizes—first in distant capitals, then in permanent bureaucracies, then in interventions across oceans—accountability dissolves. The further government extends beyond the reach of those it governs, the more corrupt and self-serving it becomes.
The founders understood this when they warned against standing armies and entangling alliances. They understood it when they designed a Constitution of enumerated and limited powers. They understood what we have forgotten: that centralizing decisions for citizens in New York, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia within Washington D.C. was dangerous enough. To think that an administrative state in Washington should oversee and control people on another continent is antithetical to everything they built. It is colonialism by another name—an argument humanity has lived through many times over, always with the same result.
Our standard is simple: we evaluate every policy, every leader, every turning point by asking the founders’ question updated for our time—Did this leave Americans more free or more governed?
The answer, across two centuries of intervention, administrative expansion, and emergency governance, is clear. The founders knew better. It is time we remembered.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.
Stay up-to-date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
Join the crew
Be part of a community of people who share your interests.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
