Essays
These aren't takes. They're longform deconstructions. Each essay in FINE PRINT unpacks a rigged mechanism—economic, political, or cultural—and drags it into the light. Essays are fully footnoted, fully independent, and written to outlast the news cycle.
Longform analysis. Sharp, researched, and allergic to fluff.
This is where the story unfolds in full. FINE PRINT essays are deep-format breakdowns of rigged systems—political, economic, cultural, and structural. Each piece is built to outlast the news cycle and outclass the spin.
No SEO filler. No recycled outrage. Just documented insight, pattern recognition, and receipts.
Read closely. Then read it again.
The System Isn’t Broken - It’s Designed This Way: A Manifesto
The system isn’t malfunctioning—it’s functioning exactly as designed. FINE PRINT is your refuge from the noise, where we trace the rigged patterns, decode the myths, and dismantle the illusion of neutrality. This is your first dispatch from inside the machine.
David Kirsch
ENGINEERED TO FAIL: THE ARCHITECTURE OF DEMOCRATIC DECLINE
American democracy isn’t malfunctioning—it’s performing exactly as designed. From gerrymandering to dark money to judicial capture, our institutions were architected to resist the people, not serve them.
David Kirsch
The Theater of Managed Opposition
Democratic resistance is theater—well-funded, consultant-driven spectacle that simulates opposition without risking real change. The show must go on, but the outcome was rigged from the start.
David Kirsch
The Myth of Mainstreaming: Why Corporate Cannabis Got It Wrong
Cannabis didn’t need a corporate makeover to be accepted, it was already mainstreamed by legacy operators and activists. The market didn’t reject cannabis. It rejected the lie that culture was the problem.
David Kirsch
The Hollow Promise of Cannabis Social Equity
Equity was promised. What we got was roleplay. Predatory partnerships, PR stunts, and broken funding pipelines turned cannabis social equity into a costume—worn for licenses, discarded for profit.
David Kirsch