The dead argue about the news. You pick your side.

Each edition of Third Opinion starts with one news story, built from verified reporting: every factual claim must be supported by at least two independent sources before it runs.

Three historical thinkers — Niccolò Machiavelli, John Locke, and Adam Smith — then write first-person essays on that story. The essays are interpretations grounded in each thinker’s real published works; the citations they carry point to real texts. Readers vote on who won the argument, and the verdicts accumulate into season standings.