Politics

What Does the McCutcheon Decision Say about Democracy?

Our civics has encouraged us to think of voting as special. Roberts’s opinion suggests we have misled ourselves.

Does Big Data Threaten Political Inequality?

A response to Archon Fung and Anthony Fowler.

Is Get-Out-the-Vote Bad for Democracy?

How efforts to increase voter turnout exacerbate inequality.

How Feasible is a Social Democratic America?

The case for optimism, even in the face of rising inequality.

Thinking Inequality

Americans want action on inequality in a notably American way.

What Journalism Can and Can’t Do for Politics

The most consequential and controversial questions in politics are not amenable to fact-checking.

Why the Success of the Rest is Good for America

Charles Kenny's The Upside of Down.

The Landscape of Campaign Finance Reform

Lawrence Lessig walked across New Hampshire to put campaign finance reform back on the national agenda.

Who’s Hot?

Looking ahead to the 2014 midterm elections.

Soft Power in Nigeria

The U.S. is funding development in restive Northern Nigeria, but soft power isn't blunting anti-American sentiments.

The Larger Lesson of Huckabee’s Comments on Women

The larger Republican rhetorical strategy.

Walking on Ice to Clean Up Congress

Lessig’s New Hampshire rebellion.

Libertarianism Is Very Strange

Outside the fantasy novels of Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein, libertarianism does not make much anthropological or historical sense. 

Transparency Is Not the Government’s Responsibility

The problem is that it is not anybody else’s responsibility, either.

Trench Democracy in Public Administration: an Interview with Kimball Payne

Study circles for race and racism in Lynchburg.

Inequality: Is Obama Serious About Economic Justice?

President Obama seems comfortable pursuing cooperation, but not redistribution.

On Evgeny Morozov

“I hate the word ‘problematizer,’ but it leaps to mind when I think about Evgeny.”

Do Game Changers Matter?

Political science and political reporting.

Obama Got the Law Right and the Politics Wrong

His ACA employer mandate delay was constitutional—why didn’t he say so?

How De Blasio’s Real Estate Choices Can Save NYC

Cities can make decisions. Cities can set their own priorities. Cities can resist the self-interested categories of those with extraordinary wealth.

Can Greece’s SYRIZA Change Europe’s Economy?

The biggest threat to Greece’s left-wing coalition is itself.

Scarcity Can Help Us Rethink Social Policy…and Campaigns

Scarcity lays the foundation for thinking differently about poverty.

Gandhi and the Affordable Care Act

He didn’t believe in short-cuts.

What Are Radicals Good For?

An interview with George Scialabba on utopia, the hive mind, reviewers, and intellectuals.

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