Politics

America’s Refugee Debt

The United States should take responsibility for its actions in Syria

Assassinating Terrorists Does Not Work

It creates more violent terrorists and leaves no one who can talk peace.

The Limits of Criminal Justice Reform

Reducing prison populations isn’t enough. We need a new criminal system founded on priniciples of justice rather than fear of crime.

Going Negative

The Importance of Judicial Dissent

To Hell with Good Intentions

School reform is failing America’s children.

In Memory of Sheldon Wolin (1922–2015)

The revolutionary theorist sought not liberal stability but democratic adventure.

Reliable Rebel

Jeremy Corbyn and the Revival of the Radical Left

Grandparents Today

Lily Tomlin and Julia Garner in Grandma.

Thoreau’s Public Mind

The author of Walden was not an enemy of civic life.

Half a Loaf

In Israel and Palestine, two states are still better than one.

The People’s Technocracy

But do transparency and smarter government have the power to effect major changes?

The Failure of Refugee Camps

Refugee camps, intended to be temporary, host people for an average of 12 years.

Our Panics, Ourselves

Richard Beck’s new book on the moral panic over child abuse in the 1980s.

Hail to the Pencil Pusher

American bureaucracy’s long and useful history.

The Growing Orthodox Threat to Israeli Democracy

It is becoming impossible to ignore the growing theocratic elements in a nation that sees itself as the only democracy in the Middle East.

Anxieties of Democracy

Democracy no longer has rivals, but its fairness and effectiveness face skepticism.

Learning from the Watts Rebellion

Half a century on, we need to recommit ourselves to correcting the conditions that undergirded the civil unrest of the 1960s.

One Nigeria Under God

Nigeria's recent election encouraged alliances among Muslims and Christians.

The Problem with David Brooks

In true American style, Brooks understands our lives to be the products of individual will alone.

Training for Neoliberalism

Behavioral economics and its ideological tendencies.

The Point of Those Annoying Campaign Emails

Raising money is still the first and most vital task of a campaign, so the hysteria conveyed by these emails is based on real desperation.

Executive Secrecy

If we want to check presidential power—and check it we must—then it is essential that we resist claims to executive secrecy.

In Same-Sex Marriage Case, a Contest over History

History really matters in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Same-Sex Marriage Is Not Sexual Liberation

Without sexual liberation, sexual oppression and sexual violence will continue.

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