Issue #296

Chris McDaniel’s election tantrum is more than sore-loserdom Last Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a bill designed to protect the right to vote and fight racial discrimination in education, employment, and public facilities. It was a hard-fought historic accomplishment, one that changed lives and made the promise of democracy…

Issue #294

GOP’s culture war disaster: How this week highlighted a massive blind spot Progressives often comfort themselves that while they’re losing a lot of economic battles, at least they’re winning the so-called culture wars. But lately it’s impossible not to notice that even our culture war victories are uneven. They mostly involve gay rights, particularly marriage…

Issue #292

Hobby Lobby: A ruling that both sides can run with The Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that the government cannot force certain employers to pay for birth control was more than a rebuke to President Obama. It was vindication of the conservative movement’s efforts to chip away at laws it finds objectionable by raising questions of freedom of expression. The…

Issue #291

The single most important fact about American politics Perhaps the single most important fact about American politics is this: the people who participate are more ideological and more partisan, as well as angrier and more fearful, than those who don’t. The finding emerges from Pew’s massive survey of 10,000 Americans, which concluded that “Republicans and Democrats are more divided…