Polyarchy
This post is part of Polyarchy, an independent blog produced by the political reform program at New America, a Washington think tank devoted to developing new ideas and new voices.
When it comes to reform at the state and local levels, there’s little standardization and no systematic analysis of the effects.
The politics of guns are changing
That’s when Maine voters will decide (again) on ranked-choice voting
It’s a miserable job, and campaigning for it is awful.
Letting Trump off the hook for his silliest lie corrodes democracy and trust.
The decision could potentially make public spaces less public and less equitable.
Make America great, make America unequal?
Accountability for a fair, open, and equitably accessible internet could be found in state legislatures and city halls.
To save non-demagogic conservatism, somebody has to break up the Republican Party.
A modest proposal for bringing back policy.
It’s 2018. We can do better than picking names out of a bowl.
Partisan loyalty has triumphed over institutional loyalty.
Policy design matters.
Republicans are flailing on taxes because they don’t understand how to set up policy fights they can win.
We’re not going to fix American democracy until we can explain why the GOP went crazy.
The juxtaposition of broadly competitive national elections plus broadly non-competitive state elections is really unusual. And really dangerous.
If he’s serious, he should form a rump faction and make a deal with Chuck Schumer to restore regular order under a new coalition government.
Without a challenge, Trump is redefining the values of the party.
Do members and staff even understand their chamber’s role in democracy?
More time in session won’t solve Congress’s declining productivity.
Nobody wants to be the first to stand up.
Impeachment is still a political decision. But the calculus is getting trickier.
If we want a government that listens meaningfully to the public, we need to take our own engagement seriously too.
Two now-standard responses — strengthening our parties and making two-party elections more competitive — are not going to do it.
A more progressive economic policy is crucial to rebuilding a middle class.
It’s time to make peace with reality and develop a new plan.
Republicans are stuck with Trump. If he goes down, they go down with him.
The whole premise of “draining the swamp” ignores the realities of governing in a complex, modern society.
Impeaching Trump would bring chaos on the Republican Party. But the chaos needs to happen at some point.
Ways to deal with the exhaustion of trying to stay on top of the nonstop scandals and absurdities emanating from the Trump administration.
Tribal war demands overlooking any corruption on your own side, because there is always a greater enemy: the other side.
In theory, the field is open for some Republican members to find their way back to the small trade-offs and compromises that have always allowed politics to function.
A year ago, analysts predicted a major scrambling of partisan alliances. Why hasn’t it happened?
It depends: Is there a legislative fight that could convince individual GOP senators to give up their own power?
All signs point to a hard road ahead for the GOP.
Republicans won three elections on an argument they never took seriously.
If it succeeds, he can take credit. If it fails, he can blame it on Paul Ryan.
We appreciate things more when somebody threatens to take them away.