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.
We’ve seen periods like this before in American politics — they come about every 60 years. And we’re just about due for one.
Lion of the Senate shows that it is policy entrepreneurs – legislators who can operate with limited power, a clear vision, and tremendous creativity and passion – who really get things done.
For decades, two big parties dominated Spanish politics. But in recent elections, complete political neophytes stormed the stage, dealing a blow to the two-party system. Could the same happen in the United States?
Seven charts that might make you fear for democracy’s future — in America, and around the world.
Here’s why $60 million in ad spending has been a huge waste so far for presidential candidates.
The Trump effect is real, and in some ways calculations about the likelihood of his winning and being an effective president are irrelevant.
Most likely, the damage Trump could do is pretty limited, because the powers of the presidency are pretty limited.
McConnell wants to allow the parties to control even more campaign spending. Here’s why that’s a bad idea.
Here’s why the NRA keeps winning.
The merely affluent, not just the “billionaire class,” have an obligation to contribute more.
The skeptics are wrong. Stronger parties are not the solution to polarization. And small donors are not going to make politics worse.
Every Seattle voter will get a chance to be a political donor. It’s an idea that’s finally stepping out of the faculty lounge, and no one knows for sure how it will work.
The terrain of solid conservative opposition to climate science and policy is shifting.
The current debate format is lame. We can do better.
Republicans are in a strong position to be the dominant party in America for a while to come. Here’s why.
Governors may say they want flexibility with Medicaid, but they have plenty. Paul Ryan’s “opportunity grants” would cost them billions.
The congressional battle between radicals and institutionalists reflects and reinforces divides of race, ideology, and region.
For the first time, no one can tell what men want in the voting booth either.
Donald Trump and Ben Carson aren’t “novelty” candidates. They came in with broad bases of support, which they found in unusual ways.
David Hoppe is a classic Washington fixer type. Here’s why Ryan chose him.
The next US House speaker will have bargain to get to 218 votes. Will it be with Dems or with the House Freedom Caucus?
Yes, their policy agenda is ridiculous and extreme. But they’ve got some process ideas we really should talk about.
Big political donors aren’t even the 1 percent — they are their own subculture.
There are many reasons we probably won’t have a bipartisan speaker. But some of the objections may not be as strong as the conventional wisdom thinks.
Crazy times call for crazy governing solutions. Here’s one way the House could elect its next speaker.
The president doesn’t run the country alone. It’s important to know who is going to provide key advice.
You won’t believe what these transpartisans did next.
Kevin McCarthy has raised lots of money for the Republican Party, and he’s shared it widely. That’s why he’s likely to be the next speaker.
Left and right are coming together to make prison reform one of the most successful transpartisanship efforts to date.
To run for president, you pretty much have to be insane. No wonder all our candidates are so bad.
A few thinkers on the conservative side are coming around to the view that cutting congressional funding to prove a point turns out to be at best pointless, and more likely counter-productive.
The goal: To create “responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels.”
The right hates excessive government regulation. The left hates inequality. They should both hate “regressive rents.”
A new study finds that when justices opted in to a public financing system, the justices did exactly what judges are supposed to do -- they ruled impartially.
Stanley Hoffmann passed away this past Sunday. Political science has lost a model for what it means to be a scholar, an intellectual, and a mensch — and it will never be the same.
Is our system of government going to go the way of Humpty Dumpty?
Everyone agrees American democracy is in trouble. But some activists and academics think Congress and elections are the wrong place to look for solutions.
When Democrats have been in the White House for eight years, they don’t mention corruption issues in the party platforms.
The good news is she supports small-donor matching. The bad news is she ignores lobbying, and puts far too much emphasis on Citizens United.
It’s quite possible that the target audience for the advertising blitz was as much AIPAC’s own supporters as it was members of Congress.