The Big Idea
Outside contributors’ opinions and analysis of the most important issues in politics, science, and culture.
Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant was ground zero for Great Society anti-poverty programs. You’d hardly guess it today.
As a region, the South lags. But many states could improve how they conduct elections.
Psychedelic drugs are back in a big way. Let’s get the policy right this time.
A short-term perspective means we forget how much progress has been made in reducing poverty and mortality rates — and in much else.
Economic productivity dropped in the early ’70s and has never fully recovered
They confront some of the same forces that bedeviled President Barack Obama’s reforms.
The founders didn’t expect electors to rubber-stamp the popular vote.
Voters in swing states are disproportionately white — a fact that shapes campaigns.
Children who “wander” can pose risks to themselves. But restricting freedom carries risks too.
Liberal efforts to mimic conservative media have a long, sad history.
Republicans are leading an assault on voting rights. Democrats need to go on the counterattack.
Everyone should have the right to physician-assisted suicide, or no one should
Contrary to conventional wisdom, places where children out-earn their parents tended to vote for Trump.
To sidestep the goal of equal justice for all betrays a core value of liberalism.
Trump had a clear economic message centered on jobs and wages. What was Clinton’s?
A federal judge struck down a Department of Labor standard that’s been uncontroversially used since 1938.
Racists have long sought to reposition themselves as modern and sophisticated. The press is perpetually amazed.
The challenge, on a fast track to the Supreme Court, relies on a new tool to measure the unfair drawing of districts.
The real story isn’t the recent uptick in deaths. The problem is more fundamental.
There are echoes from the 19th century in the Republican effort to roll back liberal gains.
Issuing last-minute “parameters” to guide a peace agreement won’t achieve much
While some of Trump’s economic policy proposals are, in isolation, to be welcomed, many may contain poison pills.
Mandates are a squishy concept. That doesn’t mean they don’t matter.
I did not set out to study rural resentment of “elites,” but that’s what I found.
A great race is on between America’s past and future.
Clinton drew a record share of the Latino vote, and Latino turnout was huge.
Democracy means accepting shocking outcomes.
The executive branch, observers have long said, contains the seeds of American Caesarism.
A new service helps you research those often-overlooked local candidates and issues.
Everyone talks about dog-whistling, but the concept is trickier than it first seems.
Actual voter opinion doesn’t change often during a campaign. But the willingness to respond to polls does.
From targeting anti-interventionists in the 1930s to harassing MLK, and beyond.
The network couldn’t control the Tea Party movement it promoted, and faces challenges from more aggressive right-wing outlets.
Problems include machines that don’t generate a paper trail and a lack of effective auditing.
Marijuana legalization is driving a rethinking of states’ rights.
A new study found a way to increase empathy for members of this troubled, growing community.
Yes, Comey was in a tight spot. But there’s a reason the FBI doesn’t comment on investigations — especially before an election.
The traits one linguist identified can be explained a different way.