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Big Government Isn't The Problem by Michael Lind, salon.com | December 11, 2012
Has the United States mutated from democracy into kludgeocracy? The term “kludgeocracy” is a coinage by Steven M. Teles, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and a leading public intellectual in his own right. In a new paper commissioned by my colleagues and me at the New America Foundation, Teles argues that the complexity of American government is a greater long-run threat than its size. “You can’t solve a problem until you can name it,” Teles argues. The term “kludge” originated in computer programming, and means “an inelegant patch put in place to be backward compatible with the rest of a system. When you add up enough kludges, you get a very complicated program, one that is hard to understand and subject to crashes.” This sounds very much like American government — thus “kludgeocracy.” Teles finds kludgeocracy everywhere he looks. read more »How to Save the Democratic Party by I.R. Runner, The Nation | December 6, 2012
American progressives and principled liberals need to face an essential truth: the Democratic Party, as now constituted, is no longer an agency for realizing their ideals. The problem is not President Obama or any other individual leader but the Democratic Party itself. Much of its establishment, from Washington to most of the state capitals, has long since become a party of “bipartisan compromise” with an increasingly right-wing Republicanism, particularly on economic issues with great social consequences—as though America’s true course now lies midway between abolishing the achievements of the New Deal and Great Society and extending them fully in our times. A new party—not a third party, but a real second party representing authentic alternatives, as befits a democracy—is therefore urgently needed. Fortunately, the nucleus of such a party already exists, however captive-like and timid, inside today’s Democratic Party. read more »Six Tasks for Progressives by Celinda Lake, prospect.org | December 4, 2012
We have six tasks we must perform to build the kind of country America needs to be. The single most important is to outline a clear progressive economics. People want to know what the progressive economic perspective is, particularly now when so many centrist and conservative policies are in disrepute. Our economic perspective really hasn’t permeated public consciousness yet. We have few if any candidates running on implementing such policies, and if they’re elected and do implement those policies, they don’t talk about them. Even when our candidates articulate an economic narrative, they add every other policy area to their talk. We need a much more disciplined focus on explaining our economic narrative. We need to recruit a cohort of candidates to run in 2014 on these themes: Here’s our agenda; here’s how it creates jobs. We need to bring economists, candidates, and communications people together to map this out. read more »How to Talk About a Changing America by Paul Waldman, prospect.org | December 3, 2012
The always humane and thoughtful Harold Pollack reminds us that we should reserve some sympathy for the people who feel unsettled by the rapid pace of change in 21st century America. read more »Ending Racism—One Person At A Time by Denise Oliver Velez, dailykos.com | December 2, 2012
It should be patently clear to anyone who just went through the trauma of one of the most racially vituperative presidential elections in recent history that racism hasn't magically dissolved into the ether. Doubtful it will get better in the next four years if the millions of racists in this country have anything to say about it. It really isn't about racist politicians. They are only a symptom of the disease. They got elected by the racists who voted for them. Those same racists will be voting in the next election. We have a black president for the second time. That has done little to diminish the outpouring of racial hatred here, and in some ways it has only inflamed it. This is no time to do a victory dance where racism is concerned. It is however, time to ask a serious question. What are you doing to stop racism? read more »Dominance: The New Democratic Voting Base Is an Electoral Steamroller by Jonathan Bernstein, alternet.org | December 2, 2012
Have the Democrats opened up a real Electoral College advantage over the Republicans? I’m not talking about the illusion of an advantage that comes with winning consecutive elections. No, I’m talking about an Electoral College edge above and beyond the national vote. That’s not defined by which states went for which candidate; it’s found by looking at what would have happened in the Electoral College if an election had been tied in the national vote. To calculate it, assume uniform swing – that is, if swing state Ohio moves toward the Democrats, then liberal Vermont and conservative Utah will also move toward the Democrats by the same amount. In reality, the states don’t swing quite that equally, but they’re very close to it . read more »Nothing Like Being Re-elected by Michae Tomasky, thedailybeast.com | November 30, 2012
Nothing validates a politician's sense of self like being reelected. Once could have been a fluke, the pol secretly thinks to himself. Especially for Obama, especially under 2008's highly unique circumstances. Did I, he had to wonder sometimes at 3 am, just somehow pull the wool over people's eyes? But then the people had four years to take his measure, four years during which the other side threw everything it had at him. Then came a campaign against an opponent who looked central-casting presidential, was obviously qualified, was well-financed, and ran a pretty good campaign all in all. And Obama beat him clearly and decisively. That can make a fella say, "All right. The people want me. They want my agenda and my ideas. So let's roll." read more »The Millennial Generation: Our Liberal Future by Jonathan Chait, nymag.com | November 29, 2012
How doomed are conservatives? Pretty doomed, if you look carefully at the Pew Research Survey’s close analysis of the youth vote in the 2012 elections. The Republicans’ long-term dilemma has generally been framed in racial terms, but it’s mainly a generational one. The youngest generation of voters contains a much smaller proportion of white voters than previous generations, and those whites in that generation vote Republican by a much smaller margin than their elders. What’s more, younger voters supported President Obama during the last two election cycles for reasons that seem to go beyond the usual reasons — social issues like gay marriage and feminism, immigration policy, or Obama’s personal appeal — and suggest a deeper attachment to liberalism. The proclivities of younger voters may actually portend a full-scale sea change in American politics. read more »The Irony of Right-wing Secessionist Fantasies by Gary Younge, The Nation | November 29, 2012
In the wake of Obama’s victory, citizens in several states submitted petitions to secede from the United States. It is something of an irony that the very states seeking secession from “big government”—like Louisiana and Alabama—have been among the top beneficiaries of that selfsame government. Put bluntly, the government would be far smaller without them, and they would seriously struggle far more without it. Indeed, were they to become independent, most would be failed states in need of a bailout. Only this time their benefactor would be not the federal government but the International Monetary Fund, of which the United States is the principal donor. Louisiana and Alabama would go the way of Greece and Spain. Far from rejecting the “European model,” these would-be campaigners for “independence” are actually embracing it, in their secessionist impulses and in their economic fate. read more »Why Black Women Must Stand Up To The Unfair Attacks On Susan Rice by Dr. Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, thegrio.com | November 29, 2012
Let’s be real about the hoops that Susan Rice finds herself now navigating in order to save her potential nomination for the position of Secretary of State. They are hoops structured, designed, and maintained by the persistence of white male privilege in America. They serve as reminders that though a new and rising diverse electoral coalition is undoubtedly in play, the overall paradigm of power and privilege in this nation remains firmly within the grasp of white men. Let’s remind ourselves of how this whole thing began. read more »
The Latest
Guest Workers Win in Court, Christian Science Monitor | October 21, 2008
Federal judges on both coasts this month awarded major settlements to Hispanic guest workers in rulings that could alter the U.S. immigration debate and potentially offer new jobs to Americans. In San Francisco, a federal judge ordered back pay to the original guest workers from Mexico who laid track for American rail companies in the World War II era. more »
Obama Wins Historic Nomination, iht.com | August 28, 2008
Senator Barack Obama was nominated by his party today to be the 44th president of the United States. The unanimous vote made Obama the first African-American to become a major party nominee for president. more »
Liberal Positions Gain Popularity, mcclatchydc.com | August 24, 2008
As they meet for their national convention, Democrats are poised to shift their party's course — and the country's. more »
Lawsuit Details ICE Detainee's Death, The New York Times | August 22, 2008
A lawsuit filed in federal court a year ago by a Dominican detainee makes complaints about health care at a detention center in Rhode Island that are similar to accounts of how the center treated a Chinese New Yorker who died Aug. 6 in immigration custody. That inmate was suffering from a fractured spine and extensive cancer that had gone undiagnosed until five days before his death. more »
Immigrant, Pregnant, Is Jailed Under Pact , The New York Times | July 21, 2008
In a case that has outraged immigration activists, county police outside Nashville, Tenn., arrested a pregnant undocumented worker and, when she was about to give birth, chained her to a hospital bed. Once she had given birth, the baby was taken away from her for two days and the father was denied contact. more »
Businesses Fight Labor Reform, Financial Times | April 10, 2008
U.S. business leaders are stepping up a campaign against proposed labor law reforms, backed by the Democrats, that could significantly enhance the ability of unions to organize workers. The proposals would waive an employer’s right to insist on a secret workplace ballot on union representation. more »
Green Card Rules Eased, iht.com | February 12, 2008
House Democrats Trim Their 2008 Agenda, The Washington Post | February 1, 2008
At their annual retreat, Democrats are thinking smaller, much smaller than in 2007. more »
Union Membership Up, Truthout | January 28, 2008
Boxer Puts Bill to Slow Global Warming on Ice, mercurynews.com | November 14, 2007
