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Vol. 1 No. 23February 2012
Culture
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Scarcity Came to Town
Two leading minds on our lean times -
Death Rattle
A new musical movement turns Mexican drug violence into catchy sing-alongs. -
Highlight Reel
The year in culture: the winners, the losers, and not spiking the football -
Harmony in the U.K.
A Londoner on Downton Abbey’s second season
Up Front
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A Tea Party State of Confusion
Republicans in South Carolina want to vote for an archconservative. But can they agree on one?
Departments
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What Do We See?
Penn State and the culture of silence -
GOP OED
This month's Noted -
The Fanatics of the Center
Moderation has its zealots, so convinced of their righteousness that they ignore the likely impact of their actions.
Special Report
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Toppling the Money Empire
Grassroots movements can lead the way in taking big money out of politics. -
Calling for a Convention
Amending the Constitution is our best bet for fixing Congress. -
Minimizing Special-Interest Power by Maximizing Participation
Fighting back against restrictive voting-rights laws and empowering small donors can help reclaim elections. -
Tocqueville for Toffs
Common people have to reclaim democratic civic society from moneyed interests. -
The Clean-Election State
Connecticut's fight against corruption creates a model of transparent government. -
Citizen Bopp
Meet the lawyer on a crusade to topple all limits on the role of money in politics.
Features
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The New Populists
The rise and fall of Zuccotti Park—and the future of the movement it birthed -
A Ninja in Our Sites
An aggressive federal enforcement effort targets online piracy—and threatens the open Internet. -
In Dire Health
Despite the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. medical system is near collapse. What will save it is a single-payer system and physicians in group practice.
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Vol. 22 No. 10December 2011
Culture
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Cold Warrior
No single person encapsulates the drama, the deadly confrontations, and the self-destructive follies of the Cold War better than George Kennan. -
Manning Up
Rick Perry, the man George W. Bush pretended to be, personifies the allure of Texastosterone. -
Snobs Like Us
When did cultural disdain become the province of the left? -
Life, Monetized
In Deadly Monopolies, Harriet A. Washington asserts that corporations now own life itself.
Up Front
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Moment of Conception
How a radical anti-abortion movement matured
Departments
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The Ties That Blind
A belief in American pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mythology lies at the heart of conservative attacks on the 99 percent. -
Protest and Possibility
"We are the 99 percent" has the virtue of being true as well as mobilizing.
Special Report
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Back from China?
Manufacturing once gave the U.S. its middle-class majority. Can it do it again? -
The Cost of Free Trade
Every president asserts that the next trade treaty will turn America into an export powerhouse, but that's just not true.
Features
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For Europe, High Stakes in Greece
Stabilizing one teetering economy won't end the eurozone's dance of death. -
A State of Chaos
How political failures and stagnant institutions brought Greece to the brink of collapse -
A More Perfect Union
New York's Local 6 shows how organized labor can survive and thrive in the service economy. -
God Help Us
Will Rick Perry’s blend of Christian-right, small-government, and pro-corporate fervor land him in the White House?
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Vol. 22 No. 9November 2011
Culture
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Sing, Memory
Pop music is obsessed with the past—and that's not good. -
The Right Word
ConservativeSpeak has so infiltrated the language that we now need a glossary. -
The Theory of Power
Many economists are offering a robust challenge to laissez-faire, but to prevail they'll have to win in the court of public opinion. -
Cleaning Up the Capital
Lawrence Lessig wants to change the corrupt campaign-finance system. His solution, though, is wanting.
Up Front
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Who Stole the Election?
Dominating many state legislatures, Republicans have launched a full-on assault on voting rights. -
Twisting the System
The Prospect talks to Bob Hall, the executive director of Democracy North Carolina.
Departments
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Obama’s Fate -- and Ours
We’re about to find out if the president is a Jimmy Carter or a Harry Truman. The scary part is it may not make a difference in the 2012 election. -
Homeowners Alone
The number of Americans whose homes are "underwater" continues to be a huge drag on the economy, but the administration is failing to address the issue. -
Noted
Readers respond to our 9/11 issue.
Features
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The Constitution: A Love Story
It's time for liberals to reclaim our founding document from fanatics who worship its name but not its meaning. -
The Medicare Bind
Democrats should defend Medicare. But if they want to accomplish much else, they will have to change it. -
The Glorious Invasion
Ten years ago, the Afghanistan War looked like a swift and easy triumph for democracy. But even in the early days there were portents of the catastrophe to come. -
It's an Ad World After All
Is it legal for a company to take out Internet ads on your name after you've filed a complaint against it? Apparently so.
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Vol. 22 No. 8September 2011
Columns
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Land of the Free, Home of the Turncoats
In its nihilistic demonization of government, the right has declared war on America. -
The Bachmann Mystique
How can a woman be an avatar for an evangelical movement that argues that women must obey men?
Culture
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A Surefire Solution
David kennedy's program for reducing urban violence is only half the equation. -
A Rich History and a Strange Reticence
Daniel Yergen's long-awaited follow-up to The Prize tells a ripping tale of the global energy complex, but it waffles when considering alternatives to fossil fuels. -
The Dirty Work
In their new movies, George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh capture the conflicting strains of Obama culture. -
The Public Sources of Prosperity
Alexander Field argues infrastructure spending during the Great Depression did wonders for American productivity. -
Smooth Operator
In her biography of Robert Strauss, Kathryn McGarr waxes nostalgic -- too nostalgic -- for the old days of backroom power brokers.
Departments
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Letters
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The Commons
Zipcar and Flexcar started an economic revolution in urbanized America. But how much are we willing to share?
Special Report
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Beware: Judges With a Vision
The Supreme Court's historic role has been to slow, not accelerate, social reform. -
Under the Influence
Over the last decade, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent a huge amount to tilt state courts its way. -
Disorder in the Court
How an anti-gay-marriage campaign upended Iowa's model judiciary -
Stanching the Cash Flow
A flood of special-interest money has corrupted our courts. How can we fight back?
Features
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All the President's Frenemies
In publicly attacking Obama are Tavis Smiley and Cornel West upholding the tradition of MLK or acting out of personal pique—or both? -
History's Missed Moment
Why did the greatest failure of laissez-faire capitalism since the Great Depression lead to a turn to the right rather than the left in both Europe and the U.S.? -
Did the Founding Fathers Screw Up?
Gridlock in Washington is no accident. It's built into the Constitution.
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Vol. 22 No. 7August 2011
Columns
Culture
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Old Frontier
Mad Men has provoked nostalgia for the 1960s -- the pre-counterculture 1960s. -
How Gun Control Got Murdered
In Gun Fight, Adam Winkler misses the point that the only way to reduce homicides is to reduce the number of handguns. -
Bubble Trouble
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Same As It Ever Was
American culture has not changed radically in the years since the attacks—certainly not as much as many predicted—and that may speak well of us.
Departments
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Letters: Messaging Matters
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A City Divided
September 11 was good for Washington, D.C.'s economy, but the expansion has not helped many on the bottom.
Features
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Extreme Measures
Since September 11, the Fourth Amendment has been eroded in ways we do not even know. The scary part is that it's going to take years to undo the damage. -
The Global Patriot Act
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Solidarity Squandered
The attacks brought us together until we let them turn us against each other -- and damn near everyone else. -
Solidarity Squandered
The September 11 attacks brought us together until we let them turn us against each other--and damn near everyone else. -
Solidarity Squandered
The attacks brought us together until we let them turn us against each other -- and damn near everyone else. -
The 9/11 President
If the attacks hadn't occurred, it's impossible to imagine Barack Obama would have been elected—but the legacy of those attacks continues to burden his presidency. -
Muslim and American
Living under the shadow of 9/11
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