Noted
Responses to Mark Schmitt’s December cover story “The Audacity of Patience,” Ben Adler’s “Are Cows Worse Than Cars?” and a letter from Executive Editor Mark Schmitt.
Can Money Be a Force For Good?
Many reformers hailed the 2008 election as a bright spot in the history of American democracy. Why? The revolutionary potential of small-donor democracy.
Better Together
The Midwest Democracy Network put comprehensive democracy reform into practice.
More Than the Vote
Being a citizen should involve active participation in the governance process.
The Case for Keeping Score
A democracy index could push states toward more ambitious electoral reforms.
A Broader Definition of Democracy
Small reforms won’t bring the system-wide change we need.
A 21st-Century Agenda for Democratic Renewal
We stand on the threshold of a new age of democratic potential. Here’s how to harness it.
No One In Charge
Writing policy is easy. Making it work is hard. And when those who run government have no respect for the institutions, it’s even harder.
Behind Fortune’s Smile
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest mixes some insights from social science with some compelling anecdotes. Unfortunately, the plural of “anecdote” is not “data.”
A Really Long Heat Wave
Popular writers and scientists alike are trying to help readers understand climate change, but doing so requires new thinking about the scale of time.
Art in the Age of Obama
A new era may be dawning in which artists, strongly supported by the president, will develop new forms of enduring art.
From Consumers to Commons
Consumer spending is unlikely to return to the levels it once reached, and so the economy will not recover until the government finds ways to invest in the common goods we all share.
Getting Ahead of Congress
The president must begin reaching out to Congress to build support on key social issues right away.
Our Capitalist Government
Economic crises force government to find entirely new ways to fix problems. These improvisations then live on as tools of policy.
The Competence Dodge
Liberals should not allow themselves to believe that the experience and competence of Obama’s economic team are substitutes for true progressivism.
How Bush Broke the Government
To gain a true sense of Bush’s legacy, we survey the systematic and politically motivated ways he undermined the federal government.
Can Partisanship Save Citizenship?
In the 1990s, reformers and academics worried about how to improve civic life. They didn’t foresee that technology combined with party politics would renew civic engagement.
The Number-Cruncher-in-Chief
Meet Obama’s budget guru, Peter Orszag.
Obama’s Economic Opportunity
The dismal state of the economy presents Obama with the chance not just to produce a recovery but to restore a more egalitarian society — and a progressive majority.
A Global New Deal
The next New Deal won’t work if it’s only American. Fixing our economy will require fixing international systems.
Changing the Waste Makers: Product Bans and the New Politics of Garbage
Thousands of solid waste bills were introduced in state and local legislatures last year. Their purposes ranged from promoting the use of recycled materials to authorizing disposal fees and requiring residents to sort their trash. A remarkable number, however, called for banning products and materials thought to harm the environment or to be overloading landfills…
