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Vol. 19 No. 10September 2008
Columns
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The American Collision
A presidential race between Obama and McCain was supposed to bring a less-polarized politics, so why hasn't it worked out that way? -
We're All Chicagoans Now
From our October print issue: For those of us who have been skeptical of choice as a principle for government programs, it's time to stop fighting. -
Taking the Initiative
Ballot initiatives are just another weapon in the public-policy wars. Progressives shouldn't fear them. -
Back to School, Back to Court
There is no longer either a moral or constitutional basis for rigging the school system for the well-to-do.
Culture
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Audacity in Harlem
Geoffrey Canada founded the Harlem Children's Zone as a "conveyor belt" to transport poor kids from birth to college, by dealing with every need. Can its successes be replicated? -
The Way to the New World
David Roberts reviews three new books on our environmental crisis, and wonders why newly minted greens sound more ambitious about the future than movement insiders. -
From Pop Charts to Politics
Hip-hop is now a powerful mainstream cultural force, but political activists haven't quite figured out how to mobilize the hip-hop generation. -
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
From our October print issue: Thomas Frank sees Republican scandal and conservative ideology as one and the same. But a more honorable right wing is imaginable.
Departments
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Up Front
Bill Kristol is suddenly outraged by sexism, the GOP convention had even fewer minorities than usual this year, Cindy McCain and Paris Hilton have a lot in common, and T.A. Frank's parody covers potential McCain campaign responses to questions from the media. -
Correspondence
A foundation leader Robert Kuttner called a "fiscal fear monger" responds, a professor argues well-off feminists haven't done enough to help working-class ones, and Executive Editor Mark Schmitt introduces the October issue.
Special Report
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Regular Work in an Irregular Economy
Ending the temp agencies' control of low-wage labor markets -
The Economic Crisis in Black and White
Narrowing America's racial divides and expanding opportunity for all -
Unionization and Black Workers
Trade unions are still a key path to higher-quality jobs and greater dignity at the workplace. -
Race, Place, and Opportunity
Where we live influences our life chances. Too many blacks still live in concentrated poverty. -
Understanding the Black-White Earnings Gap
Why do African Americans continue to earn less despite dramatic gains in education? -
Sub-Prime as a Black Catastrophe
First came racial redlining. Then came racial targeting of toxic and predatory loans. Both spelled economic disaster for African Americans. -
Black Women: The Unfinished Agenda
African American women made great progress in education and entering into previously forbidden occupations -- but their gains in earnings mysteriously stopped. -
Women of Color
The persistent double jeopardy of race and gender -
African Americans and Immigrants: The Common Good
Are foreigners "taking Americans' jobs"? Or are employers once again exploiting cheap labor and vulnerable people?
Online Extras
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The Group Behind Prop 8
Ultraconservative legal organization the Alliance Defense Fund is backing a California marriage ban with rhetoric about "defending" family and children.
Features
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2008: Five Races to Watch
The Prospect rounds up five of the most interesting and unusual campaigns across the country -- from a blind rabbi in New Jersey to an incumbent governor described as "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney." -
Channel Changer
For years, liberals thought they could catch up in media by playing by conservatives' rules. Rachel Maddow's success proves it's better to just change the game. -
The Fence to Nowhere
The Minutemen promised their supporters a high-tech border barrier. Instead, they got a five-strand barbed-wire fence and a bunch of radical splinter groups. -
Meet the Next Treasury Secretary
The most difficult economic challenge of the next administration will be to overhaul America's collapsing financial system. Who will lead that effort? -
What to Expect When You're Expecting a Majority
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is poised for a rare achievement: a second consecutive cycle of sizable gains. But with more Democrats may come more conflict. -
Five Questions About the New Electorate
For a decade or more, we've been promised an electoral transformation: Younger voters, minorities, and women will prevail over the older, conservative majority. Is this the year the predictions come true? -
It's the Green Economy, Stupid
Populism is the theme of the year for Democratic candidates. Oil companies are the problem and green energy is the solution.
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Vol. 19 No. 9August 2008
Columns
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Crash: Financial and Ideological
Fixing the economic crisis will require a drastic revision of the ideological assumptions that have dominated American political discourse for a generation. -
Big-Picture Power
Progressive organizations are finally becoming more conscious about setting the agenda and fighting for a worldview. -
The Generation Trap
Today's social-justice activists start with very different conditions than those that existed in the 1960s. -
The Real Economic Choice
There is a basic difference between the economic philosophies of John McCain and Barack Obama.
Departments
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Up Front
Conservatives claim Barack Obama is too awesome to be president, T.A. Frank's parody considers potential preemptive presidential pardons, and we ask which country prominent journalists would like to be ambassador to under a McCain administration. -
Correspondence
Letters on the scarcity of women on the Prospect's masthead and the relationship between crime and mental illness. Also a message from new Executive Editor Mark Schmitt.
Criticism
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The Corrupter of Youth
Richard Rorty's provocative pragmatism reached an audience far beyond academic philosophers. A new biography unfortunately ends before he ascends to that larger stage. -
The Right in the Rearview Mirror
It took liberals 30 years to take conservatism seriously. Now we're obsessed with it. E.J. Dionne considers four new books about the end of the conservative era. -
The Invisible Woman
After a summer of blockbuster comic-book flicks and record ticket sales to women, why have we yet to see a superheroine movie?
Online Extras
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TAP Talks to Rep. Artur Davis
The congressman from Alabama discusses the finer points of the executive-legislative relationship, and why he expects Obama to navigate that relationship better than Clinton did. -
The Obama 15
A guide to the fifteen political operatives who run Obama's world. -
The Teacher Autonomy Paradox
Only by relinquishing some autonomy will teachers finally be able to attain the true professional status they deserve.
Features
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A Liberal Shock Doctrine
History teaches us that presidents have to move quickly to enact progressive reforms before the window of opportunity closes forever. It's a lesson Barack Obama should take to heart. -
Where Do We Move When America MovesOn?
Victory could pose an existential challenge for the grass-roots groups that arose in opposition to Bush. A MoveOn.org veteran examines the challenge and its opportunities. -
The Corrupter of Youth
Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher -
How the Dems Lost on Education
Republicans have exploited the Democratic Party's failure to own the education-reform issue--and students have paid the price. -
It's His Party
Barack Obama was more focused on building the Democratic Party than any other candidate in recent history. -
Obama vs. the Fiscal Fear Mongers
The story of how the right convinced some centrist liberals to endorse the idea of an "entitlements crisis" shows how difficult -- and necessary -- it will be for the next president to resist conventional wisdom. -
How the West Will Be Won
By espousing a brand of liberalism that's heavy on personal freedom and light on divisive social issues, Democrats are finally being heard in the Mountain West.
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Vol. 19 No. 7June 2008
Columns
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Our CEOs, Their Foreign Agents
From our July/August print issue: International business executives with enormous domestic influence cater to the demands of authoritarian regimes abroad. -
On Our Own
Liberal institutions that once imitated conservative ones are now far surpassing their role models. The quick-moving, imaginative progressive think tank now makes its conservative analogue look like a threadbare brand name from the 1970s. -
All the Young Bankers
A new generation of business-minded young graduates of prestigious colleges finances the Democratic Party -- but at what cost? -
The Year of Passion
In this year's primaries, for the first time in many election cycles, Democrats were carried by inspiration, rather than political calculation.
Culture
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Make It Personal
Two Yale political scientists set out to see what actually gets people out to the polls -- and found out it all comes down to a personal touch. -
The White Stuff
The blog Stuff White People Like, became an Internet sensation but it's more than just a humor blog -- the site tells us something about the mostly white, affluent audience that has so enthusiastically embraced a mocking rundown of their culture. -
Partisans' Progress
Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels casts provocative light on what's at stake when Americans go to the polls. -
Freedom's Future Online
In his new book, Jonathan Zittrain argues the very qualities that make the personal computer and the Internet so valuable are the source of their vulnerability and possible undoing.
Departments
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Correspondence
Responses from prominent conservatives to Mark Schmitt's article on the future of the Republican Party and a message from Executive Editor Harold Meyerson. -
36 Hours In Israel (With Barack Obama)
When John McCain visited Israel last March hardly anyone noticed. When Barack Obama did the same this week he caused a sensation. -
Up Front
Republicans' brand obsession, one Republican's improbable vision of a McCain victory in California, Winehouse plays for Mandela, Minnesota makes it easier for GOP convention goers to drink late, the Obamas' terrorist fist jabs, how Bush could improve his approval rating, and T.A. Frank's parody.
Special Report
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Programs That Work
Clubhouses and ACT are proven successes. So why aren't they better known or funded? -
Media and Madness
For better and worse, the news media and entertainment industry shape public opinion about mental illness. -
Follow the Money
How shortsighted funding and reimbursement warps mental-health care in America -
The Politics of Mental Illness: Related Content and Reports
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A Professor's Story
Going public about mental illness is not like revealing any other kind of disease. -
Mind Reading
Technological advances catapult mental health to the forefront of ethics debates. -
Combat Fatigue
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Pushing Parity
Congress is poised to end insurance discrimination against people with mental illnesses. -
A Worthy Diversion
Pennsylvania has developed a model program to keep offenders with mental illness out of the criminal-justice system. -
What's Needed Next
An Office of National Mental Health Policy would be an important step toward completing the transformation in the care and support for people with mental illnesses. -
Finding Funding
States should link mental-health funding to dedicated revenue sources independent of the political whims of legislators. Here are some creative examples.
Online Extras
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Napolitano, In Her Own Words
A transcript of the Prospect's interview with Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona. -
Does EMILY's List Still Matter?
EMILY's List is one of the largest PACs in the nation and funds only pro-choice, female candidates. But is it still as effective as it once was? -
Where's Our Domestic AIDS Plan?
The U.S. expects other countries to put together a national AIDS plan before they receive funding. But we don't even have our own national AIDS strategy.
Features
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Beyond Hillary: By Invitation Only
Prominent women are one-third less likely to be encouraged to run for office than prominent men. -
Beyond Hillary: 7 Democratic Women to Watch
Profiles of the next generation of progressive women political leaders. -
Beyond Hillary: Strength in Numbers
The Year of the Woman was 16 years ago, and the number of women in elected office has flatlined. Herewith, some ideas on how to build a critical mass of female officeholders. -
America's AIDS Apartheid
The domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic is increasingly black and Southern -- and spiraling out of control. -
Janet Napolitano and the New Third Way
Arizona's governor has contained Republicans, reinvigorated Democrats, and provided a new model for progressive politics in the West. -
Beyond Hillary: Woman Versus Machine
Women do best in places where political machines are weak or absent and worst where culture is most traditional. -
Continental Drift
As Europe suffers the effects of a financial crisis made in the USA, its left opposition parties are surprisingly stymied. For many Europeans, the hope for change is Barack Obama.
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Vol. 19 No. 6May 2008
Columns
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Pedal Pusher
As gas prices rise and congestion worsens, cities and commuters alike are starting to embrace bicycles. -
Battle of the Budget Slideshows
Budget hawks are trying to convince the public that we face an unavoidable choice between cutting social programs and budgetary Armageddon. But in reality, our budgetary problems stem from our out-of-control health care system. -
The Trade Debate We Need
Much of America's economic elite continues to promote an absurdly simplistic theoretical case for the necessity of "free trade." But, as more thoughtful globalizers are starting to admit, the reality is much more complicated. -
The Logic of the Low Road
Americans have become unfortunately used to gutter politics. What are the chances McCain and Obama will be able to transcend our institutionalized, sordid political traditions?
Culture
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This Old Medium
The new museum of journalism only serves to highlight how the industry has failed to fully adapt to the digital age. -
Close of an Era
Several new books on the rise and fall of conservatism look at the secrets of the movement's decades-old success -- and modern-day failures. -
The Real Third Way
Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein argue that by structuring our choices, government can save us from bad economic and social decisions. -
You May Say I'm a Dreamer
Two men of the '60s considered: Charles Halpern, who helped create public-interest law, and Tony Mazzocchi, who helped create occupational health and safety standards.
Departments
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Up Front
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Vice President Bobby Jindal?
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The New Look of School Integration
A bad Supreme Court decision overturning race-based integration programs in Louisville, KY, and Seattle, WA, has produced a positive result. A new initiative in Louisville does something even better for children -- it integrates them by class. -
Patching Up the Democrats
Forty years ago two good Democrats divided the Democratic Party. Supporters of each candidate lost perspective and the resulting tensions hurt the party. But this year, unlike 1968, Democrats have a chance at reconciliation. -
Contempt for Karl Rove?
As Karl Rove is subpoenaed to testify before Congress, the White House fights a congressional law suit aimed at forcing the testimony of administration officials. -
Correspondence
Special Report
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Modern Pressures on a Prized Ecosystem
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Grabbing the River Jordan
Online Extra: The World's First Water War. -
Where Has All the Water Gone?
From our June special report: The world's water crisis poses grave threats to our survival. Can we change course? -
Water Technologies Somewhat to the Rescue
Online Extra: Often, in the water world, large changes can be made with simple, no-cost policy decisions. -
Facing Up to Freshwater Pollution
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Curing the Developing World's Water Woes
Online Extra: We have an unprecedented opportunity to prioritize safe drinking water and sanitation investments. -
The Backlash Against Bottled Water
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Water Wisdom
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The Perils of Privatization
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Changing Water Policies in the Dry Southwest
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Suprising Progress in Teeming Manila
Online Extra: Many poor residents benefit from a creative enterprise between a family company and the government's water agency. -
The Missing Piece: A Water Ethic
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Water and Climate Change: Perfect Storm in Sight
Online Extra: The reality of drought will require tremendous resilience in adapting to the untoward impacts.
Features
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Can Identity Politics Save the Right?
In response to their standing in the polls, the GOP is falling back on identity politics, branding itself as the party of "Real Americans." How far can this take them? -
Offshoring Silicon Valley
American computer software engineers go the way of factory workers. -
How Big Government Got Its Groove Back
The New Democrats' intellectual architect argues that today's economy requires an expanded role for government and a commitment to ensuring economic growth benefits everyone. -
The Officers' War
The case of Iraq War opponent Lt. Ehren Watada reveals the toll the war has taken on career military personnel. Though his refusal to serve in Iraq is unusual, his disenchantment with the war is not.
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Vol. 19 No. 5April 2008
Columns
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Maverick or Manueverer?
John McCain has enjoyed a reputation for "authenticity" because of his commitment to "reform." But this reputation is evidence of Washington's sadly twisted standards, not McCain's virtue. -
Business as Usury
Before Congress goes after bank misdeeds on Wall Street, let's stop the petty theft on Main Street -- predatory mortgages and usurious loans. Had we protected the poor and the weak, the problems of our mighty banks might not be so great. -
Lullaby of Baghdad
Are we winning the Iraq war, or is what little progress we have achieved actually an illusion? -
Listening to Iraq
The news coverage of the Iraq War almost always ignores the daily lives of ordinary Iraqis. Seeking out those personal stories could help us understand the war's human cost.
Culture
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Multiculture Club
"Kids these days" belong to the most diverse generation America has ever had. No wonder they like music that blends sounds from all around the world. -
Religiously Equal?
In her new book, philosophical titan Martha Nussbaum questions the separation between church and state, arguing that constitutional law has more often derived from prejudice than principle. -
Rules of Attack
Did September 11 signal the end of liberal internationalism -- the polestar of American foreign policy from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton -- as the Bush administration claims?
Departments
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Correspondence
A message from the Executive Editor and readers' responses to articles by Spencer Ackerman, Art Levine, and David Bacon. -
Up Front
Black Republicans, Dee Dee Myers on gender-based discrimination in the Clinton administration, Perino's absurdities, Norquist says fuel efficiency kills, liberalism as mental illness, and T.A. Frank's parody. -
The Undocumented American Dream
A new anthology of autobiographical stories written by undocumented immigrant college students serves as a reminder that we're neglecting some of the country's best and brightest.
Special Report
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Health Reform You Shouldn't Believe In
What the Massachusetts experiment teaches us about incremental efforts to increase coverage by expanding private insurance. -
What Path to Universal Coverage?
The next administration will expand health coverage. Will they fix what is broken -- or just inflate costs? -
The Elusive Politics of Reform
Once again, a new administration and Congress will try to bring us universal health insurance. This time, despite urgent cost pressures, will they do it right? -
Why Not Connecticut?
A model grassroots organizing campaign mobilizes public opinion for universal coverage in a state long dominated by private insurers. -
The Primacy of Prevention
Addressing the whole range of behaviors that affect health is the key to a healthier society. This requires a universal health care system. -
Lessons From California
The Schwarzenegger plan was a near miss, but well worth the trouble. The stage is set for the next effort. -
Borrowing Ill Health
Hospitals are getting more aggressive about sending debt collectors after under-insured consumers. -
What Really Ails Medicare
The cost crisis of Medicare gets a lot of attention. The program can be fixed only by universalizing the larger health system in which Medicare resides.
Online Extras
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Multiculture Club: Videos
Watch and listen to some of the artists featured in this month's culture piece.
Features
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The Militarist
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain may protest that he hates war, but no American leader has promoted it more avidly. McCain is not only the most hawkish neocon on the horizon; he genuinely sees war as America's most ennobling enterprise. -
The Green Gap
As the number of green-collar jobs rises, pioneering activists are working to ensure that many of those jobs go to inner-city residents. -
How We Got Into This Mess
Trade, the war on unions, and underfunded schools all lowered wages. Cheap credit propped us up -- but now the debt is due. Herewith, a national economic strategy to turn America around. -
Bubble and Bail
For most of the 20th century, America manufactured things. For the past 30 years, though, it has chiefly manufactured debt. Wall Street, with the aid of both political parties, gravely damaged the economy. -
Good Jobs for Americans Who Help Americans
Human services is the fastest-growing labor market. Here's how to restore middle-class earnings by making every human-service job a good job.
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