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- Michael Lind voices a call to arms: "The disconnect between the actions of the government and public opinion is the central fact of American politics today. It doesn’t seem to matter whether liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans are in power. Only minor, marginal reforms ever take place. ... If America is to be rescued, the American people must be mobilized. But in today's America, the money is mobilized and the people are not."
- Matt Welch has a theory: "There is emerging a permanent, though highly fluid, nongoverning minority of independents and disaffected party members who will unite to punish incumbents when the alienation becomes too acute to bear. Wherever you see a strong American political tradition being ignored and even flouted by both major parties, you see the kindling for the fire next time. It won’t always produce the desired results for freedom-loving people, but it makes the two party system profoundly uncomfortable."
- Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson summarize the strength and weakness of Larry Bartels' 2008 book: "Unequal Democracy succeeds in explaining who isn't driving policy outcomes. Now we need to understand who is." These three quotes aren't meant to cover the range of opinion on the contemporary American political landscape but rather that opinion tends to break either with explanations incumbent on "the people" or with the actions of powerful interest groups successfully leveraging political institutions.
- Remainders: More fun and profit from the dreaded bank bailouts; National Review values Oliver North's opinion on gays in the military; conservative Christians are outraged the president isn't using a second national motto that was only adopted 50 years ago; and why is it so difficult to understand that being accused of treason requires citizenship in the country making the charge?
-- Mori Dinauer
