The Congressional Black Caucus and the AFL-CIO have both made reform of the country’s election machinery a top priority. A number of committees and commissions–such as the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford–have already formed to propose remedies for the nation’s election practices. Congress is awash in bills, […]
John B. Judis
John B. Judis is an editor at large at Talking Points Memo and the author, most recently, of The Socialist Awakening: What’s Different Now About the Left.
Posted inFeatures
Al Gore and the Temple of Doom
The Clinton re-election campaign of 1996 exemplified much that is wrong with our campaign finance laws. The campaign turned a small loophole in our campaign laws–which allows parties to raise unrestricted money for “educational” expenditures–into a yawning cavity. Campaign officials also broke existing laws against laundering contributions and raising money from foreign nationals. But did […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Below the Beltway: Goo-Goos Versus Populists
S ince the election, almost every group in town has been meeting to develop a position on campaign finance reform. The Brookings Institution’s Tom Mann has organized a working group that holds luncheons and has its own web page (www.brookings.edu/gs/campaign/home.htm). Organizations from Common Cause to Citizen Action are holding meetings of what they call the […]
Posted inFeatures
No Holds Barred
C ongress is supposed to represent the voters, and it sometimes does. Although much of the left opposed welfare reform, the final bill probably reflected what a majority of voters wanted Congress to do. Likewise budget balance. Yet when issues impinge on the power of business, Congress doesn’t always do what the public wants. Since […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Not Just the Economy, Stupid
J eff Faux and his Economic Policy Institute have consistently shed light on the dark recesses of the American economy–exposing the decline of wages that accompanied the Reagan and Clinton booms and debunking the promise of an export boom with Mexico. I agree with his criticism of Clinton’s trade policies. But I don’t feel the […]
Posted inFeatures
Embarrassment of Riches
When Vice President Al Gore promised to retire the national debt by 2013 and even to run surpluses in the case of a recession, I assumed that he was merely trying to score a political point by contrasting his own fiscal conservatism with the recklessness of rival George W. Bush’s proposed tax cuts. But after […]
Posted inFeatures
The New Politics of Abortion
In 1980 the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and other pro-life lobbies put out a “hit list” of 18 pro-choice incumbents they aimed to topple in that fall’s election, but this year NRLC Political Director Carol Tobias says the organization is not disclosing which races it will target. By contrast, NARAL, the main pro-choice […]
Posted inFeatures
Below the Beltway: Activist Trouble
Washington, D.C. I n the last year, Greenpeace and Citizen Action, two important national left-of-center organizations, have fallen on hard times. This summer, Greenpeace USA closed down all of its field offices, eliminated its canvassing operation, and slashed its staff from 400 to 65. Several of Citizen Action’s state affiliates have either disbanded or severed […]
Posted inBooks
Below the Beltway: The Irresponsible Elites
Washington, D.C., March 5, 1998 A s I write, the Monica Lewinsky affair-or perhaps episode is a better term-is far from resolved, but it is possible to draw certain conclusions about the role of the press. The most important is that the barrier separating the elite media from the print and television tabloids-the Washington Post […]
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
Global Warming and the Big Shill
Because Vice President Al Gore is an ardent environmentalist, the Clinton White House has placed a high priority on getting an international global warming treaty. One member of the National Security Council is assigned to oversee the treaty that the United States and other industrialized nations agreed to in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. And […]