Why should Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid be untouchable and not other programs? And shouldn’t there be more to the liberal message than, “Don’t touch entitlements”?
Mark Schmitt
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
George Packer’s U.S.A.
The author’s chronicle of solitary Americans after the financial crash is nostalgic—but for what, exactly?
Posted inArticle
When the Democratic Leadership Council Mattered
Glee over the DLC’s demise misses the point of its founding and its sad history.
Posted inColumns
Post Literalism
The Republican majority intends to underplay its hand rather than take responsibility for governing.
Posted inArticle
Armchair Populism
One reason I remain skeptical of advice that Democrats should sound more “populist” is that the audience for this advice always seems to be well-off liberals, and the people who tend to give this advice either aren’t in a position to practice it, or when they are, they flinch. Case in point: Today’s hero, Ted […]
Posted inArticle
Wait for a Better Deficit Report
Jonathan Chait has modified his applause for the deficit-reduction plan released by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles to make an exception for its cavalier treatment of domestic discretionary spending, which he calls the “gaping flaw” in the two men’s report. (Let’s not attribute it to the president’s fiscal commission, whose members had little to do […]
Posted inColumns
The Ideas Deficit
If “ideas have consequences,” as conservatives like to say, what’s the consequence of having none?
Posted inEducation in America
The Re-Education of a Citizens United Denier
The Supreme Court didn’t just let corporations in; it created a new kind of money broker.
Posted inArticle
The “F-You” Election
Progressives lost this election — but conservatism and the Republican Party are hardly stronger for their success.