One of the many depressing things about the 2000 election has been the tactical blurring of principled differences. Al Gore is for patients’ rights? So is George W. Bush. Gore has a plan for prescription drug coverage. Bush does, too. Gore would allocate trillions to Social Security. Likewise Bush. Never mind that Gore’s plans are […]
Robert Kuttner
Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School. His latest book is Notes for Next Time: Surviving Tyranny, Redeeming America. Follow Bob at his site, robertkuttner.com, and on Twitter.
Posted inFeatures
Did Clinton Succeed or Fail?
Dear E.J. Dionne: Did Clinton succeed or fail? It depends on how you define success. We need to consider him as a president, as a party man, as a world leader, and as a political figure who we hoped would rebuild confidence in the enterprise of democratic government. The U.S. economy certainly boomed during his […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Of Our Time: Fearful Symmetry
T he 1994 election, more than any in recent memory, “nationalized” politics. That is, the Republicans ran on a coherent ideology and program; Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America became the manifesto. Even though the actual swing in the popular vote was small, it was consistent across the country–enough to give Republicans control of both houses […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Of Our Time: A Pile of Vetoes
M idway through this first year of Republican legislative hegemony, President Clinton has seemingly risen, once again, from the political dead. One cannot yet say the same for the Democratic Party or the cause of liberalism. The Republicans are still very much in charge, with an agenda more stridently radical and more dominant than anything […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Of Our Time: After Solidarity
T he American Republic has long had a set of public and non-profit institutions that enrich our democracy by demonstrating that society is more than a mere market. The most expansive and explicit of these began in the New Deal, such as Social Security and later Medicare. However, public and communal institutions have a venerable […]
Posted inFeatures
Comment: Bush, Whacked
George W. Bush is losing his working majority in Congress. The only surprise isthat it took so long. As recently as a month ago, the new administration imaginedthat its tax package would just sail through on a tide of media torpor,Republican discipline, and bipartisan gesture. No longer. As the details of the president’s not very […]
Posted inFeatures
Comment: Taxing Democracy
George W. Bush may well win a tax program that most voters rejectedin the 2000 election. His $1.6 trillion in cuts would favor the richest1 percent. Public opinion polls confirm that most Americans would rathersee the money go for social investments. Our system is ignoring what most Americans want, because of multiplepolitical failures. The most […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Of Our Time: Constraining Capital, Liberating Politics
If, as widely predicted, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) wins the German election in September, there will be center-left governments simultaneously in every major European nation for the first time in history — in London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin. Of the 15 nations of the European Union, no fewer than 13 will be governed by […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Comment: Is Bradley for Real?
We’ve gotten our hearts broken before. Clinton, many of us hoped, was really a closet progressive who somehow also attracted moderates. His fellow southern governor, Jimmy Carter, looked to be a fine reformer for the post-Watergate era. But both presidents left legacies more conservative than liberal. Both were anti-party men. Both failed to use their […]
Posted inFeatures
Comment: Why Liberals Need Radicals
The demonstrations last November in Seattle and last month in Washington have made some liberals uneasy. For many, the street activity suggests both a rowdiness and a know-nothing attitude toward global commerce. A recent New Republic cover, caricaturing a protester, asks, “Does the New New Left Have a Brain?” I’ve noticed that my liberal friends […]
