As the 1990s began, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. argued that America was due for a new era of affirmative government in keeping with the cycle of liberal and conservative periods that runs through our history. Uncannily, Bill Clinton’s election came right on schedule, roughly 90 years after Theodore Roosevelt became president, 60 years after Franklin Roosevelt, […]
Money, Politics, and Power
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
What’s Trust Got to Do With It?
Everything. Cynicism is crippling our capacity to deal with public problems.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Pork and the Public Interest
How conservatives read their own cynicism into public life.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Evasion of Politics
Jeff Faux’s “The Myth of the New Democrats” (TAP, Fall 1993) is illuminating–but in unintentional ways. It highlights the unresolved tension in The American Prospect‘s editorial persona: though dedicated to rethinking old liberal assumptions, the magazine often shies from conclusions that defy liberal orthodoxy. TAP thus oscillates between earnest stabs at policy innovation and purse-lipped […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Friend or Faux?
Jeff Faux’s “The Myth of the New Democrats” (TAP, Fall 1993) is illuminating–but in unintentional ways. It highlights the unresolved tension in The American Prospect‘s editorial persona: though dedicated to rethinking old liberal assumptions, the magazine often shies from conclusions that defy liberal orthodoxy. TAP thus oscillates between earnest stabs at policy innovation and purse-lipped […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Voters in the Crosshairs
New technologies were supposed to enable campaigns to reach more voters. Instead, they ended up fragmenting and alienating much of the electorate.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Myth of the New Democrat
There isn’t much new or Democratic about the New Democrats. They preach the same brand of conservative politics that has run this country into the ground.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Left’s Obsessive Opposition
My liberal friends are being too hard on Bill Clinton. His mandate and congressional majority are wafer thin, and he’s doing well with what he has. Would you rather have George Bush?
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Money Talks, Reform Walks
Last time around, campaign finance reform failed because it lacked public financing. Twenty years later, Congress seems determined to make the same mistake.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Forecasting Follies
Using models to predict presidential elections can be fun. Too bad they don’t work.
