After a decade of conservative rule, a fair tally of claims and achievements yields a mixed picture. The major conservative strength remains foreign policy, where the right takes credit for the collapse of global communism as a military force and of Marxism as an ideal. Liberals are correct to respond that the policy of containment […]
Money, Politics, and Power
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Liberalism After Socialism
Some have long wanted to blend socialism and liberalism in a “third way”; that idea is now in ruins. But the alternative to a socialist liberalism need not be conservative. There is a liberalism that is serious, realistic, and where necessary even ra
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The Liberal Idea
Textbooks tell us that a great gap separates classical from modern liberalism—James Madison from Franklin D. Roosevelt. Some conservatives say modern liberals betrayed the earlier tradition, and some progressives agree. But the continuities are funda
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The Pragmatic Road Toward National Health Insurance
The politically plausible path to universal coverage is an approach that builds on employer-provided health coverage, caps costs, and stringently regulates insurers.
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Constitutional Mischief: What’s Wrong with Term Limitations
How to fill legislatures with the old, the rich, and the bought.
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Democratic Engagement:Bringing Populism and Liberalism Together
Long wary of each other, populism and liberalism could benefit from each other’s strengths.
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Why America Will Adopt Comprehensive Health Care Reform
As costs rise and incremental reforms fail, the chances increase for a comprehensive, single-payer system of national health insurance.
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The Uneasy Case for a National Law on Abortion
Congressional action may be the one way to preserve the right to abortion nationwide. But for advocates of choice, enacting legislation will mean making some strategic compromises.
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The Reaganites and the Renegade
Conservative Republican strategists are hopping mad at Kevin Phillips. For years, they have embraced (with much success) the notion outlined by Phillips in his 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority, that middle-class voters could be wooed by running against the poor. But now, Phillips seems to have deserted his erstwhile allies. In his latest book, […]
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Congress Without Cohabitation: The Democrats’ Morning-After
The budget rebellion in October seemingly ended Congress’s long night of unholy cohabitation with the Reagan and Bush administrations. But can the Democrats really get out of bed?