If we are an arrogant nation, they will resent us. If we’re a humble nation, but strong, they’ll welcome us. –George W. Bush, encapsulating his diplomatic philosophy, October 11, 2000 Bush’s America is certainly not more “humble,” as the president promised. On the contrary, he has managed to give himself an image as an international […]
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Posted inFeatures
Whitman in the Balance
The Bush presidency has already been a nauseating roller coaster ride for environmentalists. “There was tremendous disappointment once it became clear that George W. Bush would be president,” says a senior attorney at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “That was followed by a real sense of hope when Christie Todd Whitman came in [as EPA […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Test the Limit
I t has been amusing to watch the natural rate of unemployment come down. Two years ago, the community of respectable economists held-though with exceptions including Robert Eisner of Northwestern, Ray Fair at Yale, Harvard’s James Medoff, and myself-that 6 percent unemployment was as low as the economy could go without triggering inflation. This meant, […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Old Party, New Energy
I n the mid-1970s, the founding fathers of the New Right almost walked away from the Republican Party. Sickened by Watergate and angry at what they perceived as the Republican Party’s moderation, Richard Viguerie, Howard Phillips, and Paul Weyrich strove to bring together the disparate conservative forces spawned by Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign into […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Party Decline
A lthough the Republic’s Founders dreaded the divisiveness of “faction,” political parties have proved essential to the promise of American democracy. Parties bridge the structural bias against government activism in the constitutional separation of powers and allow ordinary citizens who lack economic influence to aggregate political power. Hence, a strong party system is more crucial […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Postcript to The Choice In Kosovo
When I wrote “The Choice In Kosovo” in early May, the failure of the United States and NATO to make a credible threat of a ground invasion seemed likely to result in a diplomatic settlement that fell far short of the legitimate aims of the war. A month later, these concerns have only partially been […]
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A Conversation with Harold Meyerson
The Power of Disruption: Janitors Seize Victory in an Era of Union Decline Harold Meyerson is executive editor of L.A. Weekly and a member of Dissent magazine’s editorial board. His article “A Clean Sweep: The WEIU’s Organizing Drive for Janitors Shows How Unionization Can Raise Wages,” appears in the June 19-July 3, 2000, issue of […]
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Rising Tide?
“They almost have a nostalgic quality about them, sort of like the bell bottoms stuck in the back of the closet,” writes Jeffrey M. Berry of today’s quixotic and starry-eyed liberals. “But liberalism is not dead. Indeed, it’s thriving.” In The New Liberalism: The Rising Power of Citizen Groups, Berry marshals copious evidence that over […]
Posted inBooks
Naked in the Valley
Po Bronson’s The Nudist on the Late Shift and Other True Tales of Silicon Valley 12.02.99 | reviewed by Nicholas Confessore ‘Tis the season for mainstream magazines-Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek-to finally run cover stories on that newest of old trends, e-commerce. Skip them. You are unlikely to find a more vivid or readable tour of Silicon […]
