Outside the Beltway

Why blaming “the Democrats” or even “leadership” ignores a basic fact of American politics.

Where’s the positive example?

Lee Drutman does the math.

We need to be focused on the system, not fantasies about messages and organization.

A four-pronged test.

The reality is, I can’t say no.

What democratic backsliding looks like.

Our current round of speech repression may prove worse than McCarthyism.

The disconnect between perception and reality about elections.

None of this is good for the quality of our democracy (not that it was great to begin with).

We are observing an effort to embed democratically questionable sectarian norms into the day-to-day life of federal workplaces. 

Thinking about the evolution (or is it devolution) of the GOP since the 1990s.

Most of the world knows that PR is a better way to elect legislatures.

America is always both what it claims to be and what it actually is. The Fourth of July, then, marks our aspirations—and also our shortcomings.

Have I ever noted the Congress is less responsive to the public than it should be?

An Air Force colonel spread misinformation to hide the stealth program.

Resisting gaslighting must be social. It’s crucial for those who oppose Trump’s falsehoods to remind each other, again and again, that 2 + 2 = 4.

It was inevitable.

Liberty may be natural to the individual, but political liberty remains an uncommon achievement.

This one should come with a warning label (especially as it cuts both ways)

Yet another test of Executive power for the courts to resolve.

Informed, somber voices in these perilous times.

Partisanship is more important than institutional autonomy.

The Curtis Yarvin interview.

Some discussion of history, politics, and policy.

The President-Elect is testing the guardrails early.

And, more broadly, about the normalization of Trump

When the abnormal ceases to be.

RCV is now banned in the state.

The skews may offset.

Part the gazillioneth.

Mark Robinson is the latest example.

Does it really all come down to Pennsylvania?

It could all come down to Pennsylvania.

Musk finds an alpha male-dominated “republic” to be “interesting.”

An FNC report on the Alaska House race is a mess.

Because I think too much about this stuff.

The far right won the first round. The far left won the second. It’s a mess.

Elements of democratic theory: minority edition.

Who could have seen this coming?

Partisanship and representation in conflict.

Lines on the map for the win.

The system isn’t very good.

White Christian nationalism and the fight for control of America.

Because I think it is really important.

The ongoing Republican debacle and what it says about representative democracy in the US.

A trip through comparative democratic reform.

Wherein I finally reveal my answer (spoiler: it is hardly surprising). And, also, wherein despite the goal of brevity, I fail at that goal.

It really is rife with problems.