Outside the Beltway

Voter ID laws are a good idea, but we have to be careful in how we implement them.

That word does not mean what you think it means (at least if you work in the mass media).

Arizona’s senior Senator want’s to bomb Syria.

Our political scene has changed drastically since Bob Kerrey was last in the Senate.

Billionaires have been free to donate as much money as they want to activist groups since the dawn of the Republic.

Worried the GOP might eliminate the filibuster if they gain control of the Senate? Don’t be.

2012 may be the last chance for the current Republican Party to win the White House.

There’s an entire industry that profits from exploiting political controversy and division. Why do we let them get away with it?

Yet another sign that international intervention in Syria is most likely never going to happen.

When it comes to same-sex marriage, the right is fighting a losing battle.

China’s government may be more “efficient,” but it’s hardly a model for the rest of the world.

This is no way to pick a Presidential Nominee.

Foster Friess, Rick Santorum’s money guy, probably shouldn’t be his media guy.

The NYT has an interesting piece on the ongoing limted v. big governemnt debate.

The Obama Campaign is being criticized for agreeing to play the SuperPAC game like everyone else does.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg had some advice on Constitution drafting for Egyptians

Once again, the punditocracy is bemoaning the rise of so-called “negative campaigning.”

American politics is as polarized as ever, and it shows no signs of changing regardless of who wins in November.

Sarah Palin isn’t running for President, and she hasn’t officially endorsed anyone, but that hasn’t stopped her from putting her thumb on the scale.

Have Americans divided themselves into what are becoming increasingly different cultures?

My latest for The Atlantic explains, “Why We Should Be Glad the Haditha Massacre Marine Got No Jail Time.”

One year later, Egypt’s revolution remains unfinished.

Why are all the candidates for president so awful?

We, as a country, need to remember that do not hold levers that allow us to move events this way or that

People who ought to know better are now concocting absurd scenarios to get around a really weak Republican presidential field.

This year’s Iowa Caucuses stand as Exhibit A for an argument against Iowa being first in the nation.

How far should the press go in challenging assertions by politicians?

A record number of Americans don’t consider themselves a member of either party.

The problem with Europe may not be the Euro, but the fact that there really aren’t any Europeans.

Rick Santorum’s good day in Iowa doesn’t change the truth about his campaign.

Rick Santorum’s foreign policy positions are troubling in many respects.

Since the adoption of the current rules for delegate allocations only twice has either party nominated someone who did not win either IA or NH.

For a guy who says he dislikes “activist judges,” Rick Perry sure wants a certain Federal Judge in Virginia to be an activist.

Has Iowa “blown its special claim as the first state” in the nomination process? No, it never had any special claim in the first place.

Several candidates did not submit a completed application on time to qualify for Virginia’s Republican primary ballot.

Ron Paul doesn’t want to talk about his newsletters now, but he was pretty talkative 15 years ago.

How can we know what happens next in North Korea when we didn’t even know Kim Jong-il had died?

Gingrich has some pretty radical ideas about separation of powers.