Outside the Beltway

The trend toward hard-right parties continues.

The trend shows no sign of abating.

The Establishment is desperate for an alternative that’s not coming.

There has been a steady decline the last five years.

Is America’s military capable of fighting the next war?

Damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Sometimes both.

A perennial question.

When prejudice overrides simple humanity.

Don’t get your hopes up.

A pending lawsuit seeks to settle those questions.

The left and right are attacking basic rights. But not equally.

“Classical liberals” really need to rediscover self examination

Leftovers from last week and over the weekend.

A moderate Republican almost diagnoses the problem.

The WSJ doesn’t like Stanford’s attempt to make its website more inclusive.

Why have Americans lost trust in their institutions?

The President delivered a rousing stump speech from Independence Hall.

The intersection of politics, morality, and meaning.

So, what now?

Are you going to believe this index or your own lyin’ eyes?

Is the creepy comic’s comeback complete?

I’m shocked, shocked, to find that this is happening here.

Are we really being blocked from getting back to normal? And if so, what is the real barrier?

The pandemic seems to have broken the social contract.

Too woke! Not woke enough!

There is a lot of anger out there.

A vaccinated 75-year-old is as likely to die as an unvaccinated 53-year-old.

It’s happening again. This time, it was easily preventable.

J.D. Vance’s cynical suggestion.

Conservatives have lost it one generation at a time.

Some people claim there’s a woman to blame.

And linkages to broader US politics.

The state of American debate is not strong.

The paper of record endorsed both Warren and Klobuchar

A defense of a modest philosophy of judicial interpretation.

Tip O’Neill was famous for once having advised his fellow Democrats that “all politics is local.” That’s not true anymore, and that’s unfortunate.

A writer at National Review is proposing a compromise on the issue of transgender rights. Needless to say, many conservatives aren’t very happy about it.

Americans as a whole are becoming less religious and some people are panicking about it.

The Supreme Court has accepted the appeal of a Colorado baker in a case that will determine if claims of religious liberty and free expression outweigh the application of generally applicable laws against discrimination.

Not surprisingly, the Trump Administration has revoked guidelines to public schools that required accommodation of transgender students.

The rise of Trump and Sanders has resurrected a debate as old as Western civilization.

The people who believe there is a ‘War On Christmas” tend to be the same ones who hold to the largely false idea that their religious beliefs are under assault due to a “culture war.”

A trial court Judge in Oregon is the latest public official to refuse to do his job.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will be entering the race for President later this month, but it’s unclear if his recent turn to the hard right will help him or hurt him.

Bill Scher examines “How Republicans Lost the Culture War.”

Chelsea Clinton is pregnant, and once again America’s political pundits are making fools of themselves.

Vladimir Putin seems to be getting a lot of love from cultural conservatives in the United States.

Politics aside, the challenges to the PPACA’s birth control mandate raise important legal issues.

The Iraq War did significant damage to the legacy of the Republican Party.