Outside the Beltway

Would bypassing politicians altogether make the system more just?

A precision drone strike on a balcony in Kabul took out a longtime nemesis.

With record-low poll numbers, the grass roots wants someone new on the ticket next time.

“Protect and Serve” is just a slogan, not a guarantee.

Many and small beats large and heavy. Finding beats flanking. Swarming beats surging.

Can it overcome demographics and decoupling to sustain its current unprecedented growth?

It doesn’t matter what I believe. It only matters what I can prove.

Pew’s new typology shows the diversity of both US political parties.

We’re likely to see more instances like the Capitol Riot and the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings.

Our reactions to recent murder trials tells us a lot about our divided country.

It’s not perfect but it beats our usual approach to picking winners and losers.

Some interesting stories or columns that I’ll never get around to writing full posts on.

One party is divided on how to govern and the other is united in not governing.

What constitutes a “low income” or “high income” country?

Should live-saving drugs be protected intellectual property?

Any “fair” drawing of districts will yield a GOP advantage over time.

Will he be a uniter or a divider?

At what point does a demonstration become something else?

A marked rise in shooting deaths is going largely unnoticed.

Two new studies bring more questions than answers.

Some informed speculation.

We’re going to make history one way or another in November.

It’s a reasonable question but not the right one.

A new report details the extent to which the eighteen-year Afghanistan War has been marked by mistakes, and lies by the government to cover-up the fact that we went to war without a clear understanding of what we were doing.

The next steps in the impeachment process are relatively easy to predict.

There’s an inherent tension in our national ethos.

The President’s approval is up and disapproval down after the latest incidents.

Another case where the cruelty is the point?

The Congressional Budget Office assesses several reform proposals.

We could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

The job laid out by the Framers in Article II of the Constitution has expanded a mite.

While the scope of Federal power has expanded beyond the ken of the Framers, this is not an example.

I continue to be opposed to impeachment of the President, but I’m slowly moving in that direction thanks primary to the Administration’s own actions.

Despite seemingly ideal conditions, Green Mountain Care was an absolute debacle.

A novel argument, untested in court, suggests that it might.

The New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago metro areas are all losing people.

While polarization in our national politics gets the most attention, several states also face serious rural-urban tensions.

One of the most bizarre cases in recent memory gets . . . much more bizarre.

What would it mean for the companies’ workers, the stock market and the cost of care?

How finite is prestige?

Congrats to Dave Schuler on his blogiversary.

There’s only one solution to the D.C. statehood issue. It’s called retrocession.

President Trump’s impending decision to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall will quickly face serious legal challenges. It may be more vulnerable than the White House suspects.

The arguments against withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan are becoming weaker and weaker.

The President is an ignoramus and a blowhard and a petulant child but he’s operating within the Constitutional limits of his office.

Pensions and health care costs for the elderly are crowding out other vital spending.

Does trash become treasure with time?

The efforts by Speaker Pelosi and President Trump to leverage their institutional powers raise interesting questions.

Notwithstanding the temptation to do something, both the United States and NATO need to resist the temptation to get involved in the latest conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

In what has to qualify as one of the most horrifying displays of moral depravity on the international stage, the Trump Administration is saying it doesn’t really care if the Saudi Crown Prince is a murderer or not.