Outside the Beltway

From the Cliché File.

Ezra Klein discusses the dynamics of American conservatism in historical perspective. Plus, he helps illustrate a key problem that we have in thinking about American politics (IMHO).

More on primaries with a foray into Madison and the general politics of power-seekers and incentives.

Our representation problems are far, far more about structure than they are about the messaging of the parties.

Oklahoma’s near-total ban is part of a larger trend.

Greatest democracy in the world, right?

New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Luján is hospitalized with a stroke.

The court wisely deferred to Congress in setting its own rules.

It doesn’t add up.

A necessary but likely irrelevant gesture.

The longtime Senate leader is gone at 82.

Twenty-three and counting will not run in 2022.

Counting is not necessarily as straightforward as it may seem.

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

Democrats and Republicans are playing by different rules.

Our system and the shaping of the GOP’s future.

The erosion of representativeness continues.

Voters are suppose to choose elected officials, not the other way around.

The liberal media is giving all their attention to the tax and spend Democrats!

Really, they owed (and still owe) us better behavior.

It hasn’t changed in over 100 years (but the population sure has).

An interesting podcast conversation.

It’s not getting any better, folks.

Kinda, sorta, maybe, but probably not really.

It passed the Senate unanimously.

The law and justice are frequently not the same thing.

And general considerations on mid-term elections.

The long shift of population from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt continues—with the unusual exception of California.

It’s undemocratic and we should get rid of it. But doing so isn’t a panacea.

A recent report shows 78 of 435 seats in the US House are truly competitive.

Our insistence on relying on an 18th Century understanding of electoral systems is our ongoing bane (if one values representative government).

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

And what GOP opposition says about the party.

A story that is both unserious and yet emblematic of our age in a serious way.

Yet another reminder about pathologies of US democracy.

America’s institutions are undemocratic but only some of them are a product of the Constitution.

Some political history,

Implications for Alabama and the GOP as well as considerations on the evolution of American politics.

Amending the Constitutional through unconstitutional means is a very bad idea.

Here we go again.

Although prosecution and conviction are unlikely.

The absurd notion that the President of Senate is the arbiter and judge of the electoral vote.

The zombie idea for ousting an erratic and dangerous President.

The phone tour continues.

Arguments and analyses that are, well, turkeys.

Perhaps the most normal thing President Trump has done.

Competing priorities.

Who’s to blame for the Blue Wave not materializing?

A legally correct ruling based on a lie.