Outside the Beltway

Could Alaska point the way to a solution?

Some thoughts.

An ongoing series of observations.

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.

The Ohio GOP Senate contest.

Nobody is keeping the gate.

The role of American political institutions.

When doing the right thing is the wrong thing.

A illustration from the Senate race in Georgia.

How rules shape the game.

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

And other tales from the AK special election.

No, presidentialism does not lock us into two parties.

The Court is out of balance–and it is a design flaw.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans truly represent most Americans. Fixing that is exceedingly unlikely.

Greatest democracy in the world, right?

It seems that some Americans are relocating to be with people who share their social and cultural views.

Data from Texas underscore a frequent point about primaries.

In their censure of Cheney and Kinzinger the GOP wants to rewrite history.

A bloc of moderates is not coming to a Senate near you.

A pretty good President has numbers comparable to his historically bad predecessor.

And Biden approval down.

More on self-identification and partisan ID.

Gallup has the 2021 numbers.

The effective number of parties.

This time: some multi-party examples.

Counting is not necessarily as straightforward as it may seem.

Democrats and Republicans are playing by different rules.

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

A depressing magazine piece argues it is.

A largely mythical beast may become even more rare.

Thoughts on how we think.

The difference is politics, not reason.

The system is not defensible.

An interesting podcast conversation.

The two-time Pulitzer winner is considering a career change.

The College Republican National Committee Chairman elections shows the lessons taught by the national party.

Another R/D cleavage?

More in a series of ongoing observations about the GOP primaries.

This time: the Alaska GOP.

Thinking about party evolution and behavior going into 2022.

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

Cries that American democracy is in jeopardy are not hyperbole.

The GOP is actually pretty healthy at the moment, despite some public rhetoric to the contrary.

A quick lesson about American parties.

The President used his first speech to Congress as an attempt to unite the country.

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