politics

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  1/22/20
  

  The Myth of Middle-Class Liberalism

  by David Motadel

  The bourgeois are supposed to ensure open, democratic societies. In fact, they rarely have.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/16/20
  

  The chief justice who presided over the first presidential impeachment trial thought it was political spectacle

  As Trump’s trial gets set to begin, the spotlight is inevitably turning — just as it did with Johnson — to the chief justice of the United States, who must somehow preside over this very odd, kind-of-sort-of legal process of politicians sitting in judgment of the country’s commander in chief.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/21/19
  

  Historians Should Stay Out of Politics

  by Andrew Ferguson

  The lasting question the petition raises is: “So what?” Put another way: “Should we care what these historians think about Trump’s impeachment?” 

• 
• 12/8/19
  

  The Power of the 2017 Congressional Recess

  by Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin

  Leaders got involved because the country had fallen into the hands of a vile, dangerous bully. They were not going to put up with harassment in their own communities.

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  12/2/2019
  

  Poland’s far-right leaders seek to criminalize World War II restitution

  Poland is the only major former Eastern Bloc country to do nothing to return private property confiscated by Nazis or nationalized by the communist government, according to the World Jewish Restitution Organization.

• 
• SOURCE: History.com
  11/25/19
  

  Elections in Colonial America Were Huge, Booze-Fueled Parties

  Candidate George Washington plied potential voters with 47 gallons of beer, 35 gallons of wine, 2 gallons of cider, 3 1/2 pints of brandy and a whopping 70 gallons of rum punch.

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• SOURCE: History.com
  11/25/19
  

  Why Is Iowa the First State to Vote?

  Since 1972, the Iowa Caucus has been the first—and some argue most important—electoral test on the road to each party’s presidential nomination. But how did it get that way? 

• 
• 12/1/2019
  

  William Barr’s Upside-Down Constitution

  by Robert J. Spitzer

  The Trump administration’s many questionable actions have raised both new and old concerns about the extent and reach of executive power.

• 
• 12/1/2019
  

  How Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day Can Help Us Understand Our Political Moment

  by Frank Palmeri

  Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day is a rare bird—a revival (with a substantial re-write) that proves to be more timely and incisive than the original was.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  11/27/19
  

  How to Talk About the Truth and Trump at Thanksgiving

  by Ibram X. Kendi

  If we are serious about bringing Americans together, the work has to start with our own families.

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  11/25/19
  

  Queer Like Pete

  by Jim Downs

  Buttigieg is getting slammed for being a type of gay man America doesn’t understand.

• 
• SOURCE: Madman of Chu Blog
  11/26/19
  

  Two Things to Do Between Now and Next November (All the Rest Is Gravy)

  by Andrew Meyer

  Between the impeachment hearings, the Democratic primaries, and the accelerating chaos that has marked our domestic and foreign policy since January of 2017, the task of civic engagement can seem hopelessly complex. 

• 
• 11/24/19
  

  Democrats Should Welcome Michael Bloomberg Into the Primary Race

  by Robert Brent Toplin

  He could be a promising alternative if Trump looks competitive in 2020.

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  11/18/19
  

  Fractured Into Factions? What The Founders Feared About Impeachment

  Even more than 230 years ago, the Founders were eerily prescient in fearing how the impeachment process could play out: beset by partisanship and broken down by factions.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  11/12/19
  

  Against Reconciliation

  by Adam Serwer

  The gravest danger to American democracy isn’t an excess of vitriol—it’s the false promise of civility.

• 
• SOURCE: Tom Dispatch
  11/3/19
  

  Down the Rabbit Hole With Donald Trump

  by Tom Engelhardt

  Who not in Blunderland could ever have imagined that a bankrupted casino magnate and reality TV host might essentially -- like his lawyer recently -- butt-dial us all into a new form of (un)reality?

• 
• SOURCE: The New York Times
  November 3, 2019
  

  Presidential Candidates Crave the Spotlight. 200 Years Ago That Was Taboo.

  by David Botti

  For a century, presidential candidates were discouraged from openly campaigning - lest they appear power hungry like the British king America revolted against. Here's why that all changed. 

• 
• 11/3/19
  

  As The Trump Administration Demonstrates, We Have Undervalued Virtues And Values

  by Walter G. Moss

  What is so bad about Trump is that he has no values other than inflating and aggrandizing his own ego. Democrats shoudl place values at “the heart” of their politics.

• 
• 11/3/19
  

  This Election Day, Remember That Local Politics Matter

  by Jonah Hassenfeld

  In 1831, Alexis de Toqueville concluded local government  was “the life and mainspring of American liberty.” 

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  10/25/19
  

  A History Of 'Quid Pro Quo'

  The whole idea of a "quid pro quo" is so fundamental to the human experience that we have all kinds of ways to say it. Here, a look at how our understanding of "quid pro quo" has changed over time.