Can Policies Make Rural Politics?
The rural divide is deep and, in many cases, based on real abandonment by liberal technocrats. More than just new policies, Democrats need a new approach to rural voters.
495 Search Result(s) for: “Barack Obama ”
Barbara Lee Was Right About the War on Terror
Twenty years ago, Barbara Lee cast the lone vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force — the blank check for endless war Congress gave George W. Bush after 9/11. She's been vindicated by history. Those who pushed the "War on Terror" have not.
Nobody Should Be Celebrating the Affordable Care Act
Presidents Obama and Biden yukked it up this weekend in a video celebrating the Affordable Care Act. But the real thrust of Obamacare was always finding ways to pretend to address the health care crisis while protecting the health insurers fueling it.
The Democratic Party Is to Blame for the Biden Problem
As the reality of Joe Biden’s inability to competently serve another term becomes clearer, the Democratic Party appears fully unconcerned with a democratic process to replace him.
Joe Biden Is Not a Radical
True, the parameters of American liberalism have clearly shifted. But Joe Biden’s actions in his first 100 days have revealed an administration whose most fundamental objective is to restore the Republic to its pre-Trump state — not to undertake its reconstruction along totally different grounds.
To Fight or Not to Fight
As the Democratic Party clings to a message of compromise and conflict aversion, the GOP has adopted a fighting posture that seems to be resonating with working-class Americans.
Walz’s Pick as VP Is an Opportunity for Unions
Democrats have a history of making and abandoning big promises for labor. But Kamala Harris’s pick of Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate at least suggests the possibility of substantial pro-union legislating.
Joe Biden Will Not Save the Labor Movement
Talk of Joe Biden as a transformational president is getting ahead of itself. Historically, labor law reform has triggered some of the fiercest battles from business — and Joe Biden has shown no evidence he’ll go to the mat for the PRO Act, the most transformative piece of labor legislation in decades.
Bernie Is Right: We Shouldn’t Let the Senate Parliamentarian Block a $15 Minimum Wage
Bernie Sanders is absolutely right to insist we should ignore the Senate parliamentarian’s ruling against a minimum wage increase. Reducing poverty is far more important than adhering to fusty, old Senate rules.
The Road to the White House Runs Through Renters
At the DNC, housing organizers are telling Democrats that rent control and other substantive affordable housing measures can win them the election.
Trumpism After Trump
Don’t count right-wing populism out. While technocrats have seen their fortunes rise under lockdown, the sense of national decline and disarray that first brought leaders like Donald Trump to power still has a bright future.
Morbid Symptoms Can Persist for a Long Time
The Republican Party is frozen in place, unable to move beyond Donald Trump but unsure of what to do even if it could. The Democratic establishment is firmly in charge of their party. We’re stuck in a bankrupt interregnum — with little chance of breaking free one way or the other anytime soon.
Austerity Kills. PAYGO Must Go.
PAYGO, which requires legislation to be funded by either tax increases or spending cuts, is one of the worst legacies of Nancy Pelosi’s speakership. It needs to be abolished, along with the disastrous austerity politics that underpins it.
Biden Is Already Loading His Pentagon Transition Team With Pro-War Think Tank Staffers
It hasn’t taken long for Joe Biden to get down to the business of preparing to assume the presidency — by drawing staff from hawkish think tanks financed by arms companies.
Biden and the Dems Should Have Buried Trumpism. But They Provided No Alternative.
In last week’s election, the Democrats performed terribly, despite running during a period of unprecedented crisis against a uniquely unpopular president. Donald Trump’s four years of demagoguery and corporate giveaways should have been easy to run against — but the Democratic Party is unwilling and unable to pose an alternative.
The Trump Era Is Over. Our Leaders Want To Take Us Back To 2015
With the Trump presidency thankfully in its death throes, Joe Biden and the Democratic leadership are in thrall to a dangerous illusion that they can take the country back to the political world of 2015 as if nothing happened. They’re about to learn that they’ve won a Pyrrhic victory.
It’s Time to Fight for a Truly Democratic Republic
The US political system was intentionally set up to thwart popular democracy. To win Medicare for All or any other transformative measures, we’ll need to push for radical political reform that finally democratizes the country’s institutions.
It’s Ecosocialism or Barbarism
Bloodred skies. Entire towns torched. The West Coast wildfires are the latest proof that we have no alternative to a Green New Deal — and that the urgency, in the face of increasingly apocalyptic conditions, is mounting rapidly.
Socialists Can Still Change the World for the Better
Because socialists were marginalized for decades, we’ve had to build a new left almost from scratch. It’s understandable to feel demoralized by defeats. But the movement we're building is one that can still win real change.
Last Night’s GOP Insanity Proves How Much the Two Parties Need Each Other
The lunacy on display at last night's Republican National Convention is what keeps frightened liberal voters satisfied with the meager crumbs of progress offered by the Democrats — and the meagerness of those crumbs is what keeps working-class whites inside an increasingly lunatic GOP.