A Legislature Can Be Both Polarized and Productive
Look to the Colorado state legislature, which just closed its 2017 session, for lessons on how to put an end to gridlock in Washington, D.C.
Party Nominations After Trump: This Could Be Just the Beginning of a New Age of Celebrity Candidates
Interviews with political activists suggest they think it's time to reconsider just what sorts of candidates should be nominated for office.
Politics Isn’t Easy and the Country Shouldn’t Be Run Like a Business
Those giving President Donald Trump a poor 100-day performance review are generally looking past his largest accomplishment: he has helped to explode three of American politics’ most pernicious myths.
Goodbye Judicial Filibuster—and Good Riddance
The demise of the filibuster for judicial appointments has brought all manner of depressing descriptions from observers and…
Kellyanne Conway and the Making of an American President
I read Molly Ball’s recent Atlantic article on Kellyanne Conway with some trepidation. I’ve grown tired of Conway’s…
Enough About Smugness Already
Andrew Sullivan: “Liberals have to be careful not to sound so fucking condescending, smug, as if they know…
What to Make of Trump’s First Week in the White House?
What to make of Donald Trump’s first week in the White House? Disorganized mess or devious genius?
Rigid Partisans, Flexible Ideologues
As the past year has shown, ideology can be remarkably flexible in the service of party. Republican leaders are casting aside things their party has believed for generations in order to remain unified around their new president.
Good Riddance, Election 2016
For a political scientist who cares about our system, it’s disheartening that a candidate can do pretty much everything in his power to disqualify himself from office and still be within a few percentage points of winning.