Visiting assistant professor of public policy and liberal studies at Wesleyan University, and editor and publisher of the Editorial Board

Columnists

The stink of treason clings to the Republican Party

Big profit-seeking corporations can smell it, same as everyone else.

May 5, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ My friend and fellow New Havener Tom Krattenmaker has a new piece in USA Today worth amplifying, in my own modest way, but also worth setting in the larger context of ideological shifting taking place in the country. Tom argues that big profit-seeking corporations aren’t “woke.” They just believe the ...

The stink of treason clings to the Republican Party

Politics

Don’t Dismiss Mitch McConnell’s ‘Warning’ to Corporations

It reflects larger, historical forces at work

April 7, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ As you know, the Republican Party is the party of business. It has been that way since the late 19th century. What you may not know is that some Republicans have always taken a dim view of corporate power, depending on their brand of conservatism. Prior to Ronald Reagan’s ascent, ...

Don’t Dismiss Mitch McConnell’s ‘Warning’ to Corporations

Politics

We Must Concede That By Tolerating Shooting Massacres, We Are Choosing Not to Be Free

Democracy is the path toward greater freedom for all

March 25, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ The Republicans in the US Congress insist the right to bear arms is a constitutional Second Amendment issue. The Democrats say gun control is a common sense safety issue. The press corps, which prefers binaries as a matter of professional convenience, frames the question as, well, a question, as a tension between the right to bear arms ...

We Must Concede That By Tolerating Shooting Massacres, We Are Choosing Not to Be Free

Democracy

The United States Is Picking Up Where The Great Society Left Off

The conventional wisdom that endured for decades is making way for something new

March 11, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ You might be tired of me talking about the American Rescue Act, which passed the House of Representatives on March 10 and is headed to the President’s desk. But while the rest of the country is talking about Joe Biden’s dog, and while the press corps is asking about the ...

The United States Is Picking Up Where The Great Society Left Off

Politics

Conservative Democrats Play Legislative Ball While Republicans Deliberately Fumble It

This is how the democratic process works

March 4, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed a Covid relief package totaling almost $2 trillion. The US Senate is taking up the bill this week. The upper chamber will probably send it to the president as-is, mostly, but for a major exception. It’s unlikely to contain provisions for raising the federal ...

Conservative Democrats Play Legislative Ball While Republicans Deliberately Fumble It

Economy

The Truth About the Minimum Wage

How to take the word “freedom” away from the GOP

February 25, 2021 • by John Stoehr

" Bernie Sanders, still talks about it as if he can’t quite escape the economic framing conservatives established a long time ago. To be sure, he talks about fairness."...

The Right

Stop calling the GOP ‘conservative’

That’s the lesson today from Texas.

February 18, 2021 • by John Stoehr

"As the late Rush Limbaugh said, if conservatism animated the Republican Party, there would be no President Donald Trump."...

Columnists

Don’t Believe the Republicans. The Fix is In

The only authority they respect is theirs

February 11, 2021 • by John Stoehr

I know what Mitch McConnell said, but I’m not a fool. Neither are you. He continues to leak information about “his thinking” to reporters who in turn tell us the Senate minority leader believes a vote for Donald Trump’s guilt or innocence is a matter of conscience in his party, ...

Don’t Believe the Republicans. The Fix is In

Politics

Time for Liberals to Trust Chuck Schumer

The doubters are loud, but they may soon be quieted

January 27, 2021 • by John Stoehr

Some liberals said after the 2016 election that Nancy Pelosi was the worst person to lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s authoritarian reign. Turns out, they were wrong. Pelosi was exactly the leader America needed. She handed his ass to him every time they negotiated. She led two historic impeachments against ...

Time for Liberals to Trust Chuck Schumer

Columnists

Yes, Biden Should Call Out Trump’s Lawlessness

We can’t ignore it. We must face it head-on

December 15, 2020 • by John Stoehr

Joe Biden is full of surprises. After the Electoral College met Monday to finalize the results of the election, the President-Elect delivered a speech I never thought he’d deliver. He did not say you’re with us or against us, but that’s what he righteously implied. And by implication, Biden gave a ...

Yes, Biden Should Call Out Trump’s Lawlessness

Columnists

The Rev. Raphael Warnock Speaks With Righteous Religious Authority—and I Would Know

Yes, Christians can be pro-choice

December 9, 2020 • by John Stoehr

As you know, the Rev. Raphael Warnock is running to represent the state of Georgia in the US Senate against incumbent Republican Kelly Leoffler. Their runoff next month, as well as the one between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue, is the site of intense national focus. If the Democrats ...

The Rev. Raphael Warnock Speaks With Righteous Religious Authority—and I Would Know

Columnists

Joe Biden’s Masculinity Is Anything But Toxic

How republican virtue is part of manliness

December 3, 2020 • by John Stoehr

“Virtue-signaling” is the idea that people say they believe something but don’t really believe it. They’re saying it to seem impressive to people they desire to impress. Everyone does this to some degree, and everyone deserves some degree of takedown. But if anyone has a corner on the market of ...