Testament of our Revolution

What we can learn today from the Czechoslovak Experience of 1977

-James Dodd On February 21, 1990, Václav Havel -- still under arrest less than four months previous as a “subversive element” -- addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress in his new capacity as Czechoslovak President. He was welcomed as a leader of the Velvet Revolution, which brought to an ...
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Testament of our Revolution

Next Steps for the Left – and for America

Why the Democratic Party must coalesce around Joe Biden – and Biden must compromise with the left

It is possible, perhaps even likely, that no candidate will win a majority of Democratic delegates. But seems clear now that Biden will have a plurality. At this point, it makes no sense to prolong the internal battle within the Democratic Party and endure a conflict at the July convention ...
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Next Steps for the Left – and for America

‘Resistance’ Women Loved Elizabeth Warren. Here’s Why Their Groups Didn’t Fight for Her.

Wary of factional battles and worried about beating Trump, resistance groups withheld endorsements.

I know someone who has a “Nevertheless she persisted” tattoo. If you hang out with the kind of fierce, aging, progressive women who have been moving mountains since Donald Trump’s election, you probably do too. Since 2017, I have been following the new grassroots democracy groups that popped up like wildfire across the country ...
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‘Resistance’ Women Loved Elizabeth Warren. Here’s Why Their Groups Didn’t Fight for Her.

The Frustration of Being Elizabeth Warren

The significance of a campaign that couldn’t get a look from the voters

It is a familiar story, and one that frustrates many close followers of Democratic Party politics. The field has narrowed from a diverse array of candidates spanning different races, genders, ages, and sexual orientations, to two familiar white men who seek to unseat the current president. Warren’s departure from the field ...
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The Frustration of Being Elizabeth Warren

Don’t Cry for Her — Elizabeth Warren!

Democratic voters have shown themselves increasingly likely to vote for women, and Warren will be back in 2024

The commentariat -- almost to a woman -- wrung its collective hands when Warren dropped out of the race (where were they when she needed them?). Writing for The Guardian, Moira Donegan lamented that “As a woman, the Massachusetts senator always faced an uphill battle of double standards and misogynist resentment. She had ...
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Don’t Cry for Her — Elizabeth Warren!

Heartland Despair and the Democratic Primary

The appeal of populism to marginalized white Americans is one of the strongest arguments for Bernie Sanders’s candidacy

Both Brian and his wife Sarah are burdened by substantial medical and educational debts. Sarah works as a nurse, Brian works in a tire shop. They struggle to make ends meet, they worry about the future -- and, for now, they are putting off having children. The profile’s central theme is ...
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Heartland Despair and the Democratic Primary

Warren Supporters Have Vowed to Persist

But are the flaws in the Sanders campaign significant enough that backing Joe Biden’s “establishment” bid is the best political choice for them?

David Plouffe, who was on the News Hour last week talking about his new book and a radically pruned Democratic presidential candidate field, says there isn't. I guess Plouffe (pronounced "Pluff" — I have been calling him "Ploofe" for years) should know. If there were an establishment, he would be ...
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Warren Supporters Have Vowed to Persist

Democrats Might Have the Stronger Party.

They also have a harder job.

Does this mean the system “worked?” First, I agree with Hans Noel that it’s early and there’s lots we don’t know. But it’s also important to think about the demands of the Democratic Party coalition when we assess the effectiveness of the party. And there are several glaring strategic and institutional problems. ...
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Democrats Might Have the Stronger Party.

If Sanders Wants to Lead the Democratic Party…

Then he should do more to build bridges and stop attacking “The Democratic Establishment”

At the same time, Bernie Sanders clearly has assumed front-runner status. It is no surprise that this has his supporters jubilant, and has his opponents concerned and even frightened. There surely are some Democratic donors and operatives who absolutely hate the thought of a Sanders nomination -- whether for ideological or tactical reasons -- ...
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If Sanders Wants to Lead the Democratic Party…

Hong Kong on the Brink

The irony of the UK, one of the world's great democracies, belatedly handing over a colonized people from one distant ruler to another, in Beijing, was not lost on the people living nearly 2,000km south of China's capital. It is hard to say how genuine Margaret Thatcher's claimed optimism at the ...
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Hong Kong on the Brink

The Speech that Mike Bloomberg Should Have Given Last Week

How the former Mayor might redefine the importance of an outsider candidacy — by leaving the race, and supporting a candidate who can win

But at the moment, he is actually harming both. He is hurting Democrats by blunting the message of all the candidates other than Bernie Sanders. And he is hurting the country by making it less likely that the Democrats will nominate a person who will be able to defeat Donald Trump. Yet he ...
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The Speech that Mike Bloomberg Should Have Given Last Week