Politics Archives - Page 38 of 112

Why Americans Worship the Constitution

October 11, 2021 • by Aziz Rana

In the last two centuries, 220 countries have appeared on the global stage and, between them, they have produced a remarkable 900 written constitutions. The sheer numbers are telling: For the most part, societies treat their constitutions instrumentally. When these legal-political orders break down or social upheaval brings new elites and alliances ...

Activism

New Yorkers March for Abortion Justice

A photo essay

October 6, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Women’s Marches are becoming an annual event. The first one in 2017 was to express outrage at pussy grabber Trump’s election. Subsequent ones have varied in substance and style. They have shifted from January to October – which is is a better month for outdoor protest. This year, several hundred ...

Politics

Why Hollywood Still Can’t Change a Diaper

Passing the American Families Plan may bring us better films about dads and babies

October 6, 2021 • by Janet Golden

During a year spent at home, one new father reported that he had finally learned “how to properly wash my hands—and a baby’s hands.” A parenting resource, meanwhile, let dad know he could get down on the floor and engage his baby in age-appropriate play. In the midst of the ...

Why Hollywood Still Can’t Change a Diaper

Politics

The Moderates Have to Catch Up

In the fight over his agenda, Biden is making liberals the center

October 6, 2021 • by John Stoehr

I continue to think regime change is a useful way of understanding politics. That’s the idea that American political history turns in cycles. For 40 or 50 years, one party and its ideas prevails over the other with a majority of voters. From the 1930s to the 1970s, it was ...

Politics

Texas’s Fetal Heartbeat Law Isn’t Just a War on Women

When the pro-choice argument includes trans folx, the principles of bodily autonomy and universal healthcare grow stronger

October 1, 2021 • by Kathryn Gruszecki

When the Supreme Court refused to block the Texas Fetal Heartbeat Act in late August, the court signed off on the strictest limitations on abortion since Roe v. Wade (1973). Banning the procedure after six weeks, the Texas law’s most insidious provision permitted the court to undermine the rights conveyed ...

Texas’s Fetal Heartbeat Law Isn’t Just a War on Women

Politics

Never-Trumpers Keep Insisting that Reaganism Was Not Demagoguery—It Was

The “normal” GOP set the stage for the MAGA movement, and neoconservatives could help restore our democracy by telling the truth about what they did

September 29, 2021 • by Claire Potter

The conservative flavor of the week for liberals is Robert Kagan’s Washington Post opinion piece from September 21, 2021. It recounts, in apocalyptic terms, what everyone who cares about democracy in both parties worries about: that J6 was just the beginning; that the continuing lies and chaos that Trump and ...

Never-Trumpers Keep Insisting that Reaganism Was Not Demagoguery—It Was

Politics

Battle of the Budget

What happens when the Republicans filibuster a necessary measure to keep the government operating?

September 29, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

On September 27, the Senate considered a bill to fund the government until December and to raise the debt ceiling. The Republicans joined together to filibuster it. Such a move is extraordinary. Not only did the Republicans vote against a measure that would keep the government operating and keep it from ...

Europe & Central Asia

Goodbye Merkel, Hello … Who?

The German election and what’s to come

September 29, 2021 • by Nicolas Allié

One thing is clear about the 2021 German election: it is going to be consequential. Long-time chancellor and ostensible champion of democratic values, Angela Merkel, is leaving after 16 years in office. The consequences of this action are still uncertain. Germany’s electoral system is unique. Voters elect representatives to the German parliament, or Bundestag, and they cast two votes. The first is for who will represent ...

Politics

Democrats and the Conservative Supreme Court

Is there incentive to attack the court’s legitimacy?

September 28, 2021 • by John Stoehr

Last week, opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote about the sinking reputation of the United States Supreme Court. With respect to a new abortion law in Texas, which invalidates Roe v. Wade, the Post columnist said that, “The nub of the problem is not that (or not only that) voters are angry that the court allowed ...

Democrats and the Conservative Supreme Court

Activism

We Are All “First Liners”

Colombia’s youth are institutionalizing a revolution by building solidarity and insurgent practices that can last

September 22, 2021 • by Aura Angélica Hernández Cárdenas

To learn more about the protests and general strike in Colombia, read Julián Gómez Delgado's essay “The Decline of Colombia’s Centaur State.” One of the most important phenomena of this year’s national strike in Colombia has been las primeras líneas, or “first liners.” Men and women, some reported to be as young ...

Activism

“Justice for J6” Rally Was Much Ado About Nothing

September 22, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

Capitol Hill Police, who were under-prepared for the January 6, 2021 riot, were over-prepared for the “Justice for J6 ” rally just west of the reflecting pool at the Capitol on September 18. Tall fences surrounded the Capitol itself. Metal barriers wrapped around the designated protest area. Jersey barriers kept unauthorized ...

“Justice for J6” Rally Was Much Ado About Nothing

The Media

The Biggest Media Bias That No One Is Talking About

How newspapers are obscuring a violent Republican crime wave

September 22, 2021 • by John Stoehr

When most people think about “bias” in news coverage, they usually think of some kind of ideological bent, as if the Washington Post, say, is trying to advance some kind of political agenda with its journalism. While this does apply to right-wing outlets, like the Washington Examiner, most of the rest of ...