Politics Archives - Page 81 of 112

North America

It Matters That Warren is a Woman

But It’s Not All That Matters

January 17, 2020 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Here is Cooper’s takeaway: "Wanting a woman to rise to the top of an almost all-male pack is not a position that needs defending. What should be defended is the uncritical desire to elect yet another man to a position that 45 men and zero women have held." I agree that ...

North America

The Warren-Sanders Squabble is Foolish

The real issues in this campaign have nothing to do with who said what in 2018

January 15, 2020 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Warren's electability argument might be right. Or it might not be right. Again, we will see how things unfold . . . . At the same time, I think the latest brouhahas about Sanders and his “dissing” of Warren are kind of absurd. First it was claimed that he was "going ...

North America

Impeachment and Rousseau’s General Will

Insight from the Past on the Politics of the Present

January 15, 2020 • by David Lay Williams

The article encapsulates many of the debates leading up to the president’s impeachment -- that it is grossly inappropriate for presidents (but presumably any government officials) to prioritize their own personal or private interests above the national interest. In impeaching Trump on this count the House emphasizes that while a ...

North America

The Lincoln Project Should Be Cautiously Welcomed

Republican anti-Trumpists are allies in the defense of democracy, but they have an agenda of their own

January 14, 2020 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Indeed, a number of initiatives have been undertaken by Republicans -- some Never-Trumpers since 2016, some more recent converts -- to challenge Trumpist authoritarianism. Another is Bill Kristol’s "Defending Democracy Together.” Here is the organization’s mission statement: today, the Republican Party finds itself entertaining some of the same unsettling nativist and ...

The Lincoln Project Should Be Cautiously Welcomed

North America

What’s at Stake as the House Transmits Articles of Impeachment

Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have a lot to worry about — and they aren’t holding all the cards

January 13, 2020 • by Heather Cox Richardson

First of all, all the different players have different interests, and there is also a wildcard. While those of us on the outside are freaking out about a president who seems completely out of control, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who are masters ...

What’s at Stake as the House Transmits Articles of Impeachment

Democracy

Is Democracy in Italy Secure?

Fascism’s appeal to Italian youth is a worrisome trend

January 13, 2020 • by Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi

Beginning in the early 1990s, however, a normalizing trend has overturned these institutional guarantees, undermining the legacy of all those who struggled to reestablish democracy. Coinciding with the ascent to the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, naive, if not altogether nostalgic, recollections of Mussolini and his regime have become ...

Democracy

Coup or Counter-Revolution in Bolivia?

Taking a broader historical view

January 8, 2020 • by Nicolás Lynch

The events in Bolivia continue to arouse sharp controversy over the ways political power can change (Arato, Peruzzotti and Avritzer). The so-called “transitional government” of Jeanine Añez claims legitimacy for having deposed a dictator, while the ousted government of President Evo Morales says it has been victim of a coup d’etat. First and foremost, ...

Democracy

Iran, Impeachment, and Implosion

Trump keeps getting worse — and the crises are interconnected

January 8, 2020 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

On December 18 of last year, the House of Representatives voted to impeach in the face of very public Republican obstructionism. Within hours of the vote, Nancy Pelosi announced that she had yet to decide how to move forward with delivering the impeachment articles to the Republican-controlled Senate, and was ...

Middle East & North Africa

Saying No to a Stupid War

Americans must say no to war, using every tool at our command

January 7, 2020 • by Jeremy Varon

These crude axioms drive the euphoria felt by a vocal portion of the American public at the killing of Iranian Quds commander Qassem Soleimani. That Trump ordered the strike adds to its luster. To members of his cult the murder proves Trump a master of manly resolve, besting his feckless predecessors. He has set and ...

Middle East & North Africa

The Slaying of Qassem Soleimani

This assassination by the United States exceeds its immediate implications for war

January 7, 2020 • by Hussein Banai

Although he has long been on the radar of policymakers around the world, Soleimani’s profile had only recently come to public attention in the West, owing largely to his instrumental role in expanding the Islamic Republic’s sphere of influence in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. He was particularly known, and ...

North America

A Vote for Sanders is a Vote to Restore the Commonwealth

Government is essential to defending truth and dignity — and that requires changing minds

January 7, 2020 • by Bernard Avishai

This past year, though, I spent much of my time torturing myself with choice. My YouTube account would show me flitting -- admiringly, on the advice of pundits, and for all the obvious reasons -- from Pete Buttigieg, to Elizabeth Warren, to Kamala Harris, then back to Warren, then, for ...

A Vote for Sanders is a Vote to Restore the Commonwealth

Activism

The History of American Progress is also Jewish History

On the final night of Hannukah, we put Jews at the center of the American narrative

December 30, 2019 • by Peter Dreier

Election results and public opinion polls reveal that among white Americans, Jews have consistently been the most liberal and progressive ethnic and religious group. In 1920, when only 3 percent of Americans voted for Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party candidate for president, Jews gave him 38 percent of their votes. In 1932, when Franklin Roosevelt ...