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Vol. 24 No. 2March/April 2013
Columns
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When Public Is Better
The problem is not too much government, but too passive a government. -
Republicans for Election Reform?
This year, policies to expand voting may pass not only in blue states like New York but also on Republican-controlled turf.
Notebook
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Outmatched
Conservatives’ support for state-based think tanks is paying off in regressive legislation. Liberals are scrambling to keep up. -
The People’s Bank
How did deep-red North Dakota end up with the nation’s most populist financial institution?
Culture
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Limbaugh Doubles Down
Post-election, conservative radio gives hints of wanting to change. Its leader still stands in the way. -
Data Comes to the Culture Wars
A sociologist runs the numbers on charges of liberal campus bias. -
Goodbye, Petraeus
The general’s gone, but a new book on his big idea is essential for the coming defense debates. -
Country Noir
Frank Bill and the new violent Midwestern fiction -
Social Climate Change
Emily Bazelon's look at how bullying—once known as "kids will be kids"—came to be seen as a crisis. -
It's All in the Game
House of Cards is irresistible, but by insisting that corruption, not fanaticism, is poisoning Washington, the series feels dated.
Features
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The Weeklies
In the Denver suburbs, as in much of the U.S., the Great Recession turned formerly stable families into the new homeless—and left many living in budget hotels. -
Retrench Warfare
The Democrats won this round of the fiscal-cliff standoff, but now let’s get to the right debate. -
Born This Way?
Transgender activists believe that when children insist their birth sex is the wrong sex, their wishes should be honored. Dr. Kenneth Zucker disagrees. -
The Once and Future Gov
Two years into his second go-round as governor, Jerry Brown has—to the surprise of many—turned California around. -
The Fundamentals of Immigration Reform
To begin fixing America’s broken system, we must be guided by both our highest values and our economic needs. -
U.S. Out of Vermont!
Move over, Texas: In the Green Mountain State, it’s leftists who want to secede.
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Vol. 24 No. 1February 2013
Columns
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Did Republicans Lose the Election?
The 2012 election awarded us a peculiar form of coalition government. Will it hinder Dems as they pursue their ambitious agenda? -
Where the Wingers Won
The 2012 election's progressive victories didn't stem the tide of conservatives flooding state legislatures.
Notebook
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Alt-Labor
Nonunion workers’ groups are gathering strength across the country. But will they ever make the kind of impact that traditional labor once did? -
Red to Purple to Blue
America's electoral map has changed to the Democrats' advantage—and it's going to change a whole lot more.
Culture
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Camelot’s Begetter
Besides being the father of John, Bobby, and Teddy, Joe Kennedy left behind a tattered legacy. -
When Assad Dropped the Façade
It's hard to believe, but Bashar al-Assad once presented himself to the world as Syria's modernizer. -
Zero Dark Thirty: Homeland's Prequel?
In both cultural depictions, September 11 is a wound that never heals. -
The Past, Reclaimed from Right-Wing Myth
Now can we get to work saving the future? -
Intelligence Squared U.S.'s Talking Heads
A reporter checks out a live taping of the cult podcast hit, whose new season starts tonight.
Special Report
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What Democracy Lost in 2012
No matter the outcome, big money and voter suppression crippled the election. This is no way to run the world’s oldest democracy. -
Making Voting Constitutional
Our governing document creates no right to vote. It’s time it did. -
How to Vote Down Voter ID
Minnesotans defeat the GOP’s plan to restrict the franchise.
Features
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The President's Running Room—and Ours
With Republicans divided, the president could open up space to move progressive policies. First, the progressive community needs to move him. -
Obama's Second-Term BFD Agenda
The president has a new opportunity for immigration reform, old business to finish on health care, and fateful decisions to make about energy and climate. -
New Voters, New Values
Women, Latinos, African Americans, and the young don’t believe what older white men believe. Their views fueled Obama’s victory and may portend a new Democratic majority.
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Vol. 23 No. 8December 2012
Columns
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Schools in the Crosshairs
Starry-eyed education reformers have found yet another panacea for saving public education: parent-trigger laws.
Notebook
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Afghanistan Sketches
Illustrator Victor Juhasz spent three weeks in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Here, a sampling of his work. -
The Collapse of Black Wealth
Prince George’s County was a symbol of African American prosperity. Then came the housing crisis.
Culture
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The Measure of All Things
How markets beat out citizenship to define our public life -
Abe, Daniel ... and Henry
Before Daniel Day-Lewis played Lincoln, another actor's portrayal was legendary. On Henry Fonda's forgotten greatness. -
CSI: David Byrne
An investigation of music’s power by one of its great polymaths -
Want Less Inequality? Tax It
Revive the big idea of British economist Arthur C. Pigou! And apply it to America's most outrageous problem. -
The Best of David Foster Wallace
When the novelist learned to escape his own mind, he got a little closer to the greatness he sought.
Features
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I Was a Teenage Conservative
For a young Southern Californian coming of age in the early ’60s, the right with its emphasis on individual freedom was enormously appealing. What better way to rebel against liberal smugness? Then, the right betrayed itself. -
Organize Every Precinct
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Joel Klein's Misleading Autobiography
What the former chancellor of New York City schools' sleight of hand tells us about education reform -
Seeing Is Believing
Eyewitness testimony is unreliable and leads to wrongful convictions. Why has the judicial system not taken note? -
A Strategic Plan for Liberals
What’s the road map for a progressive future? -
Greedy Geezers, Reconsidered
In the current downturn, the vast majority of the elderly are suffering along with the young. The right cure would help both generations. -
Pre-K on the Range
Rural, conservative, impoverished Oklahoma has built the nation’s brightest model for early education.
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Vol. 7 No. 23September 2012
Columns
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Obama and the Art of Not Getting Credit
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States of Play
Down-ticket races matter a lot in shaping policy—that's why conservatives are smart enough to invest in them.
Notebook
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Holy Rollers
The Nuns on the Bus are just one example of progressive dissidents challenging the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.
Culture
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Laura Is a Punk Rocker
The lead singer of Against Me! changes gender and challenges the male punk scene. -
Ghosts of Ballots Past
On Rick Hasen's riveting look at voting wars since Florida—and the anguished history of how we got there in the first place -
The Hidden Candidate
Mitt Romney wants to be president, but he doesn’t want us to see him. -
The Great Conservative “No!”
William F. Buckley’s heirs are starving on a red-meat diet.
Features
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Battle of the Romney Plans
Does Mitt’s or George’s approach to raising black student achievement make more sense? -
Angela Merkel's Bad Medicine
The German chancellor’s remedy of austerity is killing Europe, and the failure to contain financial speculation is spreading the epidemic. -
As Common As Dirt
In the fields of California, wage theft is how agribusiness is done. -
The Border Effect
The fence along the U.S.–Mexico boundary has helped reduce the flow of illegal immigrants, but the human and environmental toll has been enormous. -
If Labor Dies, What's Next?
The only way unions can regain their strength and provide a counterweight to corporate power is if liberals join the fight.
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Vol. 6 No. 23July 2012
Culture
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Our Most Widely Ignored Public Intellectuals
Why don't those in power listen to economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman? -
How the Gay-Rights Movement Won
Linda Hirshman's new book tries to uncover how the LGBT movement accomplished so much in such a short span of time. -
The Mother of All Girls' Books
The secret subversiveness of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women
Up Front
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The Democrats' Demographic Dreams
Liberals are counting on population trends to doom Republicans to a long-term minority. They shouldn’t.
Departments
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The Sixties at 50
Half a century later, the battles of the 1960s--and the effects of one great wrong turn by liberals of that time--are still with us.
Features
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Mismeasuring Poverty
The way we determine who needs help blocks many poor people from receiving the assistance they need. -
Where Work Disappears and Dreams Die
In Gary, Indiana—the former “Magic City” of industrial might—jobs have left, and so has almost everything else. -
Creating a Countercyclical Welfare System
Clinton-era reforms mean that our safety net is weakest when we need it most. -
Pressing On the Upward Way
A profile of life in one of the country's poorest counties -
The Geography of Getting By
Vendors in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park fight for their right to sell. -
School for Success
Capital Idea, an innovative long-term job-training program in Austin, helps lift the working poor out of poverty. -
Seeing What No One Else Could See
Fifty years ago, Michael Harrington’s The Other America awoke the nation to the prevalence of poverty in its midst. -
The State of Poverty in America
The problem is worse than we thought, but we can solve it.
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