archive

America’s governance crisis

Building a better citizen: How the government can make us better at self-government. To a kid imbued with the idealism of "reform," Robert Dahl's Who Governs? was a bracingly sanguine view of machine politics. From The Monkey Cage, Lee Drutman on lobbyist money, influence and how business gets done in Washington (and part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6). Squaresville, USA: How to fix American politics, one right angle at a time. We need a bigger House: Expanding Congress to as many as 5,000 representatives would ensure new blood and new ideas. The most frustrating body: The Senate has changed, and not at all for the better (and more). America’s governance crisis is the worst in modern history; moreover, it is likely to worsen in the years ahead. A robust debate over health care reform takes place and Roll Call profiles Members of Congress who will make a difference as the endgame approaches. Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus on hyper-partisanship and the green politics battlefield. The Deadline Presidency: Does it matter that Obama is behind schedule on most of his major plans? Johann Hari on the real reason Obama is not making much progress. Leveraging the Obama Brand: The president may not have coattails, but when it comes to persuading Congress, he has something more important. Where’s the poetry, Mr. President? Obama’s oratorical magic is oddly missing. On the anniversary of Kennedy's death, extremism lives on: A visit to Texas and a lost letter remind one man that the ire aimed at President Obama is something history should have warned us against by now.