Exactly two years ago on the morning of Election Day, I wrote this on Facebook: Its gonna be alright, folks. If Trump wins, it’s gonna be alright. Think about everything Obama wanted to do but couldn’t. The Presidency is not a monarchy. And no one hates Trump more than the Republicans whose ideology I disagree with but who see Trump as an absolute betrayal. But he isnt gonna win. And if Hillary wins, it’s gonna be alright folks. If she... Read more

A central problem in any free political system is how to ensure a balanced competition. The problem in our system is that what we balanced for is no longer what’s competing. “If the competing groups are states, you need a set of rules to make sure that competition is fair,” says Mason. “If the competing groups are parties, you need a set of rules to make sure the partisan competition is fair.” The compromises made to calm the divisions between... Read more

All campaigns need to appeal to the voter. There are a lot of dichotomies at play. For example you can ask voters to vote for something or ask them to vote against someone or something. You can articulate a message of what is possible, or a message of what is broken. None of these dichotomies are inherently negative or positive, and most campaigns find some balance between the two. However, there is one fundamental type of difference that does separate... Read more

“The swing voter is not red to blue. The swing voter is non voter to voter. That’s our swing voter.” — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, at Netroots Nation “The swing voter is not red to blue. The swing voter is non voter to voter. That’s our swing voter.” – @Ocasio2018 pic.twitter.com/z3XyJ5GUdd — Hamilton Nolan (@hamiltonnolan) August 5, 2018 Read more

In an attempt to discredit Medicare for All, a libertarian think-tank analyst (who was part of the Bush Administrations aborted attempt at privatizing Social Security right before the economy melted down) ended up actually making the case for it instead. The LAT Business section summarizes: Taken all together, national health expenditures would total $57.6 trillion through 2031. They’re currently projected to be $59.7 trillion. In other words, Medicare for All would reduce total U.S. spending on healthcare by 3.44%. …... Read more

Five male justices appointed by two white male presidents are going to outlaw abortion in America, three women are going to dissent, and we will all be in hell. — Emmy Bengtson (@EmmyA2) July 10, 2018 and both those presidents did not win the popular vote. Read more

Elections have consequences. Case in point: today, Donald Trump is likely to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court who is very likely to cast the deciding vote which overturns Roe vs Wade. This article from The Atlantic is a good example of the “conservatives are hypocrites” genre which as usual fails to understand that its all about abortion: It is perhaps an open question whether Trump’s candidacy represents a true change in evangelicals’ DNA or whether it simply revealed... Read more

Excellent op-ed in the LA Times about what Jefferson’s famous phrase means in the modern era: Do we believe that Jefferson’s felicitous phrase now, in 2018, has economic implications? Does the self-evident right to pursue happiness entail the right to a living wage? Or affordable healthcare? Does the decline of the middle class mean that our collective happiness as a people is at risk? I think that answering yes to these questions is part of what it means to seek... Read more