Most recent articles:

The real concern after Citizens United should be that small donors will stop giving.

(Flickr/Hamed S.)
February 8, 2010 | By Mark Schmitt | web only

Fiscal Folly
We need more deficit spending on public investment and jobs now, then deficit reduction once recovery comes.
February 5, 2010 | By Robert Kuttner

Literature from the Underground
Does a new anthology devoted to a hip-hop classic elevate the genre to its rightful place as a literary form?
February 5, 2010 | By Adam Serwer

In Bad Faith
At yesterday's National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama revealed that he still falls prey to the idea that religious beliefs are unimpeachable -- even when those beliefs affect the liberty of others.
February 5, 2010 | By Sarah Posner | web only

The Real Chinese Threat
The Quadrennial Defense Review's treatment of China isn't just dull -- it's tone deaf.
February 4, 2010 | By Matthew Yglesias | web only

Beyond the Creative Class
TAP talks with Christopher Carrick, an urban planner with the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, about regional inequality and if there is life after Richard Florida.
February 4, 2010 | By Paul Waldman | web only

Don't Judge the Budget by Its Cover
The substance of Obama's budget isn't conservative, but his way of selling it sure is.
February 3, 2010 | By Tim Fernholz | web only

An End to the "Long War"
The current Quadrennial Defense Review underscores the stark contrast between Obama's and Bush's visions for U.S. military engagement.
February 3, 2010 | By Robert Farley | web only

The Power of the "Post-Racial" Narrative
Many white Americans latch on to the myth of color blindness because they are afraid that even after electing a black president, they must still wrestle with their own privilege.
February 2, 2010 | By Courtney E. Martin | web only

The Battle Over Don't Ask, Don't Tell
By advocating for a kinder and gentler form of marriage inequality, conservatives may have accidentally ceded the argument for keeping gays out of the military.
February 2, 2010 | By Paul Waldman | web only

Reforming the Meat Market
As the USDA's latest appointee, Elisabeth Hagen has been charged with keeping our food safe. But can one person fix a system that in some ways still resembles The Jungle?

February 2, 2010 | By Monica Potts | web only

Swagger Like Us
Should women amplify their aggression to mimic successful men? Or should they play up what supposedly makes them different?
February 1, 2010 | By Ann Friedman

What Happened to Democracy?
Nobody seems to be talking about the reforms needed to clean up democracy.
February 1, 2010 | By Robert B. Reich

Willed Amnesia
Israel's new amnesty law only perpetuates the narrative that the only people hurt by settlement in Gaza were the settlers, whose ideal communities have been lost forever.
February 1, 2010 | By Gershom Gorenberg | web only

A Museum of One's Own
Can writers' former homes become tourist destinations? The odds are long and the payoff is low.
January 29, 2010 | By Anne Trubek

How to Kill the Filibuster with Only 51 Votes
Under the Supreme Court's precedents, just 51 senators will have a brief opportunity to reform or eliminate the filibuster next January.
January 29, 2010 | By Ian Millhiser | web only

Where Was the Narrative?
There's no law requiring that State of the Union addresses be dull, overlong lists of provisions and proposals, but it has certainly come to seem that way.
January 28, 2010 | By Paul Waldman | web only

The Rental Breakdown
The sub-prime crisis put a spotlight on homeowners -- but renters have suffered from declining housing stock and slashed federal supports.
January 28, 2010 | By Monica Potts | web only

The Return of Childish Things
The smallness of Washington and the natural nervousness of the electorate proved too much for Obama's original vision. But there's still hope.
January 28, 2010 | By Mark Schmitt | web only

Breaking the Banks
Obama's endorsement of stiffer bank regulation has been a long time coming.
January 27, 2010 | By Tim Fernholz | web only

"Strategic Deficit" Redux
Republicans create deficits to foil progressivism. Do we have to learn that lesson again?
January 27, 2010 | By Greg Anrig | web only

Spinning the War on Terror
Democrats need to take control of the narrative on terror -- and uphold American ideals in the process.
January 27, 2010 | By Adam Serwer | web only

Damage Control for Democrats
Are Democrats doomed? Not necessarily -- but they need to stop acting like it.
January 26, 2010 | By Paul Waldman | web only

Futile Concessions
Health-care reform hinges on abortion, but the pro-choice movement has already lost.
January 26, 2010 | By Michelle Goldberg | web only

Playing Ourselves for Fools
The trading system America sold the world is killing U.S. industry. Here's a better way.
January 25, 2010 | By Robert Kuttner

The Politics of Industrial Renaissance
Business and government may waver, but the American people want more manufacturing.
January 25, 2010 | By Harold Meyerson

Theory of Change at Year One
What was Obama selling? What did we expect when he took office? And how have those expectations worked out in practice?
January 25, 2010 | By Mark Schmitt and Rick Perlstein | web only

Underrating Reform
Even with its compromises, health reform is the most ambitious effort in decades to reorganize a big part of life around principles of justice and efficiency.
January 25, 2010 | By Paul Starr

The Real Problem with Citizens United
The case didn't just give corporations greater voice -- it changed the rules about what corruption means in election funding.
January 22, 2010 | By Heather K. Gerken | web only

Corporations Take the Court
Citizens United does not just signal a sea change for campaign law -- it is latest example of a Supreme Court that is increasingly solicitous to the interests of big business.
January 22, 2010 | By Scott Lemieux | web only

Helping Haiti Beyond the Disaster
The recent earthquakes have captured the world's attention. But looking beyond aid will make a difference over the long haul.
January 21, 2010 | By Matthew Yglesias | web only

It Wasn't About Coakley
Democrats aren't framing the political debate with any success, and their equivocations leave them open to right-wing attacks and progressive suspicion.
January 20, 2010 | By Tim Fernholz | web only

The Two Overlooked Massachusetts Casualties
Immigration and labor law reform needed filibuster-proof majorities to pass.
January 20, 2010 | By Harold Meyerson | web only

60 Was the Loneliest Number
The "filibuster-proof majority" was always an illusion. We might be better off without it.
January 20, 2010 | By Mark Schmitt | web only

I Love You, Man
Dueling "ex-gay" and gay-rights conferences have more in common than the attendees would like to believe.
January 19, 2010 | By Gabriel Arana

Why Massachusetts Doesn't Matter
Even if Brown defeats Coakley for Ted Kennedy's seat, there is a path -- more than one, actually -- for Democrats to lunge across the finish line and pass health-care reform.
January 19, 2010 | By Paul Waldman | web only

On the Books
Could microloans help America's informal entrepreneurs become business owners -- and rescue urban economies in the process?
January 18, 2010 | By Kai Wright

The Forgotten Promise of Obama's Race Speech
We thought our first African American president would strengthen our national dialogue on race, but our conversations remain as superficial as before.
January 18, 2010 | By Latoya Peterson | web only

The Missing Discomfort in Mourning for Haiti
There is a hidden cost to tweeting, texting, and other "convenient" ways of taking action to help others.
January 18, 2010 | By Courtney E. Martin | web only

Not Everything Has Changed
The women's movement may have changed everything for the American public, but in the home, the revolution has hardly begun.
January 15, 2010 | By Ann Friedman

To the Victor Go the Street Names
The real legacy of regional conflict can be found in the smallest details -- street names, curriculum choices -- that painfully enshrine some of the worst violence.
January 14, 2010 | By Gershom Gorenberg | web only

Tea Party, Meet the Religious Right
The upcoming tea-party convention has attracted a large number of high-profile conservative Christians. Could an alliance be next?
January 13, 2010 | By Michelle Goldberg | web only

An Accounting of the Crisis
Today marks the start of hearings on the origins of the financial crisis. A look at the commission running them and what it might be able to accomplish.
January 13, 2010 | By Tim Fernholz | web only

Pecora Players
A Who's Who of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
January 13, 2010 | By Tim Fernholz | web only

Camera Ready
Anti-gay marriage activists' opposition to live broadcasting the federal challenge to Prop. 8 has little to do with the propriety of cameras in the courtroom and everything to do with setting the agenda.
January 12, 2010 | By Gabriel Arana | web only