… Weapons of mass death, and the submissive fear they engender, put teeth on that shrinking minority’s entitled claim to indefinite power. Without the threat of violence, what have they really got? Votes? Sooner or later, they won’t have enough, and they know it. Nearly every Republican policy priority lacks […] Read more »
Iowa: A shakeup among the Democratic presidential contenders
In the post-debate poll in Iowa, Focus on Rural America found some shakeups among the Democratic presidential contenders and some key takeaways for the field. Iowa Democrats are focused on electability and they see rural issues and a rural strategy as key to that end. CONT. Focus on Rural America Read more »
Demagogues and Democracy – It Can’t Happen Here?
In a recent edition of Foreign Affairs, a number of articles discuss the current shift toward autocratic leaders – leaders who “practice a brutal, smashmouth politics, a personalized authoritarianism.” … What links all of these nationalist movements? Among other things, a contemporary breed of demagogues who know how to leverage […] Read more »
Democrats wary of litmus tests inch back from the cliff on their left
At the outset of the presidential campaign, Democratic Party elders worried about an epidemic sweeping from one primary state to the next: a sudden plague of litmus tests. … That set off alarms for operatives focused on winning the nomination and the election next year. President Trump already is casting […] Read more »
Do the Poor Suffer From Elite Ideas?
… Starting a half-century ago or so ago, conservatives began to indict liberals not just for their social policies but for their ideas about things like happiness and freedom. James Q. Wilson, for example, attributed the 1960s increase in crime in part to the ideology of self-expression and “do your […] Read more »
Democrats are missing an opportunity to brand Trump as too conservative, poll suggests
In his 2016 campaign, President Trump ran as a relative moderate among Republicans — opposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare, talking up federal efforts to rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges, staying away from culture war issues such as same-sex marriage. But in office, Trump has aligned himself firmly […] Read more »