Capitalism isn’t broken, but populism may be on the verge of breaking it. If Democratic Party front-runner Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ends up securing the presidential nomination, the Oval Office will be occupied by a populist for the next five years — regardless of who wins in November. This is […] Read more »
To fix the primaries, bring back peer review
In the four years after the 1968 Democratic convention, the nominating power in both parties shifted from elected officials and party leaders to primary voters. For many years the effect of this change was limited, as each party continued to nominate candidates who would have been plausible under the old […] Read more »
Sanders and Trump supporters have this quality in common. So do other populist voters.
… Research finds that populist voters do not have much in common — at least not along traditional political lines. … In a recent study, we found that supporters of populists do have something in common: their personalities. Psychologists distinguish among five general traits that determine our personalities: openness to […] Read more »
Is America’s Two-Party System Fracturing?
Neither Donald Trump nor Bernie Sanders are conventional leaders in their parties. NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to political scientist Diego von Vacano about the breakdown of the two-party system. Weekend Edition, NPR News Read more »
Christian Nationalism Talks Religion, But Walks Fascism
In the past few years, and particularly in the past 6 months, “Christian nationalism” has become a bit of a buzzword. Recent op-eds describing and decrying (or in rarer cases defending) it have included the good, the bad, and the breathtakingly idiotic. A number of important articles have cited various […] Read more »
Why Trump Persists
The failure of the American electorate to rise up in opposition to President Trump — whose outrages are well-documented — suggests that voters are less tolerant, less empathetic and less insistent on integrity than many believe. The election of Trump and his first three years in office have revealed a […] Read more »