Some of the far-right group’s staff in 1976. AP Photo/J. Walter Green Christopher Towler, California State University, Sacramento The retired candy entrepreneur Robert Welch founded the John Birch Society 60 years ago to push back against what he perceived as a growing American welfare state modeled on communism and the […] Read more »
Are Rural Voters the ‘Real’ Voters? Wisconsin Republicans Seem to Think So
In much of Wisconsin, “Madison and Milwaukee” are code words (to some, dog whistles) for the parts of the state that are nonwhite, elite, different: The cities are where people don’t have to work hard with their hands, because they’re collecting welfare or public-sector paychecks. That stereotype updates a very […] Read more »
Bush Made Willie Horton an Issue in 1988, and the Racial Scars Are Still Fresh
The tributes to former President George Bush in recent days have focused on his essential decency and civility, and his embrace of others, including even his onetime opponents. But the “last gentleman,” as he has been called, was not always so gentle. Mr. Bush’s successful campaign for the presidency in […] Read more »
Republicans’ hard-line stance on immigration may alienate millennials for years
… The millennial generation is the most diverse adult generation in U.S. history. Hispanics make up 21 percent of all U.S. millennials. My research shows that this diversity contributes to their more progressive and tolerant attitudes toward immigration, compared with older adults. In my book “The Politics of Millennials,” co-authored […] Read more »
Poll asks what makes a ‘real American?’
The trait most important to being a “real American” is to believe in treating people equally, according to a Grinnell College poll released on Monday. Offered a list of traits, 90% of respondents said treating people equally is very important, followed by taking personal responsibility for one’s actions (88% said […] Read more »
Revealed: the stark evidence of everyday racial bias in Britain
The extent of racial bias faced by black, Asian and minority ethnic citizens in 21st-century Britain has been laid bare in an unprecedented study showing a gulf in how people of different ethnicities are treated in their daily lives. A survey for the Guardian of 1,000 people from minority ethnic […] Read more »