2 Books on ‘Tyranny of the Minority’ in the U.S.

PBS News Hour: "America’s democracy is in an uncharted and fragile place, according to two Harvard government professors. In their new book, “Tyranny of the Minority,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt say politicians are welcoming anti-democratic extremists into their party ranks and part of the problem lies in the Constitution. Laura Barrón-López spoke with the …

Retiring Members of Congress Explain What’s Wrong and Right With the Institution

What's actually most surprising is how many say they liked their jobs and felt they accomplished a lot. The New York Times: "Even the insiders are fed up with Washington. To understand why, we put the same eight questions to House and Senate members in both parties who are on the way out, looking for …

Abortion As A Divisive Issue Can End

The American people clearly favor choice and abortion rights, not bans. In every state, including conservative ones, where abortion has been on the ballot, choice has won and bans have lost. Consensus is emerging in state referenda. There may be dozens more in 2024. Should Congress fully restore abortion rights by a simple narrow majority …

GOP Infighting Blocks Tough Immigration Bill

Sen. James Langford (R-OK), one of the Senate's most conservative members, was the lead negotiator in getting Democrats to make major concessions in a bill to regulate the border with Mexico. But his Republican colleagues, on advice from Donald Trump who wants to run on the issue of immigration, have apparently killed it. But Sen. …

Mitch McConnell, Longest Serving Senate Republican Leader, to Retire

If Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell in 2016 hadn't kept open Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court seat for nearly a year, depriving President Barack Obama of the right to appoint Scalia's successor, Donald Trump probably wouldn't have won the presidency that year, the Wall Street Journal editorial board surmises. The prospect of Trump changing the nation's …

‘True Believer: Hubert Humphrey’s Quest for a More Just America’

Peter Juul: "America could use a lot more Hubert Humphrey—and more Hubert Humphreys—these days. That’s the main thought that kept running through my head reading James Traub’s excellent new biography, True Believer: Hubert Humphrey’s Quest for a More Just America. As a native Minnesotan, I may of course be biased; Humphrey stands alongside Prince, Bob Dylan, …

‘The Conspiracy To End America’ in 2024, By Stuart Stevens

On a day when US House Republicans rejected their third Speaker nominee and have been leaderless for three weeks, former Republican consultant Stuart Stevens' new book is relevant. He has published The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy Into Autocracy. He argues that today’s Republican party is not …

Dianne Feinstein Is Remembered As A Pioneering Female Legislator, the ‘Lioness of the Senate’

Dianne Feinstein, who served slightly more than 30 years in the U.S. Senate from California, nearly 10 years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and 10 years as mayor, has passed away at the age of 90. She was an archetype of a pioneering female politician who a biographer said was determined not to …

This Is A Defining Moment for the Republican Party

Common sense and the foundational principles of the Republican Party seem to be at stake in the House Speaker vote and the 2024 election, I write in my Substack e-newsletter, with links to behind-the-scenes accounts and a way forward for bipartisan governance of Congress.

Master Legislator Profile: Ted Kennedy

A good biography is inevitably not just the story of one person but of the times in which he or she lived, and the cultural, economic, and political forces as well as the family dynamics that shape every life. With nearly a half-century in the US Senate, leading a consequential life both tragic and triumphant, …