Jon Berkeley, 2011
America's Institutions
Build Them Up, Don’t Let Them Down

America’s institutions have traded their formative virtues for performative outrage. In his new book, Yuval Levin argues that it’s up to us to rebuild them.

(Wikimedia Commons)
revolt of the elites
Andrew Yang’s War on Meritocracy

The dark horse presidential candidate has a vision, a message, and an admirable ability to imagine a better politics. Unfortunately for him, we don’t actually live in the world he describes.

(Wikimedia Commons)
When Deals Were Artful
How Social Security Was Saved—and Might Be Again

Next year, the Social Security Trust Fund will shrink for the first time since 1982. It’s worth recalling how a crisis was averted then—and the lessons for legislative compromise in our own time.

Wikimedia Commons
Class Coalition
The Return of William McKinley’s Republican Party

Republicans are struggling with the question: What kind of party do we want to be? They might look to William McKinley for guidance.

Graphic by Danielle Desjardins
Hope vs. Fear
The Star Wars Theory of History

Jon Meacham’s new book casts U.S. history as a battle between the forces of darkness and light, with all-powerful Presidents dueling for the nation’s soul.

Wikipedia Commons
Institutional Decay
The Fall of Jim Wright—and the House of Representatives

If you want to understand what’s gone wrong in Congress, the career of Jim Wright offers a good place to start.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Technocracy and Democracy
The Taming of the Few

In his new book, ex-central banker Paul Tucker explores the legitimacy crisis of the regulatory state—and argues that with great unelected power comes great democratic responsibility.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Eminent Domain
Divided Over a House

A new movie about the famous eminent domain case Kelo v. New London shows us more than a fight about a house. It shows us a conflict between two core American values.

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Sayre's Law
Congress: Where Politics Goes To Die

Today’s Congress is failing because it gives its members so few chances to openly debate and make meaningful decisions.

YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images
Philosophy & Policy
To Whom Respect Is Due

Matthew B. Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head is a thoughtful philosophical discourse on modernity and its discontents—with plenty of resonance for our current political moment.

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