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McCutcheon and the Two-Pronged Attack on Voting Rights

Brentin Mock Facing South
A Supreme Court decision striking aggregate campaign contribution limits would allow wealthy donors to buy as many politicians as they can; those politicians could then move legislation suppressing the votes of those who might object.

Where the G.O.P.'s Suicide Caucus Lives

Ryan Lizza The New Yorker
The members of the suicide caucus live in a different America from the one that most political commentators describe when talking about how the country is transforming. The average suicide-caucus district is seventy-five per cent white, while the average House district is sixty-three per cent white. Latinos make up an average of nine per cent of suicide-district residents, while the over-all average is seventeen per cent. 76 of the members are male. 79 are white.

Government Crackdown on Greek Fascists

Helena Smith, Costas Douzinas, Hara Kouki, Antonis Vradis The Guardian
Golden Dawn is both a political party and a gang – and outlawing political parties often proves problematic and ineffective. The law can prohibit but cannot eliminate fascist ideas; these must be confronted politically. Anti-fascism is a political struggle fought daily by citizens, activists, civil society groups and migrant communities. It is a battle for democracy, solidarity and social justice. It cannot be won unless the systemic injustice of austerity is defeated.

America’s 200-Year-Long Battle for Workplace Democracy

David Moberg In These Times
In this latest battle over appointments to the NLRB, class divisions emerged starkly. “There’s an open conspiracy among corporate law firms, federal judges—many of whom used to be in the same firms—the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Republican Party—particularly its senators,” says Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America. This [NLRB debate ultimately] is a question of which side are you on?

The Trials of Bradley Manning

Chase Madar The Nation
It would take great powers of imagination to blame any part of our recent military debacles on leaks and whistleblowers. If someone had leaked the full National Intelligence Estimate on Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, would more people have decided—like then-Senator Bob Graham, who voted against the invasion after reading the unredacted report—to oppose the war before it began?

North Carolina's Moral Mondays

Ari Berman The Nation
An inspiring grassroots movement is fighting back against the GOP’s outrageous budget cuts and attacks on democracy.

The Subversive Summit

Randy Malamud In These Times
The principles of democratic self-determination are hamstrung by the powerful Troika—the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission (the EU’s legislative and operational council)—which a disempowered citizenry increasingly views as an automaton that squelches democracy as it protects the interests of the power elite.

What Would an American Left Look Like?

Van Gosse The Rag Blog
I propose that a consequential Left can only proceed as a project for reconstructing American democracy, root and branch. We are not finished with making this country a real democracy. We need to complete the process of Radical Reconstruction that began after the Civil War, and stalled until the Second Reconstruction of the mid-twentieth century.
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