Category: US Political System
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The Electability Counterfactual
In Pennsylvania, the biggest delegate prize on Tuesday, April 26, 11 percent of Democratic primary voters indicated in exit polls that “electability” was the “candidate quality” they cared about most. Of those voters, 83 percent cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton. The results were similar in Connecticut and Maryland and…
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The New York Primary was a Sh*tshow. Here’s Why.
Russ Nickel is a screenwriter (with a B.A. in Creative Writing from Stanford University and an M.F.A in Screenwriting from Chapman University) who used to believe his vote mattered. Like many Bernie Sanders supporters, I’m new to politics – most of my knowledge came from comedians, who seem to be…
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A Less Wonky Bernie Sanders Would Still Make a Great President
According to much of the mainstream media, Bernie Sanders’ recent interview with the New York Daily News was an unmitigated disaster. Chris Cillizza wrote that “Sanders struggled. Often mightily.” Jonathan Capehart argued that Sanders “seemed surprisingly out of his depth.” David Graham contended that Sanders “couldn’t offer a coherent answer,”…
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Pro-Clinton Writers Make Illiberal Arguments and Then Complain When They’re Called Out On It
A nontrivial portion of online comments are going to be unconstructive and/or offensive. Especially when a columnist writes something provocative, a lot of people are going to be unhappy about it, and many of them, bolstered by the relative anonymity and psychological distance the Internet affords, will respond with vitriol. …
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Punditry Prophecies and the Michigan Primary
Harry Enten, a forecaster at FiveThirtyEight, believes he isn’t a favorite of Bernie Sanders supporters; they “don’t exactly love me,” Enten recently wrote. That may be true, as Enten’s coverage of Sanders during the Democratic primary has, for the most part, been extremely dismissive. When Sanders entered the race in…
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How Change Actually Happens
Debbie Spielberg has worked on legislation and policy at the national and local levels, including serving as Legislative Director for Congressman John Lewis (D-Atlanta). She currently is a legislative aide for Montgomery County Councilmember Marc Elrich (D at-large), where she works on transportation, housing, economic development, and environmental issues, and…
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Voting for Bernie Sanders, Learning from Ta-Nehisi Coates
Several months ago, Black Lives Matter activists targeted Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders with protests. Many of my fellow Sanders supporters thought these protests unfair, in large part, as I explained at the time, because Sanders “has an excellent record on racial justice issues, much better than any other candidate…
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Why I Reject Lesser-of-Two-Evils-ism
If Hillary Clinton ends up winning the Democratic nomination for president, some Bernie Sanders supporters will vote for her anyway. I can respect that decision. While the differences between Democrats and Republicans are often overstated – to give just two examples (there are many), the same people advise Clinton, Marco…
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