I have to tell you, I am very happy to get the 2014 elections (not to mention the book I wrote about them) into the rear-view mirror. It was an expensive, nasty election cycle producing record-low turnout, and more or less pivoting on vague but strongly felt dissatisfaction with life taken out disproportionately on the president and the party trying to do something about it. The campaign and the results left some significant unresolved questions–mostly having to do with the future trajectory of demographic groups that have helped make the last four cycles oscillate so violently–that probably won’t be answered until 2016.
And so I’m eager to get into that next cycle, which already has the feel of being something of a tie-breaker that could give Republicans control of the federal government for the first time since 2006 or confirm at least a “presidential majority” for a Democratic Party that’s now been left for dead twice after bad midterms. The GOP presidential nominating contest could become an epic dumpster fire. And even if Hillary Clinton evades a serious challenge on the Democratic side, questions about the Democratic Party’s independence from Wall Street and its ability to promote an economic message sufficient to emergency levels of inequality simply will not go away.
It’s all going to be good dirty fun, and I look forward to writing about it here at PA, while staying the usual year or two ahead of the game by reading the print edition of the Washington Monthly–assuming the resources are there to keep this whole enterprise rolling along. But that’s in no small part up to you, dear readers. As noted yesterday, we’re not on the hunt for a gazillionaire savior/tyrant to pay the bills at the expense of our independence. Our needs are very limited. And what you see is what you get, though we are continuing to try to make small but regular improvements in content and how we deliver it.
So please, if you haven’t already, help us move into the next phase of American politics with whatever donation you can afford. I thank you personally and sincerely, but would really prefer to thank you with another year of helping keeping you informed and entertained in conjunction with my WaMo colleagues.
