Three new books fill in our picture of Roosevelt The Good Neighbor: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Rhetoric of American Power by Mary Stuckey Michigan University Press, 376 pp. Roosevelt’s Second Act: The Election of 1940 and the Politics of War by Richard Moe Oxford University Press, 492 pp. Young Mr. Roosevelt: FDR’s Introduction to […]
March/April/May 2014
Abolition and Backlash
Efforts to ban capital punishment are growing. But keep this in mind: the last time the Supreme Court tried to end the death penalty, we got more executions.
Taking on the Heiristocracy
History shows that growth alone won’t stop vast economic inequality.
Journalism and the CNBC Effect
Before 2007, the press failed to see the growing rot in the U.S. financial system and warn the public. Why?
Refuting U.S. Declinism, Sort of
Don’t worry about America losing its dominant position in the global economy. Worry instead about whether average Americans will benefit.
Backward, Christian Soldiers
To end the culture war that divides America, we need to recognize that each side has the same roots: the radical democratic individualism of America’s Protestant heritage.
The Origin of Ideology
Are left and right a feature (or bug) of evolution?
It’s All in the Implementation
Why cannabis legalization is less like marriage equality and more like health care reform.
Nonprofit Motive
How to avoid a likely and dangerous corporate takeover of the legal marijuana market.
A Nudge Toward Temperance
The great policy challenge to cannabis legalization is discouraging problem use. Most consumers have no trouble keeping their consumption within reasonable bounds, but 10 to 15 percent lose control for months at a time, and some of them develop chronic problems. At any one time, there are a couple of million Americans who self-report that […]

