If David Vitter had been elected the governor of Louisiana, I know that this would not be happening: Department of Health and Hospitals [DHH] will begin the massive task Wednesday (June 1) of enrolling 375,000 people into the state’s expanded Medicaid program. The department’s goal is to get Medicaid insurance cards into the hands of […]
Democrats
Posted inPolitical Animal, Politics
GOP Tries to Game California’s Jungle Primary by Using Deceptive Dirty Tricks Against Democratic Voters
Last weekend I noted that the ongoing presidential primary between Sanders and Clinton is benefiting Democrats in California. That’s not just because of increased voter registration, but more importantly because of California’s awful top-two primary system. To recap, in 2010 California voters enacted Proposition 14, which eliminated partisan primaries in all but the presidential race. […]
Posted inJune 2003, Magazine
Do the Democrats Have a Prayer?
To win in ’04 the next nominee will need to get religion.
Posted inMagazine, October 1987
The Powers That Shouldn’t Be
Five Washington insiders the next Democratic president shouldn’t hire.
Posted inMagazine
Tilting at Windmills
I’m getting too old to write my-generation pieces anymore and I have one more thing to say, so I’d better say it now. The rap on my generation—people born during the baby boom, but young enough so that the sixties represented an adolescent romance rather than a permanent life commitment—is that we’ve returned to the […]
Posted inMagazine
Neoliberalism Without A Heart
Politicians almost never allow us a glimpse into what’s really going on in their minds. So when Dick Lamm, Colorado’s “Governor Gloom,” does, it’s hard to resist the urge to perform armchair psychoanalysis. This book is about the major problems facing the United States today, but it is elaborately set up as a work of […]
Posted inMagazine
Values, Personal Choice, and The Failure of Liberalism
Do you remember the 1980 Republican convention? Think back for a minute and you’ll recall that there was a five-word mantra that recurred over and over—it was printed on the platform, repeated by speaker after speaker, even hoisted on banners. The five words were family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom; they were cojoined by a little-known speechwriter named […]
