Lawrence Lessig: How to Repair Our Democracy
Law professor and one-time presidential hopeful Lawrence Lessig on campaign finance, gerrymandering, and the electoral college.
A Nation in Decline, as Always
What does it really mean for a nation to be “in decline?” And why does it make for such appealing political rhetoric?
America, Where the Dogs Don’t Bark and the Birds Don’t Sing
The Comte de Buffon's thirty-six volume Natural History claimed that America was a land of degeneracy. That enraged Thomas Jefferson.
Talk about This, Not That
Looking to avoid politics at the holiday dinner table? Food trivia, ground-up mummy pigment, and snake jaws ought to do the trick.
Why Are U.S. Borders Straight Lines?
The ever-shifting curve of shoreline and river is no match for the infinite, idealized straight line.
Elizabeth Warren
An early paper by Elizabeth Warren argues for a Financial Product Safety Commission that would regulate financial products.
The Ideological Slipperiness of the Kennedy Legacy
Politicians from both sides of the aisle have sought to stake a claim to the evocative power of the Kennedy legend. What is it about Camelot?
The Language Wars
As a society becomes increasingly unstable, linguistic innovation happens more rapidly.
Is the “Alt-Right” The Grandchild of the Old Right?
The political term "alt-right" is all the rage now, but it's not so clear what it means. Looking at one of its antecedents may help.
Walt Whitman the… Politician?
Before Walt Whitman was a famous poet, he was a scandalous poet, but before even all that he was in the thick of local and national politics.