Revitalizing Democracy
To Bring Change, Insiders and Outsiders Need Each Other
January 17th, 2008
Activists need advocates in the White House and Congress to voice their concerns and pass legislation. But even with such allies, activists have to keep the heat on, be visible, and make enough noise so that policy makers and the media can't ignore them. To advance a progressive agenda, a widespread grassroots movement -- which provides ordinary Americans with opportunities to engage in a variety of activities, from emailing their legislators, to participating in protest -- is essential.
The Case
More Prisoners Does Not Mean Less Crime
It's not that simple. A 2005 report by The Sentencing Project noted that while increased incarceration rates were accompanied by a decrease in crime between 1991 and 1998, crime rates had increased between 1984 and 1991, a period in which the rate of incarceration was even higher. The director of the Pew Center on the States recently wrote, "Rigorous studies show that increased imprisonment can claim credit for only 25 percent of the nation's crime drop over the past 15 years. The other 75 percent comes from a wide variety of factors, inside and outside the criminal justice system." Those factors include support for improved policing and community crime prevention programs—federal support for which was cut by the Bush administration. We already lock up a larger percentage of our population than any other country in the world. We need to invest more in the programs and techniques that we know prevent crime and lead to healthier communities.more »
Facts & Resources
The News
“Political Dispatch” podcast: 7/11- Robert Borosage
July 14th, 2008
The Voices
The Post-Social Contract Generation
Almost half of America's youngest workers believe the nation's best days may have come and gone. Ninety percent say the social contract is broken and 87 percent — the largest portion in any age group — are calling out for a new one.more »
Getting Out (the Rest of) the Youth Vote
There are close to 13 million 18- to 25-year-olds, who have never been enrolled in college in America. So far only about three million voted in the primaries. These non-college youths come disproportionately from lower-income backgrounds and African American and Latino communities. What will it take to mobilize over 10 million non-college youth to come out in November? more »
Latest from our Bloggers
jun
27
2008
10:49 am
10:49 am
You may differ on the merits with the supporters of the District of Columbia's gun ban, who were handed a major defeat by the Supreme Court on Thursday. But progressives can't deny this: The conservative bloc on the court is a rogue band of ideological thugs who care less about strict constructionism and all of the other conservative legal buzzwords they use, but are all about furthering a conservative political agenda.more »
jun
25
2008
4:30 pm
4:30 pm
The Bush administration's gross abuse of presidential power demands that we insist on the next president reversing the damage done to the constitutional principle of separation of powers. more »
jun
25
2008
9:09 am
9:09 am
Ruling impeachment off the table hasn't hurt congressional Democrats politically. But the constitutional implications are far more disturbing. According to the leading case on presidential powers, if Bush's extreme assertions of power are not challenged by the Congress, they end up not simply creating new law, they could end up rewriting the Constitution itself.more »
jun
4
2008
10:58 am
10:58 am
As of this election year, the vast and rising tide of Millennials is arriving in numbers big enough to swamp the Boomers and set the whole American conversation on a whole new heading. And it is this, it can be argued, is what the Barack-versus-Hillary showdown was really all about.more »
jun
4
2008
9:50 am
9:50 am
I can only think of one moment in my memory that compares to this. It was when I stood in front of my television and watched the Berlin wall come down, live on CNN. I'm not yet sure that another wall has come down now. But there's an opening now. It was there before, but it's much, much wider now. Through it, we can just see the other side, and even have more hope of reaching it.more »
apr
8
2008
10:29 am
10:29 am
At the upcoming Clinton-Obama debate in Philadelphia, there is only one thing the American public wants to hear less than another policy wonk discussion—that would be more personal sniping over race, patriotism or honesty. So, instead, here are a few things for Katie, Hillary and Barack to kick around. more »
feb
7
2008
12:13 pm
12:13 pm
Our friend Bill Moyers is asking an interesting question: “What’s the one book you wish the winning presidential candidate would take to the White House?”more »
jan
4
2008
3:26 pm
3:26 pm
Earlier this morning, I was on NPR's Bryant Park Project discussing the meaning of the Iowa results, along with Erick Erickson of Red State. Erick acknowledged the deep dislike of Huckabee among conservative bloggers, and general disappointment with the GOP field. While I observed the broad agreement on economic populist policy and change in foreign policy among Democrats, independents and some Republican voters shown in the Iowa results.
You can listen to the segment here.
