It’s easy to preach about the importance of energy conservation. But are people in the left really willing to sacrifice personal comfort in the name of environmental protection? Newly published research focusing on electricity usage suggests the answer is yes. Two UCLA economists report that, in the area served by an unnamed utility in the Western United States, households headed by registered Democrats use less electricity than those headed by registered Republicans. This holds true after factoring in variables such as climate, the price of electricity, and the size and age of the ... Read More
Calculating an End to Divisive Politics
December 27, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Much scholarly research never suggests a clear practical application for the public good. You can't say that about the work of Steven J. Brams, professor of politics at New York University. He seems to have an angle on everything. True to form, he has advice that could help detoxify national politics and pull the agenda from the grip of political extremists … and a better way to elect candidates in a political primary where there seems to be no clearly superior choice ... and how to pick a special congressional committee when important work needs to be done on divisive issues. Born in ... Read More
Brams: Let Congress Select Super Committees
December 27, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Following the failure of the budgetary super committee to come to an agreement in the fall, members of Congress admitted to being ashamed of the institution and the implacable partisanship that stymies it. As part of the deal to raise the debt ceiling, the 12-member super committee of six Democrats and six Republicans from both houses of Congress set about trying to identify $1.5 trillion in budgets cuts for the next 10 years. Compromise had little chance, even though failure to compromise triggers $1.2 trillion in across-the-board budget cuts — an outcome few in either party publicly ... Read More
Why a Democracy Needs Uninformed People
December 15, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Uninformed people catch a lot of flak in society, whether they’re sitting on decision-making committees, choosing a new PTA president, or voting in a national election. Political commentators often daydream of a fully engaged and 100 percent knowledgeable electorate. New research, though, suggests these know-nothings may be more vital to democracy than anyone has given them credit for. Researchers at Princeton have discovered that the least informed among us may have a crucial role in tempering the most opinionated minorities. Surprisingly, they started off by studying fish. Iain ... Read More
Crafting Policy to Bridge the Red-Blue Divide
December 12, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Mississippi Republican Trent Lott recently recalled the Washington he moved to as a House aide in 1968: members of both parties would gather on Thursday evenings to play gin rummy, sip bourbon, and smoke cigars. “They knew each other,” he said. “They respected each other.” Three decades later — when he and South Dakota Democrat Tom Daschle traded Senate leadership as their parties traded majorities — each repeatedly would ask the other: “Is there a way we can get this done together?” Senators were highly partisan and had deep philosophical disagreements, he said. “It ... Read More
Will Hispanics Take Over American Politics?
April 19, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The rapid growth in the U.S. Hispanic population over the last 40 years — both in terms of raw numbers and percentage of the population — is probably the most important emergent force in American politics today. The evidence is around us: In 2008, each party conducted an entire presidential primary debate in Spanish. In 2009, the first Hispanic judge, Sonia Sotomayor, was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. And in 2010, for the first time ever in a single election, three Hispanic candidates won top statewide offices: Republican Brian Sandoval became Nevada's first Hispanic governor; ... Read More
Linking Uncivil Rhetoric With Violent Acts
January 11, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Partisans have been quick in the wake of Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Ariz., to point fingers, and to point fingers at pointed fingers, alternately deploring and defending the heated political rhetoric that somehow seems tied — in perception if not reality — to the attempted assassination of a U.S. congresswoman. Sarah Palin is to blame. Or maybe Sharron Angle is. Or it's the president himself, who must deeply regret now his intemperate pledge to "bring a gun" to the opponent's "knife fight." When the blame subsides, we'll be left with a national discussion about where most of us ... Read More
Constitutionality Is in the Eye of the Beholder
January 4, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
When the 112th Congress convenes this week, Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives plans to roll out a new rule: Every piece of legislation considered this session — no matter how mundane — must be submitted alongside a statement citing the specific authority in the Constitution that gives Congress power to enact the law. The idea, championed by the Tea Party and central to the GOP’s "Pledge to America," is a not-so-subtle reference to last year’s health care bill. The 111th Congress, critics complained, regularly exceeded its constitutional authority. And ... Read More
Income Inequality Linked to Senate Standoffs
October 21, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
In the United States, the past quarter-century has been marked by two disturbing societal trends: increasing levels of both income inequality and political polarization. The rich are growing richer, and Democrats and Republicans are growing farther apart. In 2006, a group of researchers led by Nolan McCarty, a professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton, presented evidence linking these two phenomena. They reported that "the average positions of Democratic and Republican legislators have diverged markedly since the mid-1970s," adding that "this turning point occurs almost exactly ... Read More
The Change I Almost Couldn’t Believe In
August 12, 2009 • By • 1 Comment
I grew up in Chicago, where the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears and Daleys were and are leading spectator attractions. I worked for years in San Francisco, which puts on a savage election almost every time the fog rolls in. My in-laws live in New Orleans, where everything is political, and nothing can be properly understood unless you know the history of it back to Earl Long, or maybe even Huey. Still, for the eight years when I lived and reported there, I was absolutely certain the best place to watch politics in America was Houston, particularly as it was practiced at the county courthouse. The ... Read More
