Politics in Question

Megan Ming Francis, “ The white press has a history of endangering black lives going back a century ,” Washington Post (June 15, 2020). Dorothy Roberts, “ Abolishing Policing Also Means Abolishing Family Regulation ,” The Chronicle of Social Change (June 16, 2020). Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter From Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963). Martin Heidegger, Being and Time , translated by John Macquarri...

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Julia references an Electoral Studies article by R. Michael Alvarez, Thad E. Hall, and Betsy Sinclair (“ Whose absentee votes are returned and counted: The variety and use of absentee ballots in California ”) when discussing the disproportionate way Americans’ votes are counted. Lee references the work of MIT’s Charles Stewart on public opinion in elections and Rick Hansen’s book, Election Meltdow...

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Julia argues that we need to pay greater attention to the informal norms surrounding the filibuster and cites a 2012 article she authored with Jennifer K. Smith (“Unwritten Rules: Informal Institutions in Established Democracies”). She also references a 2016 book by Matt Grossman and Dave Hopkins, Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats . James references work by...

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James references Martin Van Buren’s 1827 letter to Thomas Ritchie in which he outlines his plans for the creation of a new Democratic Party. Julia mentions her recent Mischiefs of Faction piece reacting to Super Tuesday. Lee reminds listeners that the two-party system exacerbates the problems in how we pick presidential nominees and references his new book, Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Ca...

Lee reminds Julia and James that the original First Amendment to the Constitution proposed by James Madison in 1789 concerned apportionment and traces the present issue to the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 . He also mentions the cube root law to highlight the extent to which the United States is a global outlier when it comes to the size of Congress’s lower chamber. James cites Federalist 58...

This week, Lee and James ask special guest Matt Glassman what is unprecedented about our politics. Matt is a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University and a co-host of the podcast, Congress, Two Beers In . Is American politics in an unprecedented era? Is the decline in civility overstated? Has politics always been rough and tumble? These are some of the question we...

This week, Julia, Lee, and James court a debate over the role of our third branch, the federal judiciary. Has the long arm of the law reached too far beyond its robes? Are unelected judges legislating from the bench? Are we looking to the courts too much to break our deadlocked politics? What if anything should we do about it? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for infor...

This week, Julia, Lee, and James consider impeachment in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s acquittal in the Senate. They debate what worked and what didn’t work. And they ask how the impeachment process can be improved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, Julia, Lee, and James work through America’s love-hate relationship with political conflict. How much conflict can our institutions handle? Have we already reached that point? Or are the disagreements in our nation’s capital merely the result of a legitimate opposition doing its job? How do we tell the difference between good conflict and bad conflict? These are some of the questions th...

This week, Julia, Lee, and James are examining a counter-intuitive proposal to counteract the menacing effects of partisanship - more partisanship. Why are parties important? What is their role in our political system? And how many does America really need? These are some of the questions we tackle in this episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about...

In this week’s episode, Julia, Lee, and James tackle populism. They consider what it is, where it comes from, and its influence on American politics. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode, Julia, Lee, and James tackle the separation of powers. They consider why it exists and explore its consequences for our politics in 2019. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this week’s episode, Julia, Lee, and James think through the House’s inquiry into whether it should impeach President Trump. They consider the history of presidential impeachments, discuss their constitutional implications, and assess the potential political consequences if the House decides to move forward in this instance. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for info...

In today’s episode, Julia, Lee, and James go in search of the storied gerrymander. They consider how it impacts our politics, examine what the courts say about it, and ask how we can reform the electoral process to minimize any negative consequences it may have on what happens (or does not happen) in the House of Representatives. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for in...