Apr 9, 2016 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, History, mic, Scandals
Published: Salon (April 9, 2016), The Good Men Project (April 7, 2016) When Martin Luther King Jr. is brought up in a political conversation, it is usually in reference to his work for civil rights.... and if you're a member of the proverbial one percent, this is definitely for the best. Considering the reverence with which King is held today, it would ill-serve them if the general public...
Mar 30, 2016 | Centrism, Democrats, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), History, Liberalism, mic, Political Ideologies, Political Parties
Published: Quartz (March 30, 2016) With many months to go before the conclusion of the US presidential primaries, battles lines in the Democratic party have become deeply entrenched. Just as right-wingers love to claim that Hillary Clinton is a radical liberal disguised as a moderate, so too are many progressives inclined to see her as a conservative corporatist whose liberal stances merely...
Mar 21, 2016 | Economic Policy, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), Foreign Policy, History, mic
Published: The Huffington Post (March 21, 2016), The Good Men Project (March 17, 2016) Whenever I talk to potential voters who doubt Hillary Clinton (not outright oppose her, mind you, but simply have reservations), I find there are two arguments which are most likely to convince them to develop a more favorable view of her potential presidency. One is the possibility that not turning out to...
Dec 5, 2015 | Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), History, mic
Published: The Good Men Project (December 5, 2015) The last president to be elected without winning his home state was James Polk in 1844. The last one to be re-elected without conquering his own political stomping grounds was Woodrow Wilson in 1916. These data points become a bit more interesting when you look at the current field of Republican presidential candidates. The frontrunner, Donald...
Nov 29, 2015 | Class Issues, Economic Policy, History, mic
Published: Alternet (November 29, 2015), Salon (November 27, 2015) If you’re a Democrat (or, for that matter, a progressive of any stripe) the chances are you’ve heard conservatives evoke the founding fathers when dismissing your beliefs on economic issues. The term “socialist” has become such a toxic epithet in our political culture that the two chief candidates for the Democratic presidential...
Nov 5, 2015 | Elections - Presidential (2016), History
Published: The Good Men Project (November 5, 2015) The past century has proved to be a golden age for unprecedented presidents and vice presidents. Before the election of 1928 (more on that in a moment), every candidate for America's two highest offices fit into a very narrow demographic profile: Protestant, male, of northern and/or western European descent. By contrast, the 2016 presidential...
Nov 3, 2015 | Democrats, Elections, Elections - Presidential (2016), History, mic, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: The Good Men Project (November 3, 2015) Politics is usually pretty weird, but the presidential election shaping up right now is definitely an outlier even by American standards. There has to be a deeper significance in the fact that such an unusual election is occurring right now, but in lieu of being able to come up with one, I'm instead going to briefly dissect the reasons why I...
Oct 29, 2015 | Conservativism, Extremism, History, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: The Good Men Project (October 29, 2015) As Republicans scramble to anoint Rep. Paul Ryan as the successor for soon-to-be-former Speaker of the House John Boehner, it is worthwhile to examine precisely why the Ohio congressman’s tenure has been such a failure. After all, Boehner has reportedly been planning on resigning for a long time, even claiming that he had considered resigning as...
Oct 20, 2015 | Elections - Presidential (2016), History, mic, Vice President Biden
Published: The Good Men Project (October 20, 2015) As America prepares for Joe Biden’s decision on whether or not to run for president next year, it is perhaps appropriate to reflect on the impact his choice will have on the office he currently holds – the vice presidency of the United States. In one sense, Biden’s legacy as vice president is already secure. While scaling back the excesses that...
Sep 10, 2015 | Civil Liberties, Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, History, mic, Original Source Salon.com, Race and Racism, Religion and Religious Issues