Outside the Beltway

National Review’s Kevin D. Williamson advocates for less democracy in America.

Another entry in the “stunning, but not surprising” category of political observations.

And, really, all of this current wave of election legislation.

A subtle but odd change in house style for the Paper of Record

The GA GOP is butting heads with corporations over HB202

The Watergate conspirator, author, and talk show host was 90.

Judges are pressuring prosecutors to strike deals, most of which will be for misdemeanors.

A truly silly characterization from Senator Mike Lee.

An example from Dan McLaughlin of NR

It makes voting harder.

Our current forms of collective action on guns have failed us.

Appoint more Asian American and Pacific Islanders. Or else!

Empowering authoritarians.

Our insistence on relying on an 18th Century understanding of electoral systems is our ongoing bane (if one values representative government).

Defense of the filibuster tend to be a combo of mistakes and mythology.

And what GOP opposition says about the party.

A story that is both unserious and yet emblematic of our age in a serious way.

A CPAC speaker and the return of the problem of the Heritage electoral fraud database.

Yet another reminder about pathologies of US democracy.

The man most famous for getting screwed out of a Supreme Court seat has a more interesting backstory.

The reflections on the departed right-wing talk host continue.

America’s institutions are undemocratic but only some of them are a product of the Constitution.

Some reflections

The distance in accountability between the highest and the lowest must be shortened.

Some marginal Republican formers are thinking about maybe doing somethingoranother.

It is not a tool to foster compromise. It is tool of obstruction, plain and simple.

Historical precedents fall apart when we’re in a truly unprecedented time.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her top officials are under house arrest.

Let me point you to a reform proposal.

The hidden wokeness of our new Critical Theory-loving President.

Biden’s America is a place and idea in which the trappings of empire or glory are ephemera in comparison with perennial human relationships—families; friendships; communities; schools; neighbors; partners.

The aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riots runs into the First Amendment,

Will there be in-fighting? Yes. A break-up? No.

The 45th President will go down in infamy, setting a record that’s unlikely to be broken.

The #3 Republican in the House will vote to impeach.

The New England Patriots coach lived up to the team nickname.

There are multiple ongoing plots and reasonable fear of infiltration of security forces.

The live coverage of Wednesday’s assault on American democracy underplayed its seriousness.

As we assess Trump’s role in all of this, it is important to think through what he did (and did not) do.

There’s a word for people who use outrageous violence to terrorize.

Trump’s lack of fealty to truth and reality gives supporters an out (if they choose it).

A large, well-trained police force was unprepared for a foreseeable crisis.

The President of the United States is a national security threat. Can we get rid of him now?

It’s finally officially official.

We’ve shouldn’t be surprised we’ve arrived at this destination.

The predictable, indeed inevitable, has happened.

The President who promised to “Make America Great Again” has made her a laughingstock. And worse.

On the op/ed page of WaPo, the 10 living former U.S. secretaries of defense say things that shouldn’t have to be said.

It will be symbolic, but the symbol will be an anti-democratic one.

Granted, there are more than two. But from a political science/political history POV, these two stick out in my mind.