Outside the Beltway

Although it is still on life support.

How party change actually works in the US. Plus more on messaging and organzing.

We need to be focused on the system, not fantasies about messages and organization.

SCOTUS appears ready to supercharge gerrymandering.

Some limits on Democratic pushback

This time: North Carolina

A four-pronged test.

Can Democrats do anything?

Wildly unpopular policies in hyperpolarized times.

None of this is good for the quality of our democracy (not that it was great to begin with).

Thinking about the evolution (or is it devolution) of the GOP since the 1990s.

Are Red and Blue states even part of the same country anymore?

Most of the world knows that PR is a better way to elect legislatures.

Here we go again.

Tit-for-tat is maybe good power politics, but is any of this good for democracy?

Trump asks Texas to further gerrymander the state.

This one was in Tuskegee, AL (and this isn’t a photography post).

He was looking for an election to buy.

Not a lot of true competition on my ballot in Alabama.

Looking at the US South.

Democrats are helping the Republican Speaker tame his nihilist wing.

A long-overdue reform is meeting resistance.

A never-ending saga of politicians choosing their voters.

A David Brooks column inspires some thoughts.

I know it when I see it.

The ongoing Republican debacle and what it says about representative democracy in the US.

It really is rife with problems.

Good news with a cautionary note.

A surprising ruling on the Voting Rights Act.

When winning is the only acceptable outcome.

The will of the majority can prevail even in a skewed system.

A surprising factoid in a bad election for the party.

The term that kicks off today could undermine our entire system of government.

A lot of folks who study democracy have sent an open letter to Congress.

A theory floated in Bush v Gore could radically change American elections.

What should conservatives who can’t support the party of Trump do?

The nature of American political reporting distorts our perception of reality.

How long can the unsustainable be sustained?

Could Alaska point the way to a solution?

They’re taking their eye off the ball.

When doing the right thing is the wrong thing.

A potentially more representative map that still underscores deep flaws in our system.

Greatest democracy in the world, right?

Data from Texas underscore a frequent point about primaries.

Two members of the presidential commission reach the conclusion that expansion is needed.

Politicians controlling lines control voters (instead of voters controlling politicians).

Democrats and Republicans are playing by different rules.

Representatives Choosing Their Voters Rather than Vice Versa, Chapter 412.