A Reply to Time Magazine’s Michael Grunwald: Why Analysis and Critical Reflection on the XL Tar Sands Pipeline Is Needed
In a column this week at Time magazine, Michael Grunwald says he’s on the side of activists who oppose the XL Tar Sands pipeline and chides the “respectable centrist pundits” who have raised questions about the protesters’ strategy. According to Grunwald, writers like the New York TimesAndrew Revkin or the editors at the journal Nature are: …desperate to differentiate...
The Polarization Paradox & the Republicans Are the Problem Thesis
Last month, I published with Dietram Scheufele “The Polarization Paradox: Why Hyperpartisanship Promotes Conservatism and Undermines Liberalism.” We detail in the article how liberals have become more like conservatives in their political strategies, adopting a win-at-all-costs commitment to policy debates and elections. In doing so, liberals have built their own message machine comprised of think tanks, media...
The Polarization Paradox: Why Hyperpartisanship Strengthens Conservatism and Undermines Liberalism
Modern campaigns have rarely focused on the issues, but in the 2012 election the level of moral outrage and anger is unprecedented. Even before the campaign, America was divided, but come next year, if President Obama is re-elected he will likely face a country more polarized than at any time in more than a...
Post-2012 Election, Polarization is Likely to Deepen as Parties Purge Moderates
If President Obama is re-elected in the Fall, he is likely to face a Congress even more polarized than today, with the ideological divide greater than at anytime since before the Civil War. Those are among the conclusions of political scientist Keith Poole and colleagues who have been using a sophisticated algorithm to put into historical context...
More on Mann & Ornstein’s “Blaming Republicans for Polarization” Narrative
At the Washington Post’s The Fix, Chris Cillizza has this to say about Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein’s must read op-ed from the Sunday Post: The truth of the matter though is that most House Members — Republicans and Democrats — are not (nor do they aspire to be) inspirational leaders. What they want to do...
The Trouble with Mann & Ornstein’s “The Republicans Are the Problem” Frame
Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institute and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute published a must-read op-ed at the Washington Post earlier this month titled “Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans Are the Problem.” At the core of their argument is that Republicans in Congress have veered so far to the right, that the GOP...
New Books on Polarization: The Need for Compromise and Applying Conservative Principles to Environmental Problems
Two recently published books caught my eye the World Bank bookstore here in Washington, DC and I’ve put both at the top of my list to read and discuss. Amy Gutmann & Dennis Thompson, The Spirt of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It. If politics is the art of the possible, then compromise...
The Pragmatic Caucus: States and Cities Are Centers for Collaboration and Innovation
As I’ve argued on climate change, localizing the issue is one way to overcome the polarization that has paralyzed national-level action. And this strategy holds not just for climate, but a range of other issues, argues Brookings Institution Vice President Bruce Katz and Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin. In an essay last year at Time...
Green Groups Rebrand Global Warming Around Public Health
Following the demise of cap and trade legislation, green group leaders acknowledged that despite spending several hundred million dollars to pass the bill, they were unable to create public demand for action in key Midwest Congressional districts and states. “The community that tried to move a climate bill fundamentally lacks political power and doesn’t have...
