Democracy
The far right was at the gates of power. In the initial round of voting on June 30, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally came first with 33 percent support, topping more than half the local races. With the party projected to fall just short of an absolute majority, France was in a frenzy of speculation and anxiety. National
Capitalism
Political preferences are often discussed through a one-size-fits-all middle-class lens. But empirical data shows that class significantly influences voting patterns, with growing class consciousness driving dissatisfaction with established parties. Karl Marx’s most profound insight was recognizing how commodity fetishism — the fixation on simple commodities themselves — obscures the ways that workers’ labor shapes most
Corpocracy
The court’s current justices are some of the most hostile to labor rights in modern US history. Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the supreme court has been supremely pro-corporate – one study even called the Roberts court “the most pro-business court in history”. Not only have many justices been groomed and vetted by the business-backed Federalist Society, but Clarence Thomas and Samuel
Conservatives
The Supreme Court is an unelected super-legislature that is riven with bribery and corruption, in addition to justices’ extreme antimajoritarian views. Rashida Tlaib’s call for impeachment and reform is causing outrage, but she’s right. The United States, we’re often told, is the greatest democracy the world has ever seen. Everyone born here is a citizen,
Democracy
How do cities assert their rights and defend local democracy from rising authoritarianism? How do they master their own destinies in the face of digital transformation and overwhelming power? And how might they solve planetary problems that threaten their lives and homes? Over the past two generations, such big questions have fallen increasingly to small, local governments.
Vile and disgusting
The gargantuan military aid bill that passed last week and the Democrats’ Build Back Better package relied on similar legislative strategies for passage. The party saw the strategy through to secure money for war while abandoning it to fund social programs. If we look at the contrast between the mammoth military aid package funding a