The Courts and the Personalist Presidency
The erosion of democratic institutions on behalf of lobbyists, courts, and arbitrary personalism.
Chance Phillips
Chance Phillips has a Master’s in political science and will soon begin a PhD in economics at UMass Amherst. He's interested in the interactions between institutions and the public.
Only One Candidate for President in 2024 Has Made and Will Make a Mockery of the Law
Republican hysterics over the hush money verdict are nothing but a projection of the second Trump term they hope for.
DeSantis's Nazi Problem and the Republican Staffer Class
The latest person touted as national conservatism’s trendy intellectual is more than a little sympathetic to fascism—quelle surprise. Former DeSantis staffer Nate Hochman has joined Pedro Gonzalez as another DeSantis orbiter unable to stay off the third rail of modern conservative politics: being an (open) fascist. Gonzalez, an
The Democratic Animal: Thomas Paine's Legacy
In 1774, Thomas Paine arrived in America having left a string of odd jobs, a twice-failed career as an Excise officer, and the remnants of two marriages back in England. The pamphlets he penned in America served as the spark (Common Sense) and the fuel (the Crisis series) for a
Machiavelli and the Liberal Republic
It is hard to not think of ancient Rome when walking the streets of Washington, DC. Rome’s legacy is carved in marble and granite and casts long shadows on the banks of the Potomac. The common quip that the United States is a ‘republic not a democracy’ suggests in