Today we published political scientist Steven L. Taylor talking about what to expect even in the case of the biggest imaginable blue wave in the midterms.
Steven L. Taylor
Taylor's goal is to level-set expectations. Congress is not as powerful as we might hope it would be, even setting aside some of the contingent factors of our moment that make it less effective relative to its own historical norm.
Meanwhile, over at the New York Times, friend of Liberal Currents Jamelle Bouie writes on the same topic with a different emphasis:
Bouie's goal is to impress upon a hypothetical Democratic Senate and Congress the urgency of doing everything that they can with the tools they have.
Despite a difference in tone, these two pieces are very compatible. Indeed, I would argue that the combination is precisely the right mindset with which to approach the resistance to authoritarian consolidation in America today.
This Editor's Note is about the necessity of grounding our strategy and tactics in realism. Realism about what we can achieve, about the limits of what any one actor or institution can do, and realism about what needs to be done.
That is precisely the balance we seek to strike at Liberal Currents. Please consider redeeming our subscriber drive offer, or signing up as a Basic Subscriber to continue reading and support the work that we do here.
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