Revitalizing Democracy
“Political Dispatch” podcast: 7/11- Robert Borosage
July 14th, 2008
We are happy to bring you another edition of our “Political Dispatch” podcast series from PoliticalBuzz.com. “PD” is a weekly series bringing you insight and analysis from the best political journalists and strategists as well as exclusive interviews with top politicians and campaign staffers.
This week we talked with… more » 
To Bring Change, Insiders and Outsiders Need Each Other
Activists need advocates in the White House and Congress to voice their concerns and pass legislation. But even with such allies, activists have to keep the heat on, be visible, and make enough noise so that policy makers and the media can't ignore them. To advance a progressive agenda, a widespread grassroots movement -- which provides ordinary Americans with opportunities to engage in a variety of activities, from emailing their legislators, to participating in protest -- is essential.
... more »
The Case
More Prisoners Does Not Mean Less Crime
It's not that simple. A 2005 report by The Sentencing Project noted that while increased incarceration rates were accompanied by a decrease in crime between 1991 and 1998, crime rates had increased between 1984 and 1991, a period in which the rate of incarceration was even higher. The director of the Pew Center on the States recently wrote, "Rigorous studies show that increased imprisonment can claim credit for only 25 percent of the nation's crime drop over the past 15 years. The other 75 percent comes from a wide variety of factors, inside and outside the criminal justice system." Those factors include support for improved policing and community crime prevention programs—federal support for which was cut by the Bush administration. We already lock up a larger percentage of our population than any other country in the world. We need to invest more in the programs and techniques that we know prevent crime and lead to healthier communities.more »
Facts & Resources
The Dream Gone Bad: The Facts
The cost of living keeps rising.
• Since 2001, the overall costs of living has increased 21.5 percent, driven by big increases in such life essentials as gas, home heating oil and food. more »
The News
Disabled Vets Face Red Tape in Voting
September 27th, 2008
Democrats Defend Right to Vote
September 17th, 2008
The Voices
Constitution Day and Our Civil Liberties
September 17 is Constitution Day, marking the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. But we have less to celebrate today because the Bush administration has so tarnished our constitutional rights.more »
Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote
The hypocrisy of this is amazing. Republicans refuse all attempts to regulate the financial industry claiming that free market is god. Then they intervene at taxpayers' expense when it all blows up due to lack of regulation, and now they're purging voter rolls because of home foreclosures they indirectly were responsible for. more »
Latest from our Bloggers
sep
8
2008
11:18 am
11:18 am
One of the things I hoped for when Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic convention, was that she would introduce Americans to the America that she came from and the America that was the setting of her story. One of the biggest shames in this campaign is the lack of any discussion of the reality that we don't all live in the same America. It's one reality that both progressives and conservatives must grapple with between now and November, and beyond.more »
jun
27
2008
10:49 am
10:49 am
You may differ on the merits with the supporters of the District of Columbia's gun ban, who were handed a major defeat by the Supreme Court on Thursday. But progressives can't deny this: The conservative bloc on the court is a rogue band of ideological thugs who care less about strict constructionism and all of the other conservative legal buzzwords they use, but are all about furthering a conservative political agenda.more »
jun
25
2008
4:30 pm
4:30 pm
The Bush administration's gross abuse of presidential power demands that we insist on the next president reversing the damage done to the constitutional principle of separation of powers. more »
jun
25
2008
9:09 am
9:09 am
Ruling impeachment off the table hasn't hurt congressional Democrats politically. But the constitutional implications are far more disturbing. According to the leading case on presidential powers, if Bush's extreme assertions of power are not challenged by the Congress, they end up not simply creating new law, they could end up rewriting the Constitution itself.more »
jun
4
2008
10:58 am
10:58 am
As of this election year, the vast and rising tide of Millennials is arriving in numbers big enough to swamp the Boomers and set the whole American conversation on a whole new heading. And it is this, it can be argued, is what the Barack-versus-Hillary showdown was really all about.more »
jun
4
2008
9:50 am
9:50 am
I can only think of one moment in my memory that compares to this. It was when I stood in front of my television and watched the Berlin wall come down, live on CNN. I'm not yet sure that another wall has come down now. But there's an opening now. It was there before, but it's much, much wider now. Through it, we can just see the other side, and even have more hope of reaching it.more »
apr
8
2008
10:29 am
10:29 am
At the upcoming Clinton-Obama debate in Philadelphia, there is only one thing the American public wants to hear less than another policy wonk discussion—that would be more personal sniping over race, patriotism or honesty. So, instead, here are a few things for Katie, Hillary and Barack to kick around. more »
feb
7
2008
12:13 pm
12:13 pm
Our friend Bill Moyers is asking an interesting question: “What’s the one book you wish the winning presidential candidate would take to the White House?”more »
