“I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing.” With these words, President Abraham Lincoln ended a letter to Louisianan Cuthbert Bullitt on July 28, 1862. We see far different words these days from President Donald Trump: “coup,” “treason”, and “civil war.” Words matter and they matter most…
The Politics of Preparedness Are Changing
Disaster preparedness has historically been little more than an afterthought for elected officials. Between 1985 and 2008, the national government spent nearly 11-times more on disaster relief programs than disaster preparedness, despite the fact that every $1 spent on preparedness translates to roughly $15 in savings from the future damage it mitigates. The lack of…
Charlie Baker, Independent?
Adrian Walker gave Republicans of the Charlie Baker vein something to consider this week by suggesting the Governor leave the party of Donald Trump.
Special Climate Strike Day Edition of Dark Money
From Jane Mayer, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, pp. 205, 207, study by Dr. Robert Brulle: Mayer climate change denialism
President Trump’s Attack on the Legal Immigration System
“I believe [immigrants are one] of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past,…
The Rules Matter
I’m teaching courses on U.S. politics and Massachusetts politics this semester. When I talk about the national and state Constitutions, one of the things I stress is that these Constitutions are like the rules of the game, and the rules matter. Local charters are no different, and the events unfolding in Fall River over the…
Presidential Election 2020: How to Matter in Massachusetts
So you watched the debate last night. You’re pumped. You cannot wait to vote for one of those folks on the stage. Or you’re counting the days where you can vote for their opponent. Cool. …But you live in Massachusetts. The peculiarities of the electoral college, as we all know, make a relatively small number…
Conservative Coping Strategy in the Trump Era: Taking Refuge in Theory
Jeff Jacoby’s recent Boston Globe column [“Price gouging’ during natural disasters isn’t a problem — it’s a solution”] neatly illustrates the dilemma of conservative political commentators in the Trump Era. Jacoby’s endorsement of price gouging is a freshman Econ 101 essay that relies entirely on classical economic theory. It contains absolutely no empirical evidence whatsoever,…
CommonWealthMagazine Answers Reader Questions
Last week I posed a Reader Question to CommonwealthMagazine and lo and behold, CW answered the question. I wondered if online polls (CW had a story on one) are reliable. And the answer, according to CW’s Steve Koczela and Rich Parr, is yes. I recommend Koczela and Parr’s Polling, like everything else, is moving online…
Koch, Kennedy, Did I Miss Anything Else?
David Koch died, Congressman Joseph Kennedy announced he’s looking at a race to unseat Senator Edward Markey in a Democratic primary – did I miss anything else? The devastation of Hurricane Dorian and increasingly unstable weather patterns as climate change presses upon us serve as miserable reminders of the political legacy of David Koch. He…