The death of democracy? I have been traveling around China for the past week and, despite the incredible growth of capitalism here, it’s clear that the government controls much of what happens in this beautiful country. From investments infrastructure that result in modern, butter-smooth highways to the wind energy installations that surround cities like Qingdao, the government is in charge […]

The Republican Party is the strongest it has been in decades and could be on the verge of a victory that could give them more electoral power than at any time since 1920, the year women first voted for the president. That’s the conclusion of Sean Trende and David Byler who have put together an index of party strength: You […]

Earlier this week, House Republicans held a hearing on H.B. 4052, a bill that would prohibit local governments from passing employment-related ordinances that are more restrictive than state-level laws. Although it is called the “Local Government Employer Mandate Prohibition Act”, it really should be referred to as the “Local Government Control Prohibition Act” because it strips what is commonly known […]

Remember what happened in the House on Thursday when the GOP nominee releases in ad in Spanish next September that drops all the “secure the border” pablum that got him the nomination and vows to reform the immigration system in a way Democrats haven’t. House Republicans voted to remove language that would have instructed the secretary of defense to consider […]

Republicans have successfully branded themselves as the party that worships “local governmental control”. They want federal regulations repealed and the power given to the states on all sorts of things from the environment to the Affordable Care Act. But, when it comes to actual local control, where local municipalities set their own rules, the whole idea of “local governmental control” […]

Last week, Rick Perry and Jeb Bush both pointed to most important issue of the most important election of your lifetime. In what Think Progress‘ Ian Millhiser called the “Single Most Incisive Statement About the 2016 election,” Rick Perry — as a representative of the conservative ID — put it bluntly: “Something I want you all to think about is […]

Dan Benishek, the Congressman from Michigan’s 1st Congressional District made a pledge when he first ran for that seat that he would only serve three terms. When he recently reneged on that pledge, I sorta shrugged. Republican politicians lying about things isn’t particularly BREAKING NEWS!!! However, when Benishek revealed his supposed reason for breaking his pledge, I got angry. According […]

Not just predictable. Predicted. The dust hadn’t even settled on the epic crash and burn of Michigan’s Proposal 1 yesterday when Republican House Speaker Kevin Cotter began discussing his plans for slashing the budgets of other areas to come up with over a billion dollars needed to rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges. He gave a glimpse into his thinking […]

I’ve long believed, as do so many others, that the forced birther movement, which claims to be about “saving lives”, is little more than a subterfuge for their real aim: controlling women. Why else would they go after contraception time and time again? Why else would they want to defund Planned Parenthood that prevents more unwanted pregnancies and abortions than […]

This is what happens when conservatives lose a battle. They prepare for war. You know that the end of lawful segregation didn’t end opposition to a more equal society. Anxiety at the loss of government-sanctioned racial superiority, upon which this nation had been built, first transmuted into support for a “law and order” agenda. And when Watergate took Nixon down, […]

If you’re on Governor Snyder’s email list you recently received his most recent glitter bomb of self-congratulation. In it he points out that Michigan’s unemployment rate has dropped by half from 11.2% in December, 2011, but offers no reasons for this drop. It’s reasonable to assume the drop is primarily related to the increase in auto sales along with the […]