democracy

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• SOURCE: New York Daily News
  10/12/2020
  

  Our Unrepresentative Republic

  by Mark Boonshoft

  We should understand that plans to add states or end the Electoral College are plans to restore actual representation. Their opponents are defending a system of virtual representation. You don’t have to be a party hack to see these similarities.

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• SOURCE: Bloomberg Opinion
  10/8/2020
  

  Yes, Mike Lee, America is a Democracy

  by Jonathan Bernstein

  Mike Lee's insistence that the US is "a republic" and not "a democracy" is a petty distinction that ignores the historically interchangeable usage of the terms in American politics in order to justify undemocratic rule by a minority party. 

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• SOURCE: New York Magazine
  10/8/2020
  

  Republican Senator Blurts Out That He Hates Democracy

  Jonathan Chait says that Senator Mike Lee's insistence that the US is a republic and not a democracy is not a point of constitutional principle but a political defense of minority rule. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  10/6/2020
  

  America May Need International Intervention

  by Peter Beinart

  When other democracies have fallen into peril, they have sought help from the United Nations. The United States might consider it, writes Peter Beinart, since Black Americans have long had to appeal to the community of nations to intervene to secure their democratic rights. 

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• SOURCE: New York Magazine
  9/27/2020
  

  ‘Classic Authoritarian’: How Historians Rate Trump’s Danger to Democracy

  Leading academic scholars suggest parallels from American and world history for the present situation. 

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• 9/27/2020
  

  Anti-racist Lens Distorts History on New Jersey “Freeholders”

  by Tony Fels

  Beginning in 2021, New Jersey county officials will no longer be known as "freeholders." Although the author concedes the term is archaic, and "county commissioner" is a more informative descriptor, the term "freeholder" is not a relic of past racism. 

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• SOURCE: Boston Review
  9/10/2020
  

  American Democracy Is in the Mail

  by Daniel Carpenter

  The Postal Service has been a circuit of information vital to democracy, a non-exclusionary employer, and a service connecting all communities in the nation. It's also been a tool of conquest and voracious capitalism. For good and ill, the history of the USPS is the history of America. 

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• 9/10/2020
  

  Senator Ben Sasse Advocates Ending Direct Election of US Senators

  The Nebraska Republican, who has a PhD in US History from Yale, argued in the Wall Street Journal that the Senate would be made more functional by repealing the 17th Amendment and returning the selection of Senators to the state legislatures. 

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• 9/6/2020
  

  A Coup of "Clerqs"?: Anne Applebaum's "Twilight of Democracy" Reviewed

  by David O'Connor

  Anne Applebaum's new book looks with concern at the rise of right-wing populism in Europe and the loyal party functionaries who enable its march. 

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• 8/23/2020
  

  James Madison’s Last Stand: Are We Witnessing the End of Liberal Democracy?

  by Richard Matthews

  The Trump presidency is a stern test of James Madison's design for a government that could govern without becoming tyrannical. The people and the ballot may be the last of Madison's checks and balances left. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  8/6/2020
  

  It Really Is Time to Get Rid of the Filibuster

  by Jeffrey Toobin

  The noted legal analyst argues that the Senate filibuster must end. 

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• SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
  7/31/2020
  

  How Women’s Suffrage Changed America Far Beyond the Ballot BoxA Century of Change For American Women

  by Ellen Carol DuBois

  Looking back at this history, it’s clear that the 19th Amendment wasn’t the end of a movement but an extraordinary milestone in the ongoing fight to extend and protect American democracy. 

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• Madison’s Sorrow Goes Beyond Pompeo's Dinners

  by Kevin C. O'Leary

  We are stuck with two major parties and when one party abandons the broad liberal-conservative center, the system stops working.

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• SOURCE: CNN
  6/1/2020
  

  For the First Time in 30 Years, Hong Kong Will Not Hold a Mass Vigil Commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre

  The official reason given by police was to limit risk of Coronavirus transmission. 

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• 6/2/2020
  

  The Chinese Dream Imperiled

  by Andrew Meyer

  We are going to hear much in the near future about the dangers of Chinese ambition. World leaders would be well advised, however, to prepare for the dangers of internal Chinese instability. 

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• 5/24/2020
  

  No More Business as Usual! It’s Time for Joe Biden to Defend our Democracy

  by Claudia Koonz

  A historian of European dictatorship argues that Joe Biden must recognize that not just the election but the health of democracy is at stake and challenge the administration's efforts to operate above the law.

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• SOURCE: BBC
  5/14/2020
  

  Battle of Lewes: England's First Fight for Democracy?

  King Henry's defeat led to a brief experiment in governing where the king's powers were delegated to a parliament while he remained head of state.

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• SOURCE: John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress
  5/4/2020
  

  Virtual Conversation on the Future of Democracy: Yuval Levin, May 13

  The John W. Kluge Center's upcoming online events include this conversation with Yuval Levin on democratic institutions in crisis. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Daily
  4/27/2020
  

  On this Day: Chinese Students March in Pro-Democracy Tiananmen Square Protests

  On this day in 1989, enormous crowds of Chinese students and new-found supporters marched through major cities in China to fight for democratic freedoms.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  4/15/2020
  

  Despite the Risks, Letting Americans Vote by Mail in November is Good for Democracy

  by Jonathan W. White

  Today’s debate about broadening access to absentee ballots amid a pandemic should be less controversial than the Civil War era struggle over creating an entirely new system.