Just Words: The Authoritarian Nationalist Freedom Caucus
Contrary to most political and media expectations, democracy stood its ground in the November elections. But even before all the votes were counted and the celebrations subsided, the Washington Post unintentionally gave us a reminder of one big reason why this country remains in [...]
America is an Inclusive Democracy
If you haven’t yet realized that we are beyond politics as usual, consider the reaction we had after posting our updated problem brief, Threats to Voting Rights, to Facebook: Someone posted in reply “#WeAreNOTaDemocracy” and within moments, someone else had liked the post. America [...]
January 6: The Future We Choose
Americans are facing a choice between government by a frequently shifting set of powers that are reliant on a constant framework for rulemaking (“democracy”) and one immoveable power that bends the rules at will to suit its needs (“authoritarianism”). When my daughter sought her [...]
Our National Priorities
What are our national priorities? Fiscal responsibility, apparently, is not one of them. Otherwise, Republicans in Congress would not use the debt ceiling – and the threat of default – as a bargaining chip. Or is it less a bargaining chip and more a device [...]
Steady as we go
With all that's going on in the world, it's sometimes hard to stay focused on the problems that keep us from becoming a more perfect union. That's what good leadership is supposed to do – keep us centered so that we can solve the [...]
Remaining Focused Despite the Insurrection
The country survived the insurrection, but the perpetrators and their allies across the country, their supporters in Congress and state and local governments, and of course, their instigator-in-chief are still out there. The good news is that a large majority of Americans, including some [...]
Responding to a Shaken Faith in Democracy
We are Natasha Raman and Colin Fennelly, two students studying political science, public policy, and law at Dartmouth College. We thoroughly enjoyed writing and researching for The American Leader this past summer. Most Americans grow up believing that American democracy is invincible. We were [...]
Celebrating the Women’s Suffrage Movement
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are [...]
Reaching Low Income Communities with High Income Information
Back in March, Robin Stevens Payes, one of the writers contributing to The American Leader, suggested that we do a profile on Lisa Fitzpatrick, a doctor who has a unique approach to improving health outcomes in low income communities. Dr. Fitzpatrick’s work fit well [...]
McConnell, Stimulus, and National Debt: My Biased View
My sister has, at different times in our lives, been an honest and constructive critic of my writing. In fact, though she would not know this, she has been a major influence on how I think about writing. So when she emailed to tell [...]
Looking Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic
There's nothing like an immediate worldwide crisis to focus the attention and resources of an entire society on figuring out how to solve this common problem. That’s what the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, have done. News consumption is up as people [...]
