Power

All Americans with some education are aware that Manifest Destiny was one of the Bad Things in our past and very few know any more about it than that.

Senator Joseph McCarthy built his reputation on fear-mongering, smear campaigns, and falsehoods about government employees and their associates.

Executive trade power has gone too far.

From "National Greatness" to "Make America Great Again."

The administration is trying to neuter the redistributive and protective arms of the state, while exploiting its bureaucratic powers to silence, threaten, and deport.

Trampling rights, imposing tariffs, gobbling up others’ territories. Trump is imitating his role models to a T.

DOGE's seizure of government databases is not just an act of bureaucratic reorganization. It is an act of constitutional restructuring.

Diplomatic relations, domestic repression. Plus: the truth about Joseph Welch, and a bit of family history.

Trump’s clumsy partisan takeover of the National Archives and Records Administration recalls two consequential and troubling episodes from its history.

In 1978, Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act. It gave rise to some truly miserable air travel—and neoliberalism.

At its height, the political crackdown felt terrifying and all-encompassing. What can we learn from how the movement unfolded—and from how it came to an end?

The early 1920s in the US offers historical lessons on how current pessimism about the state of the country can manifest in dangerous, discriminatory ways.

The first businessman president realized that working with Congress – not alone or against it – was the best way to create an efficient federal government.

The effort to return American government to republican principles is daunting—but the Founders’ wisdom can serve as a guide.

Andrew Jackson set the standard for the most tumultuous presidential term ever — at least until now.

Those who wish to restore democratic rule, regardless of political orientation, must take it seriously.

Understand that if Trump succeeds the result will not be the harmless resurrection of a quaint jurisprudential artifact.

On the early career of the actor-cum-politician who changed America.

The Radical Republican oversaw federal spending at the dawn of Reconstruction. How did his support for Black equality affect his leadership in the House?

The scene at the 1964 Republican National Convention, when Barry Goldwater was nominated and black Republicans’ worst fears about their party were confirmed.

The revolutionary roots of a corrosive national pastime.

The populist turn in our politics is best understood as a revival of old categories of political economy.

Trump's second administration is 'unprecedented' to some, but historians find parallels in ancient Rome, Nazi Germany, and Latin American dictatorship.

The late conservative thinker, who died 20 years ago Saturday, has transcended the pariah status imposed on him during his life.

USAID grants may have cracked constitutional spending limits.

Conservatives might be tempted to hold up Reagan as representative of a nobler era. They’d be wrong.

How Trump's migration-as-invasion theory might serve as a pretext for claiming vast presidential powers and upending constitutional norms.

Circumstances in which people are feeling extreme disorientation are potent breeding grounds for people who are willing to exploit it in moments of crisis.

For all of its faults and weaknesses, no serious competitor has emerged to capture people’s imagination or seriously challenge it.

Which one was Abraham Lincoln?