Winter 2013, No. 27

We dedicate this issue of Democracy to the hope that Big Money can be stopped and that our politics can be changed—and we offer some original and specific ways to do it. Some of the best thinkers in the reform movement—Russ Feingold, Bill Moyers, Jacob Hacker, and Trevor Potter, among others—offer their best ideas on how to loosen Big Money’s grip on our politics.

Also in the issue: Barney Frank, who leaves Congress after more than three decades of distinguished service, writes about a historic shift: For the first time in memory, a Democrat ran for president calling for lower defense spending—and won. George S. Hawkins, head of D.C.’s water commission, has an important essay on the need to revamp the Clean Water Act. And Henry J. Aaron of the Brookings Institution offers his ideas on entitlement reforms progressives should be open to.

Elsewhere: Akhil Reed Amar on the absurd reasoning of Justice Scalia. Mary Dudziak on how international law has been twisted to serve American ends. Scott McLemee on what higher education should teach. Len Gutkin on the postwar novel and the Democratic Party.

Back Issues Archive

Symposium

Everyone's Fight: The New Plan to Defeat Big Money

The 2012 campaign is by now mercifully out of our systems, but it remains worth reflecting on some of the dubious firsts that occurred during this election. This was the first presidential campaign to cost more than $2 billion. It...

By The Editors

4 MIN READ

An Open Letter to Patriotic Philanthropists

By Bill Moyers Arnold Hiatt

5 MIN READ

Curing Philanthropy's Blind Spot: One Percent for Democracy

By Nick Penniman Ian Simmons

21 MIN READ

Nonpolitical? No Such Thing Today

By Wendell Potter

10 MIN READ

How Big Money Corrupts the Budget

By Stan Collender

11 MIN READ

How Big Money Corrupts the Economy

By Jacob S. Hacker Nathan Loewentheil

12 MIN READ

Campaign Finance: Remedies Beyond the Court

By Trevor Potter Bryson B. Morgan

16 MIN READ

Building a Permanent Majority for Reform

By Russ Feingold

8 MIN READ

Features

The New Mandate on Defense

No, it's not to spend more—it's to spend less, and liberals should not flinch from that position.

By Barney Frank

15 MIN READ

A Cleaner Water Act

The Clean Water Act has been a success, but it's out of date and producing diminishing returns. Here's how we modernize it.

By George S. Hawkins

23 MIN READ

Progressives and the Safety Net

Conservative extremism has made any talk of entitlement reform verboten on the left. That will ultimately be self-defeating.

By Henry J. Aaron

25 MIN READ

Book Reviews

Originalist Sin

The new book by Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner is very sure of itself—in fact, far too much so.

By Akhil Reed Amar

11 MIN READ

Nations United?

How the idea of global governance became a resource of American power.

By Mary L. Dudziak

15 MIN READ

To Get the Soul Out of Bed

Can an element of secular transcendence be returned to the American college curriculum?

By Scott McLemee

14 MIN READ

Minority Rapport

The surprising connections between the Democratic Party and the postwar American novel.

By Len Gutkin

17 MIN READ

Responses

The Medium Apples

When it comes to urban policy, midsize cities have much to teach us. A response to Ben Adler.

By Catherine Tumber

13 MIN READ

Recounting

Snow Job

Liberals of the writer’s generation have done enough soul searching. Now it’s conservatives’ turn—and may it last a good long time!

By Michael Tomasky

10 MIN READ

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

Michael Tomasky introduces Issue #27

By Michael Tomasky

3 MIN READ

Letters

Letters to the Editor

By Democracy Readers

5 MIN READ

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