Democracy Journal

Before fourth grade, children are learning to read. After fourth grade, they are reading to learn. It is time to make the promise of basic literacy to all Americans and focus on third-grade literacy. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/de…

“Non-competes keep labor costs down, which benefits employers. For precisely the same reason, they harm workers,” writes @superwuster. To combat this, non-competes need to be banned. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/ba…

To make working people’s lives better we need a rural New Deal, proposes Anthony Flaccavento of @RurUrbBridge. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/wo…

To make working people’s lives better we must fix the Federal worker safety law to prevent workers from being killed and injured on the job, argues @DebbieBerkowitz. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/ma…

Apropos of nothing, read my piece in @DemJournal from March calling for an American Health Service and universal primary care

Partisan and racial gerrymandering is exploding around the country. Our national government is becoming less representative than ever. I’m reupping my @DemJournal essay on the Founders’ essential mistake, “Not popular enough”

“Progressives need to offer reforms that treat citizens less as passive recipients of welfare, and more as producers who deserve a voice in the decisions that shape their lives,” writes @sunraysunray. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/gi…

Rebuilding industrial capacity is not only a question of what we produce or how much we invest—it is also a question of who has the authority to decide when productive enterprises are allowed to disappear, and why workers so rarely have a say. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/gi…

Thousands of workers every year face firm closure and the loss of their jobs. In Democracy Journal, I'm advocating for a right of first refusal for workers, that would provide them with the support necessary to turn bankrupt firms into worker cooperatives. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/gi…

My proposal in @DemJournal: When a firm with more than 100 workers goes bankrupt/closes, employees would have a legally enforceable opportunity to purchase the enterprise themselves and run it as a cooperative. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/gi…

“Conservatism draws on a long intellectual tradition, and it offers its adherents some sophisticated, even beguiling rationales for their destructive politics,” writes Katherine Stewart in her review of the book Furious Minds by Laura K. Field. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/up…

What’s with the intellectuals who are all-in on Trump’s movement? democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/up…

“A solidarity net would support building worker power and voice while fostering Americans' economic security,” writes @awh. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/a-…

“The emergence of political leadership is mostly unpredictable. It doesn’t follow simple timetables or assumptions,” writes @EthanVPorter in his review of the new book Politics Without Politicians. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/po…

MAGA might seem like an anti-intellectual movement, but conservatism’s past and present thinkers are deeply complicit in it. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/up…

Pardons transform lives through restoring civil rights and opening new doors for those seeking clemency. But as Presidential pardons grow increasingly untethered to conventional norms, what role do they actually serve? democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/pr…

Liberalism needs a consistent and clear—and new—set of foreign-policy principles. Four leading experts discuss. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/li…

To rebuild worker power, we need solidarity nets that support changes in social programs to better support opportunities for labor organizing and allow workers to exercise their voice on the job, argues @awh. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/a-…

Experiments across the world have tried to remove politicians themselves from decision-making. And they’ve worked—well, kind of. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/po…

The pardon system was already straining. Has Donald Trump broken it for good? To get a better understanding, former pardon attorney @lawyeroyer unpacks a new book outlining the history and future of the presidential pardon power. democracyjournal.org/magazine/80/pr…