Progressive Politics

The most cogent and controversial debate erupted around the validity of the Democratic party as a choice for voters disenchanted with policies of the Obama administration.

We need to go into 2012 clarifying the genuine choice of direction now before us as a nation, and we need to come out of 2012 with Congress and the White House in lockstep on the direction to take.

Late last month, 107 California "progressives" flew East to a marathon White House briefing. It was preceded by a Capitol Hill cocktail party, attende...

We should support the president in his reelection -- but we should do it strategically by arguing for conditions which will make his reelection more than a personal victory. 2012 should be about much more than giving Barack Obama his second term.

This year, Americans celebrated their independence at a time when almost 10 percent of the workforce is officially unemployed, millions more are underemployed, and millions of families are losing their homes. Under these circumstances, why isn't the left gaining momentum?

The Left won the culture wars. Porn is everywhere, and sex is deregulated. But so is Wall Street. Maybe it's time to re-regulate Wall Street and the banks, and reintroduce something shocking to progressive sensibilities -- a few taboos.

In election after election, the same opportunity remains unrealized -- the possibility that either extreme could unite with the center to exclude the most extreme policies of the other.

WASHINGTON -- One of the top communications hands in the progressive movement is leaving her post for another outfit with similar ideological stripes....

One blowing oil well is more real and compelling than all of the lies and noise the right has generated in the last 17 months put together.

Many smart people are thoughtfully pondering how America can responsibly move forward utilizing our myriad strengths and resources, while also recogni...

New Orleans has had a hell of a ride, going from "Las Vegas of the South" to the flash point of modern government incompetence, racism, and social injustice after Katrina. The city was ripe for a comeback.

For health care reform to pass would mean that the administration actually got something done. So the GOP's plan is to think of reasons to back out of the proposed health care summit.

Harry Reid is getting rolled by a pugnacious Republican minority so bereft of ideas it has no choice but to filibuster every piece of legislation the Democrats put on the table.

As a movement, we'll never succeed in moving the nation leftward by engaging in dumb, kneejerk politics and by demonizing a president who is arguably the most sympathetic to progressivism in generations.

Popular action is the very definition of democracy. It doesn't happen without us, and it isn't a human right upheld by some magic fairness-fairy. If the public option's not in the bill, it's because we haven't shown up to demand it.

Street goes beyond the Obama phenomenon and investigates who Obama is and what he's all about in Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics.

It's not that I object to critical thinking. We need it. Yet, while we're reminding Obama of his promises and scrutinizing him on his decisions, we need to stand with him.

Some progressive groups are calling for a confrontation with Obama. While we should always strive for better, we can't let the perfect eclipse what in reality is extraordinarily good.

For too long, federalism, the Madisonian concept of shared power between state and federal government, has been an idea monopolized by conservatives.

I used to joke helplessly that I'd be better off working for less in a menial retail job with good benefits once you weigh my hourly rate with the high out-of-pocket cost of my lack of benefits.

At a private White House cocktail reception last night for leaders of major progressive groups, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle appealed to these l...

You twenty-somethings who are reading this, if you can't take your day job after being part of such a political earthquake like last week's election, go find your local Member of Congress and apply for a job.

Relax - I'm not telling you who to vote for. That's your business. Rather, this blog is about what it means to be connected to the common good.

Now we have Republicans, Democrats, and Independents walking away from and speaking out against extreme rhetoric and deeds. The country is ready for an Obama administration.

For years now a central piece of the progressive worldview is that progressives are enlightened Americans in a sea of their ignorant, bigoted and narrow-minded compatriots.