There are times, when writing about the political world, when it is impossible not to feel like I am trapped inside a Jonathan Swift satire. This is one of those times. Real life and farce blur into one, and we all pretend this is normal. Sigh.

Today's political commenters often misuse the concept of "checks and balances" to refer directly to politics. This is just flat-out wrong.

The silly season has come early to Washington, it seems. The root cause is a simple fact of American politics these days -- sometimes, there just can't be transparency.

For some reason, nothing is simple in Alaska. The state sits on the edge of a constitutional crisis because of the "chain of command vacuum" created by the governor's abrupt resignation.

"Judicial activism" (or, alternatively, "legislating from the bench") is defined -- no matter what your political beliefs -- as "judges not ruling the...

Three years ago, the United States Senate nearly came to a stand still as the Republican majority, citing Democratic obstructionism over judicial appo...