In the same way that the New Left in the United States distanced itself in the 1960s from the old-style Communist Party and its fellow travelers, this new left in Eastern Europe has taken pains to distinguish itself from the Communist Party politics of the Cold War era.
The America of nostalgic visions of clean-cut suburban lawns, self-sufficient breadwinners, and homogeneous communities heard its death rattle on election night.
Millions of Americans will start off their Thanksgiving statements with, "I am thankful Barack Obama will be our president for four more years. The biggest lesson we hope he learned from over the past four is to not start negotiating from a compromise position.
Conservatives inhabit the wide open countryside, mostly in the south and Midwest; Liberals inhabit the densely populated urban mega-cities concentrated in the northeast and west coast. How do these different landscapes affect their political beliefs?
When a person studies world religions, he or she soon finds there are many spiritual traditions in the world that are not obsessed with damning people to eternal hellfire.
It's going to be very easy for whatever Obama comes up with to look a lot better than just handing seniors a voucher and saying: "Good luck with that medical insurance marketplace."
We need to take back our politics, so that what is sensible is also possible. Maybe, just maybe, events in Madison and elsewhere are the beginning of that process.
I saw The Eagle this weekend, and thought Tatum Channing acquitted himself remarkably well, considering how contemporary he might have seemed in a his...
Somewhere between the civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam protest, liberalism lost its voice. And by tangible indicators it has yet to regain its voice -- at least not in any comprehensible way.
As someone who has been involved somewhat in the punditry circuit (for lack of a better term), I have been asked by progressive friends what I think i...
The Republican lawmakers who read the Constitution out loud as their very first act in the new Congress better bask in their Tea Party glow -- because they're not going to feel the love from Constitutional scholars.
The US and Israel might be close "allies," but Barack Obama is being treated as little better than an opponent to be vanquished rather than a patron to be respected.
Democrats are riding a tiger, as a friend put it, and best not be naïve about positive aspects of the Tea Party victories. They seem weak, unfocused,...
I have always accepted Obama's personal stance on gay marriage. I never took issue with his lack of enthusiasm for gay rights. I don't need him to be our champion. But our Scrooge?
I will begin today's column by drying a tear as we all wish Rahm Emanuel a fond farewell. Actually, I am lying. I am drying no tears for Rahm becaus...
The White House has been in the news this past week, mostly for who will be leaving it soon. One is tempted to insert the old "will the last to leave...
Christopher Hitchens has always encouraged his audiences to think, which is the ultimate accomplishment of any writer. I wish him a swift recovery.
A full-scale interview on one of the prestigious Sunday shows is normally the gold prize for a campaign. There's a reason for this -- it is free. That was then, though, and this is now.
The other day on the show, Melissa Harris-Lacewell suggested media "need to be covering the left as much as we cover, with anxiety, the right." Anxie...
While the major fallout from Gibbs' "the professional left" flap has died down a bit, a second round of examination seems to have begun -- one much more introspective and much less knee-jerk than the first round.
Many of us on the Left are left angry and confused as we are continually left out of the left-wing political debate. We're told we're out in left field and that the president should be left alone.
In politics, circumstances change and self-fulfilling prophecies happen. Gibbs' words about the "professional left" could become true. Let us hope that they do; the world will be far better off.
Happy Friday the Thirteenth, everyone. It's actually a fitting day for this column, which I'll explain in a bit. Because before we get to that, we si...
Robert Gibbs recently expressed his frustration with what he called the "professional left." Who would have thought that Obama's biggest problem in his first few years in office would be one of communication?
One of the most irksome aspects of the current political divide is the conservative caricature of progressive stances on economic thinking.
