Power

Washington has long treated the island as giant aircraft carrier. As a result, residents face economic strain and lack many democratic rights and protections.

Power can be exercised through proximity and trust.

Beginning with his first job in the Reagan DOJ, the chief justice has been hell-bent on dismantling the Voting Rights Act.

A leader’s time in power is limited, but the consequences of their decisions are not.

In the 1940s, the unraveling of colonialism offered hope to Puerto Ricans demanding independence. But the archipelago was of military importance to the US.

History shows that bad leaders can successfully undermine democracy — but the story always ends the same way.

For Patrick Henry, it was just a matter of time before a ruler like Trump came along.

Ambiguity demands decisive leadership.

Mitt Romney’s legacy is a reminder of how governing used to work.

Pamela Harriman was drawn to power itself, rather than what power could achieve.

A republic endures when loyalty is to principles of democracy, not party.

Jesse Jackson’s campaigns replaced mass organizing with brokerage politics and accelerated the Democratic left’s neoliberal turn.

Washington won by resilience, enduring defeats in New York yet securing key victories and ultimately shaping a stable, democratic nation.

How a bitter 1986 confab prefigured the Right's fault lines today.

Popular resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law and “Slave Power” helped forge a new electoral force.

Coalitions can postpone conflict, not prevent it.

Lucy Worsley’s PBS series highlights the emotional fallout of the conflict, with a focus on the British perspective.

The outrageous assault on birthright citizenship should prompt us to reflect on the fragility of democratic progress - and our own responsibility to defend it.

The conflict divided the six tribes of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, most of whom decided to join the British. The former allies clashed in 1777.

Since the founding generation, there has been a rational consistent fear that the office of president is powerful to be constrained by democratic institutions.

Has the U.S. put the final nails in the coffin of the 50-year-old prohibition?

1890s Populists rose up against capitalism and white supremacy in Texas. Their apparent electoral defeat was rooted in a campaign of terror and white supremacy.

Short-term defeat does not end long-term influence.

Who paved the road to Trump's war?

The hardest work of leadership comes after victory.

The president has often defined his foreign policy approach in opposition to the Bush administration’s, but he is following in its footsteps.

Process over perfection.

Old-timey Christian Americanism and the rhizomatic history of American fascism.

Conservatism was a distinct ideology but it is dead and it is not coming back.

Past conflicts eroded Congress’s ability to decide when to go to war. Donald Trump’s attack on Iran destroyed it.