...t it also hinted at another truth: that come November 4th, for most people, the work would be over. Even though this year’s presidential primaries marked the highest voter turnout in over three decades, less than one-fifth of Americans expect to be involved in political issues after the election. It would be Obama’s job from there on out. What should we expect of citizens beyond voting and campaigning for representatives? McCain and Obama discuss...
Art by Dan Touff The comparisons to Pearl Harbor came naturally to most people on September 11th, 2001. Newspapers and politicians immediately pronounced this a new day destined to live in infamy, and a new day of shared sacrifice and heroism. It was likely with the imagery of that earlier day in mind—of Uncle Sam and war bonds and victory gardens and the like—that so many Americans seemed to yearn for a summons to service and national engageme...
...the language in the past,” he joked, “so—if you’ve got room in the initiative for me, let me know.” Had President Bush changed that first “I” to “we,” he would have made an equally true but infinitely more powerful statement. Americans certainly have had problems with language in the past—any language other than English, that is. Since the first major wave of immigrants arrived in the late 1800s, speaking anything but English in the United States...
...alk of poverty from the national discourse. Figures released by the US Census Bureau in late 2012 have shown the astounding extent to which this epidemic has gained ground in America over the past few years. The proportion of Americans living in poverty has risen from the 11 percent pre-recession low to 15 percent, a peak not witnessed in 20 years. The figure is set to increase further to 15.8 percent by 2014, according to projections made by the...
...y as a black man has been questioned publicly by a number of people. The New York Daily News’ Stanley Crouch was vocal about doubting Obama’s black identity. “Obama did not—does not—share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves,” he said. And Debra Dickerson, writing for Salon.com, echoed Crouch, “Not descended from West African slaves brought to America, [Obama] steps into the benefits of black p...
The population of Muslim US citizens is estimated by many sources to be at 8 million and growing. Of these 8 million, around 7% of registered Muslim Americans are Republicans, a minority that is just large enough to make an impact on politics at many levels. It has become a liberal truism that Muslim Americans would not want to vote for the party of the administration responsible for the violation of their civil liberties, but—surprise —Muslim R...
Illustration by Clara Bryant The idea of ownership has had particular appeal for Americans ever since Thomas Jefferson envisioned a country full of independent yeoman farmers. It was therefore unsurprising that President Bush made an “ownership society” the domestic centerpiece of his reelection campaign. In his convention speech, he said that such a society would inspire “greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.”...
...xplain away this failure of humanitarian efforts in terms of donor fatigue, of caution towards the Pakistani government, of less visceral reactions to images of floods than images of other disasters, or other such excuses for Americans’ hesitation hesitation in reaching for their pocketbooks. But ultimately the bulk of the blame must rest with the press-both in the initial coverage they gave to the crisis and in the timing and nature of the...
...itimizing them from a monolithic threat to common criminals, is a far more reliable strategy. After all, “There is nothing glamorous about languishing in jail,” writes Cronin. Such a strategy requires a trait that Americans have failed to demonstrate: patience, combined with the acceptance that casualties from terrorism cannot be avoided in the future but might be diminished if a new counter-terrorism approach is successful. Such an a...
...around 50 percent. Indeed, federal election results are always closely divided. But in today’s America, where it isn’t rare to see congressional approval ratings in the teens, something seems to have gone wrong. Why would Americans elect congressional members from their own party, only to strongly disapprove of their actions within their first year in office? When stated as such, it seems obvious that the problem lies in the fact that Americ...
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