Raze the Carceral State
We need to resist the belief that the only way to end mass incarceration is to tackle the root causes of crime.
With a counter-argument by Michael Javen Fortner.
Spring 2025
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Beyond Criminal Justice Reform
Real criminal justice reform demands profound social change. The fixation on severe sentences and police brutality masks harder truths.
With a counter-argument by Marie Gottschalk.
Booked: A Suitcase Full of Passports
An interview with journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian about her new book, The Cosmopolites, and the buying and selling of citizenship.
After Marriage Equality, What?
We must tally not only the advantages but also the costs of the LGBT rights movement’s strategic turn to marriage equality.
Spinning With Obama
We should not to take refuge in the comforting fallacy that Obama’s failings have been nothing more than the result of bad spin.
Climate Change on Trial
We can’t just sue our way to climate justice, but litigation is one tool that activists can use to sway public opinion and hold those in power to account.
A Mind of One’s Own
The American marketplace of “wisdom” is booming again. A long tradition of feminist thought reveals how flawed it is—and what true wisdom might look like instead.
Why the Left Needs Religion
Christianity provides both a program and a passion essential to anti-oppression movements. Its legacy for left politics is one worth fighting for.
With a counter-argument from Susan Jacoby.
Not God’s Politics
When politics involves difficult moral issues, a free and diverse people cannot decide on the basis of what the god of a Texas legislator has to say.
With a counter-argument from Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig.
Hate Expectations
Jonathan Franzen’s quixotic war against the internet
Republic of Labor
At its most radical, labor republicanism envisioned not only freedom from wage slavery but cooperative self-organization. It also challenged women’s domination in the home—something Alex Gourevitch’s new history misses.
Breaking the Racial Contract
The crisis that deepened the chasm between the one percent and the rest also offers an opportunity to build a new, transracial coalition of the disadvantaged.
The Promise of Title IX: Sexual Violence and the Law
The campaign led by Title IX activists has shown why we need remedies outside of criminal law to fight sexual harassment and promote equality, as much in the workplace as on campus.
In Praise of Amateur Politics
Leftists will never entirely be released from the obligation to engage with the Democratic Party, but the left’s strength, and its power, will always lie outside formal politics.
With a counter-argument from Michael Kazin.
Why Leftists Should Also Be Democrats
Political parties are essential to a healthy democracy. And right now, for Americans on the left, the Democrats are the only party we have.
With a counter-argument from David Marcus.
