Gastonia, NC Correspondent — Access is a real word. So is a rulebook that moved after the primary posters went up. A pandemic justifies more absentee options for people who can show a reason and a simpler process for people who already had the right. It doesn't justify a July invention of universal mail in … Continue reading Should states expand no-excuse mail balloting for November on pandemic grounds, or treat late changes to election mechanics as a confidence risk that outweighs access arguments?
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After weeks of unrest and federal deployments to protect courthouses and monuments, should the use of federal officers in cities that refuse to hold a riot line be normalized, or reserved as an exceptional remedy?
Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent — A courthouse is not a suggestion and a monument is not a comment box. When a city won't hold a line around either, somebody else does or the line is a rumor. Normalize is the wrong word if it means federal patrols standing in as municipal police. Exceptional is the … Continue reading After weeks of unrest and federal deployments to protect courthouses and monuments, should the use of federal officers in cities that refuse to hold a riot line be normalized, or reserved as an exceptional remedy?
Should the impeachment process be reserved for clear criminal conduct, or is it a legitimate political tool for checking executive power?
Prescott Valley, Arizona Correspondent — The constitutional text and the early history treat impeachment as a political remedy for serious abuses of power rather than as a criminal trial. Restricting it to indictable crimes would narrow a check designed to be broader. Using it as a routine instrument for policy disagreement drains its legitimacy and … Continue reading Should the impeachment process be reserved for clear criminal conduct, or is it a legitimate political tool for checking executive power?
Can the protests in Sudan and Algeria produce durable democratic transitions, or are they more likely to result in elite bargains that preserve existing power structures?
Sheffield, Jamaica Correspondent The question offers two outcomes, a durable democratic transition or an elite bargain that preserves existing power, and I want to begin by saying that in my experience of how small states change governments the two are not alternatives. Every durable transition I know of was an elite bargain, and most elite … Continue reading Can the protests in Sudan and Algeria produce durable democratic transitions, or are they more likely to result in elite bargains that preserve existing power structures?
With the Green New Deal, the Amazon fires, and youth climate strikes, has 2019 changed the politics of climate policy in the U.S., or only the volume?
Bismarck, North Dakota Correspondent I work in energy compliance in a state that produces more oil than any but Texas, mines lignite that fires the power plants that keep the upper Midwest warm, and ships both by rail through towns where the only other employer is the school, and I want to answer this question … Continue reading With the Green New Deal, the Amazon fires, and youth climate strikes, has 2019 changed the politics of climate policy in the U.S., or only the volume?
Will the 2020 presidential election cycle further accelerate the nationalization of every local and state political contest?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — National money, national media, and national messaging have already turned a lot of state and local races into extensions of the presidential fight. Candidates get judged by their alignment with a national figure rather than by anything they did locally. In a state this small that's a genuine loss, because … Continue reading Will the 2020 presidential election cycle further accelerate the nationalization of every local and state political contest?
Will the ongoing investigations into the previous presidential campaign ultimately strengthen or further erode public trust in federal law-enforcement institutions?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — Trust in these institutions was already uneven here before any of this started. In a place where the Bureau's main historical appearance was in a corruption case against somebody local, the reservoir was never deep. When a high-profile probe is read through partisan lenses, every procedural decision becomes evidence of … Continue reading Will the ongoing investigations into the previous presidential campaign ultimately strengthen or further erode public trust in federal law-enforcement institutions?
Should members of Congress who used taxpayer funds to settle sexual misconduct claims be required to repay those funds, resign, or face prosecution?
Wheeling, West Virginia Correspondent — We've watched powerful people protect each other for a long time in this country, and I spent thirty years on the union side of that arrangement, so I'm not new to it. When the settlement money comes out of public funds, it stops being a private personnel matter. Ordinary workers … Continue reading Should members of Congress who used taxpayer funds to settle sexual misconduct claims be required to repay those funds, resign, or face prosecution?
Is the growing migrant caravan from Central America primarily a humanitarian, security, or political issue, and what policy responses does it demand?
Prescott Valley, Arizona Correspondent The question gives me three boxes to choose from, and I taught long enough to distrust any question that comes with its own boxes, so let me say at the outset that the caravan is all three and that the order in which a person ranks them tells you more about … Continue reading Is the growing migrant caravan from Central America primarily a humanitarian, security, or political issue, and what policy responses does it demand?
How can the United States reduce its dependence on single foreign sources for critical rare-earth minerals without triggering new trade conflicts?
Novi, Michigan Correspondent — Diversify among allied countries, invest in domestic processing, improve recycling. The automotive angle is that an electric motor needs magnets and the magnets need these elements, and the industry is committing to electrification on the assumption that the supply exists. Nobody in my business has a plan B for neodymium. We … Continue reading How can the United States reduce its dependence on single foreign sources for critical rare-earth minerals without triggering new trade conflicts?
