skip to main content
maya sheth

US politics and policy ideas

value Authenticity›Consequences
subject How we live together›Power, money & people›Politics
tags economicspolitics
created 2026/04/02 modified 2026/09/19
  • How a bigger, better bureaucracy can save America — Noahpinion
  • The case for a 55-person filibuster — Ross Douthat, New York Times
  • America's high rate of poverty is a policy choice — Ezra Klein, New York Times

    "We discuss the poor as a pity or a blight, but we rarely admit that America's high rate of poverty is a policy choice, and there are reasons we choose it over and over again."

  • Sweden's StreetMoves initiative to build a "one-minute city," centered on having citizens integrate "parklet" elements into each block — Bloomberg CityLab
  • Pete Buttigieg has a bridge to sell you: the mayor-turned-Transportation Secretary is tasked with turning "infrastructure week" from a punchline into a reality — Politico
  • Analysis of the 2022 Ohio Senate race, and what brand of Trumpism the state will go for — Clare Malone, The Atlantic
  • Annie Lowrey on the time tax: the insane burden of filling out paperwork for government programs; features Civilla, a design firm that helped streamline one of Michigan's longest assistance applications — The Atlantic
  • What's Trading On Capitol Hill? — tracker for congressional stock trades
  • Nikki Haley's time for choosing: "The 2024 hopeful can't decide who she wants to be — the leader of a post-Trump GOP or a 'friend' to the president who tried to sabotage democracy" — Tim Alberta, Politico

    "A person with no pedigree, no connections, no fancy resumé, doesn't travel from family accountant to United Nations ambassador in the span of 12 years without prodigious talents... But she also has liabilities. What I've heard again and again is that Haley's raw skills obscure an absence of core beliefs and a lack of tactical thinking."

    • Didn't have strong political views until running for SC house; identified as Republican for beliefs in business and individual responsibility
    • Converted to Christianity (Methodist) — seen as a political move?
    • Rebelled against Republican leadership early on, going rogue on certain votes → allied with governor Mark Sanford (libertarian), who helped get her elected as his replacement; received endorsements from both Romney and Palin
    • Became known for a vengeful streak, "slipperiness," and overall political gifts — charisma of Bill Clinton
    • Took a strong stance on removing the Confederate flag after the Charleston shooting — put her entire reputation on the line for it
    • Endorsement sought after in the 2016 primary: got along with Rubio, was critical of Trump for his views on the KKK
  • This is why your holiday travel is awful: the long, sordid history of New York's Penn Station shows how progressives have made it too hard for the government to do big things — and why, believe it or not, Robert Caro is to blame — Marc J. Dunkelman, Politico

    "New York does not need another Robert Moses. But amid the avalanche of checks created since the 1960s, progressives need to revisit the impulse that spurred figures like Woodrow Wilson and Louis Brandeis to try to make government work. Public authority, in the end, isn't good or bad — it's a means to an end. No one should be allowed to bulldoze powerless communities with impunity. But government should be able to build a nice train station in less than three decades. To rebuild faith in the power of government to do good, responsible leaders need the power to pursue the public interest."

    • Also interesting: how Robert Caro's biography of Robert Moses (public official, city planner) made progressives fearful of giving individuals power
  • Baby bonds could shrink the Black-white wealth gap: a race-neutral plan to give young Americans economic security at birth — the Pressley-Booker bill, essentially Social Security for young people — Fabiola Cineas, Vox
  • What Democrats can learn from Mitt Romney: why Biden needs to simplify his policy proposals, and how Romney's plans can help — the "kludgeocracy" is expensive and cumbersome, despite good intentions — Dylan Matthews, Vox
  • Pod can't save America: why are powerful leaders all trying to be Oprah Winfrey? The political elite aren't content with being merely influential — they want to be influencers — Ryan Zickgraf, Jacobin
  • $600 checks are a "crime," says the pope's favorite economist — Anand Giridharadas and Mariana Mazzucato, The.Ink

    "Well, this is one of the biggest problems with how we measure the economy. We don't even know how to value care. Care is often given for free. It's an act of altruism. And if we confuse price with value, which is what I argue in my book, then we end up only valuing things that have prices. So if you marry your babysitter, GDP will go down, right? Because an activity that was being done and paid for maybe now is still being done — whether it's a man or woman, it doesn't matter — but you're no longer paying for it. That will actually create a fall in GDP." "Similarly, if you pollute, GDP will go up because you've got to pay someone to clean it up."

  • The Supreme Court overturning the Chevron doctrine: what it means for policymaking on environmental issues — "reduce[s] government's ability to respond to new scientific findings and technological developments" — Yale E360
  • r/SecurityClearance: discussion of what can prevent people from accessing classified information — "incredibly benign or incredibly disqualifying." See also this 404 Media piece on how unhinged the process is
    • I was once interviewed for a friend's security clearance evaluation — a random, suspicious email from a "government official" asking to meet at a local Starbucks turned out to be legit
  • A profile of Mike DeWine, and the sad state of the Republican party — a reminder of how much the spectrum of views has changed in recent years — The Atlantic
  • What permanent daylight savings actually will entail, and what cities get the short end of the stick (with lots of cool maps) — Bloomberg
    • Related: the idea of circadian justice, its need in our society, and how impossible it would be to enact — Aeon

Education

Political polarization