There are moments in a long project when it is worth pausing to look around and take stock of who… Read more
Category: Policy
The Machinery of Democracy: 250 Years and Counting
There is a gymnasium in a small Indiana town where, every other November, a few dozen folding tables are arranged… Read more
The Economy Shifted From Ownership to Access and Nobody Announced It
Consider a composite figure who is easy to find in any American city right now: a healthcare administrator, say, 39… Read more
The Rule Did Not Change. The Household Did.
Something happened in my family recently that I had not expected. As a member of the sandwich generation, we know… Read more
The Sound of the Siren
Your phone buzzes before the sky changes color. A cone graphic appears on television, tracking a spiral mass across warm… Read more
What We Quietly Teach Ourselves
There is a phrase that lands differently depending on where you sit in the American political conversation. Say “social engineering”… Read more
The Battle for the Next Kilowatt
Early in the morning in northern Virginia, the lights inside a windowless warehouse complex never go off. Thousands of servers… Read more
We Are Better Than This
A nation reveals itself in how it treats the most vulnerable. Judges across the country are now raising alarms about… Read more
What Happens When Customers Are Also Owners
American capitalism is often described as a contest. Firms compete. Investors choose. Markets decide. That story, repeated so often it… Read more
The Machinery of Democracy: Literature as a Software Service and a Public Good
In 2020, Kanye West tried to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin. He needed 2,000 signatures. He submitted 2,422…. Read more