The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington recently heard arguments in the latest legal skirmish over President Obama’s sweeping healthcare reform. A central issue was the constitutionality of the law’s “individual mandate”: its requirement that citizens buy health insurance. The constitutionality of the individual mandate has dominated coverage of the implementation of healthcare reform, so […]

Forgive me, but this may seem a bit random at first and then a bit wonky.  But there’s a point.  So, bear with me and I’ll try to be as brief as possible. I recently attended the Annual American Political Science Association Conference in Seattle.  One of the virtues of the Conference is that I […]

As the presidential election draws nearer, commentators are already wringing their hands about the amounts of money being raised. Banner headlines decry the possibility that President Obama will raise a billion dollars for his campaign. This obsession with the amounts of money spent on campaigns runs deep in American politics. Indeed, our entire system of […]