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AI's Facelessness Risks Soullessness—and With It Liberalism
Pope Leo's encyclical and Emmanuel Levinas’ philosophy help us see that technology cannot replace face-to-face encounters
 • Michael G. Holzman
Iranians Had a Better Shot of Toppling Their Monstrous Regime Before the War
The country's rulers have become more entrenched and brutal, turning the glimmer of hope during the protests into fear and despair
 • Pouya Nikmand
Trump Isn't Just After Undocumented Immigrants—He Wants 100 Million Americans Purged, Too
Thankfully the Supreme Court is unlikely to scrap birthright citizenship, because that would open the door to mass ethnic cleansing
 • David J. Bier
49:07
The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts
It has led to MAGA idolatry on the one hand and shallow do-goodism on the other
 • Berny Belvedere
Corruption Clouds the Administration’s Vaping Deregulation Push
Democrats should criticize not the policy but the motives behind it
 • Jacob Grier

Recent posts

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Age Limits for Federal Office Are Wildly Popular, But Washington’s Gerontocracy Won’t Hear of it
The incumbency advantage means that once elected, our rulers never have to leave office
 • Andy Craig
Yale's Mea Culpa Arrives at the Wrong Time
Its splashy self-examination reads less like a serious reform agenda than a carefully choreographed contrition statement aimed at a hostile…
 • Shikha Dalmia
The Military Is Not His
On Memorial Day, a military veteran and democracy advocate reminds us why keeping the armed forces out of domestic politics isn't optional
 • Christopher Purdy
Massive Insider Trading Can't Be Ruled Out of Trump's Carnival of Grift: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our late-May selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
 • Executive Watch
Hasan Piker Is Following in Candace Owens's Footsteps
Responsible liberals must curb him now, before he's uncontrollable—not exploit him to beat Trump
 • Matt Johnson
Trump's Slush Fund to Reward Jan. 6 Insurrectionists Is Grotesquely Corrupt
It also quietly excuses Trump and his family from accountability for underpaying past IRS tax bills
 • Walter Olson
The Shuttering of Alligator Alcatraz Doesn't Mean That Trump's Terror Campaign Against Immigrants Is Ending
He relishes the performative cruelty because it keeps the salience of the issue alive
 • Berny Belvedere
LibCon2026 Will Start Imagining a Post-Authoritarian Future: Sign Up Now
ISMA’s conference this July is where liberals move beyond diagnosis and begin hammering out a second Reconstruction Agenda
 • Andy Craig
29:16
A Bloated Executive and a Starved Congress Is a Bad Combination: A Conversation with Kevin Kosar
It distorts our scheme of checks and balances and undermines our ability to self-govern
 • Andy Craig
The Revolution Is Dead, God Save King Trump: A Video Roundup
Our mid-May collection of clips
 • Landry Ayres
Universities' Best Defense Against Censorship in the Public Square Is Free Inquiry
In their otherwise valuable new book, two prominent professors acknowledge the need for diverse viewpoints on campuses but don't offer a cure for…
 • Jonathan Marks
Political Islam Is Rank Populism That Perverts a Fundamentally Liberal Faith
The Western right’s smearing of the entire religion and the left’s romanticization of it are both misguided
 • Mohammed Nosseir
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Berny Belvedere
The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts
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Andy Craig
Age Limits for Federal Office Are Wildly Popular, But Washington’s Gerontocracy Won’t Hear of it
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Shikha Dalmia
Yale's Mea Culpa Arrives at the Wrong Time
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Landry Ayres
The Revolution Is Dead, God Save King Trump: A Video Roundup
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Has the Trump Administration Crossed the Rubicon When Lawlessness Makes Lawful Transition Impossible?
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The UnPopulist Presents:

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Defending liberal democracy against authoritarianism in the U.S. and around the world.

Reconstruction Agenda

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29:16
A Bloated Executive and a Starved Congress Is a Bad Combination: A Conversation with Kevin Kosar
It distorts our scheme of checks and balances and undermines our ability to self-govern
 • Andy Craig
31:56
Americans Have Never Had Less Recourse for the US Government Violating Rights: A Conversation With Steve Vladeck
Accountability under both state and federal law faces high hurdles, but Congress could fix that
 • Andy Craig
Robust State Constitutionalism Can Protect Rights and Resist Authoritarianism
We need a movement to fully unlock the potential for resistance by states
 • Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot
Americans Need Legal Remedies Restored Now to Protect Themselves Against Reckless ICE Agents
Congress, state legislatures, and courts can take steps to reopen avenues for litigation unduly closed off
 • Anya A. Bidwell and Marie Miller
All-Party Primaries Can Release Us From Our Partisan Doom-Loop Trap
Our republic is being destroyed by an electoral system that ignores the vast majority of the voting public
 • Danielle Allen
Trump’s Bogus Rationale for Invading Venezuela Is an Impeachable Offense
The Framers would have regarded this president as an out-of-control lunatic in desperate need of reining in by Congress
 • Andy Craig
50:39
What Tools Does Congress Still Retain to Control a Recalcitrant Executive? A Conversation with Josh Chafetz
Eventually, though, Congress needs to fix itself to effectively rein in the president
 • Andy Craig
If Soldiers Become Cops, Americans Will Have Even Less Legal Redress Against Abusive Law Enforcement
This is yet another reason why President Trump should not be allowed to call in the military for fighting crime
 • Anthony Sanders

Podcasts

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49:07
The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts
It has led to MAGA idolatry on the one hand and shallow do-goodism on the other
 • Berny Belvedere
29:16
A Bloated Executive and a Starved Congress Is a Bad Combination: A Conversation with Kevin Kosar
It distorts our scheme of checks and balances and undermines our ability to self-govern
 • Andy Craig
1:02:47
Where Will the GOP—and Where Should Democrats—Go After Trump: A Conversation with Jamelle Bouie
The New York Times columnist offers his thoughts on the great MAGA crackup and the rightward shift of centrist Democrats
 • Shikha Dalmia
50:30
Trump Proved to be Unimaginably Bad for the Free Market Cause: A Conversation with Veronique de Rugy
Watch now (51 mins) | He has done things that Bernie Sanders would never have dared and opened the door to radical leftist interventions
 • Shikha Dalmia
47:07
The Case for Impeaching Trump Even if He's Not Convicted: A Conversation with Bill Kristol
Watch now | With the internal guardrails collapsing as Trump becomes more dangerously erratic, it is vital to activate this key constitutional check
 • Andy Craig
A Government Limited by the People Was Hard Won But Easily Lost: A Conversation with Robert Black
The philosophical origins of limited government were in Europe but they reached full fruition in America
 • Samantha Hancox-Li
Podcasts
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Zooming In at The UnPopulist
The Disarray of Protestant Churches Is Bad News for American Liberal Democracy: A Conversation with Raymond R. Roberts
Logo for Reconstruction Agenda
Reconstruction Agenda
A Bloated Executive and a Starved Congress Is a Bad Combination: A Conversation with Kevin Kosar
Recommendations
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Project Liberal
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Joshua Reed Eakle
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Benjamin Wittes
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Liberal Currents
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Top posts

Book Reviews

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Universities' Best Defense Against Censorship in the Public Square Is Free Inquiry
In their otherwise valuable new book, two prominent professors acknowledge the need for diverse viewpoints on campuses but don't offer a cure for…
 • Jonathan Marks
How the Chinese Immigrant Experience Shaped Birthright Citizenship
Reviving this history is vital to understanding the 14th Amendment's true intention
 • J. L. Wall
The Constitution's Sweeping Pardon Power Is Its Achilles' Heel for Checking an Imperial President
Worse, there are no good fixes in our polarized times for stopping the abuse of this dangerous tool
 • Gabriel Schoenfeld
Dear Liberals: Don’t Forget to Brag About Liberalism
Critical self-appraisals are fine so long as they don’t validate bad-faith attacks on the liberal order
 • Jonathan Rauch
Let’s Not Grant the Postliberal Critique of Market Liberalism
Discontents with liberal modernity are perennial and a spiritual awakening won't cure them
 • Jonathan Rauch
Bernie Sanders Wants to Counter MAGA's Gains With the Working Class by Challenging the Oligarchy
He wants his party to offer a bold social democratic alternative to the neoliberal consensus just as Trump has done on the right
 • Matt McManus

World

View all
Iranians Had a Better Shot of Toppling Their Monstrous Regime Before the War
The country's rulers have become more entrenched and brutal, turning the glimmer of hope during the protests into fear and despair
 • Pouya Nikmand
Political Islam Is Rank Populism That Perverts a Fundamentally Liberal Faith
The Western right’s smearing of the entire religion and the left’s romanticization of it are both misguided
 • Mohammed Nosseir
Hungary’s Opposition Used Social Media to Topple the Authoritarian-in-Chief
Politically neutral platforms are a better way than censorship to fight propaganda and disinformation
 • Jacob Mchangama
Orbán Lost Spectacularly Because the Hungarian People Simply Stopped Fearing His Authoritarianism
They understood that his corrupt party was selling out the country to serve its own interests
 • Laszlo Gendler
If Orbán Loses Hungary's Election, It Will Dispel the Air of Invincibility Around Strongmen
This would prove that consolidating power does not protect authoritarians from self-destructing, especially when a smart opposition exploits their…
 • Laszlo Gendler
The Leading Realist Theorist Ignores Reality to Depict Putin as the Victim
John Mearsheimer’s analytic framework blinds him to the Russian dictator’s real motives for invading democratic Ukraine
 • Tom G. Palmer
Democrats Should Own Free Trade, Not Just Oppose Trump's Protectionism
Their tactical opposition to the president's tariffs will cost them leadership on this issue
 • Tibita Kaneene
Progressive Jews Are Deeply Distressed by the Rising Antisemitism on Their Own Side
They distrust the right but are pained by the left
 • Jay Michaelson
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