(Un)Conventional Wisdom

One of my favorite words is ldquo satisficing rdquo or the phenomenon of people choosing the first acceptable option they come across Most of us hate making decisions and want the process to be over as quickly as possible which is why a large number of choices can be terrifying rather than libe

ACA, DMV, FBI, IRS… how many voters make distinctions among them?

We rsquo re now in the Christmas season which means there are fewer hard-news stories and more fantasizing about a political system that would fit the finale of It rsquo s a Wonderful Life Today NBC News rsquo First Read blog invites us to rekindle our imaginations from childhood when we were i

We rsquo re long past the time when ldquo suburbia rdquo is a useful term for anything Writing that the suburbs are the key to an election is hack political analysis even worse than predicting that independent voters will decide a race often they don rsquo t American suburbs are so varied in

Paul Ryan wants the Republican Party to talk more about poverty The Wisconsin congressman a possible presidential candidate in 2016 ldquo hopes to roll out an anti-poverty plan rdquo next year according to a profile by Lori Montgomery in the Washington Post Ryan is best known for preaching au

It rsquo s almost enough to make you wish for more sports metaphors in political reporting In October ldquo brinkmanship rdquo was the word of choice in describing the stand-off in Washington that nearly resulted in a default on the national debt In November the confounding inconveniences asso

The quadrennial focus on “swing” voters notwithstanding, few Americans bounce back and forth between the Democratic and Republican parties.

The 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy brings many thoughtful pieces on how the United States has changed since that horrible day such as fellow America contributor Francis X Clooney rsquo s ldquo JFK and Me rdquo I rsquo m struck by how political discourse has changed sin

If someone can sign up for health insurance on Healthcare gov as easily as he or she can cast a vote the website will still be an embarrassment Voter ID laws can be as frustrating and time-consuming as anything related to Obamacare as noted in an earlier post about the problems for some married wo