Editor's Cut

A Call For Universal Voter Registration

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

This is the third in a series of posts concerned with just democracy. The first was an overview of the current state of our electoral system; the second a look at the prospects for a national popular vote for president.

Between 2 and 4 million Americans were unable to vote in the last election because of problems with their registration. And that's just people who tried to vote; in 2006, there were more than 65 million who were eligible to vote, but weren't even registered. That's a third of potential voters.

It doesn't have to be this way. Registration rates in other countries frequently run upwards of 90 percent (both Canada and France hit that mark, for example, while Venezuela stands at roughly 94 percent, and Russia about 97). Now reformers are seizing the moment to use existing law to expand registration, as well as considering new laws that could finally put the United States on an equal footing with many of the world's other democracies.

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May 22, 2009

Richard Aborn for Manhattan DA

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Advocates who have fought for decades for criminal justice reform rightly see this moment as one where the stars are aligning for change. The fiscal crisis has governors and state legislators looking for alternatives to spending $50 billion a year on incarceration. At the federal level, new leadership in the Justice Department is aiming for a smarter approach to public safety, while leaders like Senator Jim Webb push for a national review of issues like drug treatment, effective parole policy, racial injustice, education for inmates, and reentry programs.

New York state recently took a major step in the right direction by reforming the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. Gone are the mandatory-minimum sentences for non-violent offenders, replaced by judicial discretion and the possibility of treatment instead of mass incarceration. Now, in New York City, where Robert Morgenthau is stepping down as Manhattan District Attorney after 35 years, the race to determine his successor is providing a unique opportunity for a progressive re-envisioning of our criminal justice system. Richard Aborn is the candidate most passionately describing such an alternative future.

Aborn describes this moment as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the way we think about criminal justice, right here in New York City" -- where he's no stranger to the way the system works (and fails).

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May 19, 2009

Mary Ann Glendon's Deliberate Insult

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

President Obama heads to Notre Dame on Sunday to receive an honorary degree and deliver the commencement address. Conservative Catholics have opposed the university's awarding of a degree to the President, whose views on abortion and stem cell research conflict with the teachings of the church. Their intolerance has provoked a backlash and made this cohort even more Catholic than the pope! As Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne pointed out, "To the dismay of many conservatives, the Vatican's own newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, offered what one antiabortion Catholic blog called 'a surprisingly positive assessment of the new President's approach to life issues'." The reaction was so positive that a spokesman for the National Right to Life Commitee criticized Pope Benedict XVI's newspaper!

Furthermore, two-thirds of Catholics approve of Obama's performance in office and, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 50 percent of Catholics think Notre Dame was right to invite the President.

But Mary Ann Glendon, the Learned Hand professor of law at Harvard Law School, has chosen to become the first person in the 133-year history of Notre Dame to accept its prestigious Laetare Medal--and then reject it--because she argues the invitation to President Obama violates a 2004 decree by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that Catholic institutions should not honor those who act "in defiance of our fundamental moral principles."

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May 15, 2009

Let's Make Every Vote Count

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

This is one of a series of posts on electoral reform and just democracy. You can read the first post in the series here.

Quick: When did we elect the President last year? If you said November 4th, you're more than a month off. Try December 15th. That's when the electoral college convened in each state to formally ‘elect' Barack Obama president. Despite overturning the popular vote in 2000, efforts to establish direct election of the president– which would require amending the Constitution – have been unable to gain traction in Congress. Now two election reform organizations, relative newcomer National Popular Vote and the more established FairVote, have a promising proposal to use the electoral college for the very end it was intended to circumvent.

On April 28th, Washington became the fifth state in the nation to enact legislation in favor of a national popular vote for president. "Being a blue state since '88, in the primary cycle we draw some attention, but in the general election we draw very little attention from the national campaigns," says State Senator Joe McDermott, the prime sponsor of the bill in the Washington state Senate and a former elector himself. "National Popular Vote would blow that open. Whether the Democrat won by 52 or 57 percent would make a difference nationally. Assuming Washington was still a blue state, what the margin was suddenly becomes important."

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May 14, 2009

Progressive Caucus Report on Afghanistan

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

The Congressional Progressive Caucus has released a set of recommendations based on its series of forums on Afghanistan--the sixth and last of which will be held Wednesday. It's releasing the report now so its membership may consider it in deciding how to vote on the $96 billion War Supplemental this week.

Here is a preview of just a few of the valuable recommendations in the report:

"Require an 80-20 ratio (political-military) with all future US funding, with a special inspector general to monitor the implementation of this ratio."

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May 12, 2009

The Fierce Urgency of Disarmament

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

"After a long winter of discontent we have the audacity to hope for springtime.... But there are miles to go before we sleep." --Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapalawe, President of Pugwash

For more than five years, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC) and its Chairman, Dr. Hans Blix, have worked to generate proposals for reducing the dangers of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Two weeks ago in Washington, DC, the commission met for the last time.

Blix described this moment as hopeful--a post-Iraq world in which people see the limits of force and the need for diplomacy. The world's attention is focused on the potential threat of nukes in Iran and North Korea, or in the hands of a terrorist group, and on nuclear instability in Pakistan. And there is real hope as a result of the new and focused leadership of President Obama and other leaders around the world.

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May 11, 2009

Around The Nation

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

In March, The Nation and Nation Books hosted an event in New York City in conjunction with the release of our book Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover. The response was overwhelming: an overflow crowd and a hunger for real debate and common sense answers about the economic crisis. In response we've decided to take our "Meltdown" show on the road, to one of the hardest-hit cities in America: Detroit, Michigan. On May 23rd from 5-7PM, Congressman John Conyers will join The Nation's Barbara Ehrenreich, Detroit City Councilmember Joann Watson, noted economist and Nation contributor Robert Pollin, and long-time Detroit organizer and community leader Elena Herrada for a frank discussion about the banking crisis, the economic meltdown, and recovery. The Nation's John Nichols will moderate. We'll have video of the event afterward, but if you're anywhere near Detroit on the 23rd we hope you can make it. All the details are here.

A few other items not to be missed this week:

•With the release of the banking "stress tests" this week, two of The Nation's essential voices were on air speaking passionately about the need for real banking reform. Columnist Naomi Klein sat down on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show for an extended interview about the banking crisis, the stimulus and "shock economics."You can watch video here. And our National Affairs Correspondent William Greider sat down with Democracy Now to diagnose our ailing economy, and propose a new vision for the American dream. That video is here.

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May 10, 2009

Smart Power in Pakistan/Afghanistan?

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Inside the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill Tuesday, there were two distinctly different hearings on Pakistan. One featured the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and it was packed with mainstream media--standing room only. At the conclusion of his testimony--just one floor up from that hearing--the Congressional Progressive Caucus held its fifth forum on Afghanistan, this one focusing on the administration's Pakistan strategy and how it impacts both countries.

Holbrooke faced very few tough questions--not even on drone strikes. Rep. Lynn Woolsey did press Holbrooke on the fact that 90 percent of the administration's war supplemental goes towards military expenses, while the counterinsurgency strategy calls for a ratio of 80 percent political and 20 percent military.

"Where is the place for smart power, investing in humanitarian needs and infrastructure, economy, food, so that we can shore up the people?" Woolsey asked.

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May 8, 2009

The Battle for Healthcare Begins

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

"If there is no public insurance option…then this is not reform at all."

That's what Governor Howard Dean said last night in a conference call with thousands of activists -- and he's absolutely right.

As Dr. Dean noted, the battle for real reform begins Tuesday morning, when Senator Max Baucus chairs a Senate Finance Committee hearing that will look into the public plan option. Activists are writing messages on why such a plan is critical and Senator John Kerry will read some of them into the record at the hearing.

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May 5, 2009

Springsteen to Seeger: 'You Outlasted the Bastards'

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

"You outlasted the bastards, man," Bruce Springsteen told the roaring crowd.

I think that was my favorite line at the rollicking birthday concert celebrating Pete Seeger's 90th!

There were other uplifting, astonishing moments Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, at a five-hour concert which Seeger only OK'd because it raised much-needed funds for his Clearwater project--a non profit organization which the oft-maligned bard started in 1969 to clean up his beloved, polluted Hudson River.

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May 4, 2009