GOP and Man at Harvard
On conservatism at Harvard
Articles By: Chris Danello 
Chris Danello '12 is the Managing Editor for the Harvard Political Review.
The Obama Doctrine
The extent to which Obama’s efforts add up to a coherent “doctrine” remains an open question
The State of Higher Education in America
In May 1892, The Atlantic Monthly published an article of clear concern to the magazine’s readership: transformative changes in the admissions requirements for Harvard College. Harvard had dropped its 200-year-old requirement of studying Greek and Latin, and now allowed applicants the option of proving their fluency in “modern languages” like Spanish and French. As author James Jay Greenough reported, many ... Read More
The United States Federal Budget
The U.S. federal government is by far the largest single entity in the world. As of fiscal year 2009, its expenditures of $3.6 trillion exceeded those of the second and third biggest governments combined. This largely reflects the size of the American economy, itself the largest on the planet. Federal spending has grown by about 5 percent over the past ... Read More
Financial Highlights
Receipts Personal Income Tax Since the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, the personal income tax has provided the federal government’s single largest source of revenue. The tax consists of six brackets, levying progressively higher rates on higher levels of income. For example, a taxpayer earning $5,000 of taxable income per year would pay only 10%, or $500, of ... Read More
Scary News of the Day
From the Economist via Bloomberg, the most worrisome news I read today. The gist of the story: China’s banking regulator told lenders last month to conduct a new round of stress tests to gauge the impact of residential property prices falling as much as 60 percent in the hardest-hit markets, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Banks were ... Read More
The Relative Value of Valor
The New York Times Magazine has a fantastic article about the puzzle of the paucity of valor awards–those medals given for high acts of courage. Only six Medals of Honor have been awarded in Iraq or Afghanistan: a fraction of previous wars either absolute or percentage terms. In the Pentagon’s defense, the article quotes one spokeswoman: Addressing the drastic drop ... Read More
Religion in America?
America has long had a complex, almost schizophrenic attitude towards religion.
Jobs Bill, Cloture, Kabuki
So the Senate passed a jobs bill today by a vote of 70-28. In policy terms, this isn’t big news. The CBO estimates the bill will cost some $15 billion, a fortune to you and I, but a pittance in Washington terms. In any case, the moneys allocated pale in comparison to the $500-600 billion worth of stimulus which has ... Read More
Republic, Refreshed
Cass Sunstein meets the Internet Republic.com 2.0, by Cass Sunstein, Princeton University Press, 2009. $19.95. 272 pgs. From Hamilton to Hofstadter, America’s observers have long labeled it a society reinforced by healthy debate. Harvard Law’s Cass Sunstein’s latest work, the awkwardly-titled Republic.com 2.0, offers a vision at odds with this optimistic tradition. Sunstein sees new technologies sapping the foundations of ... Read More
Cities Without Limits
How long-term factors drive municipal economies In May 2008, the city of Vallejo, Calif. became the first urban victim of the global financial crisis when it filed for Chapter Nine bankruptcy, the first Californian city ever to do so. Defending this decision, Vallejo’s mayor argued that a weak economy caused by the bursting of the housing bubble had left the ... Read More
Not an Ex-Party
New Labour is still the defining movement of British politics “This our hope: not just to promise change but to achieve it. New Labour. New Britain.” In the 1997 parliamentary elections, these words won Tony Blair the largest victory of any prime minister since Clement Attlee. Yet “New Labour” was more than a catchy slogan; Blair aspired to a different ... Read More
All Politics is Congressional
Congressional campaigns hinge on local issues This year’s election season was a tough one for Republicans running for Congress. Throughout the summer, leads in national polls and in underlying dynamics allowed Democrats to shape the tenor of many races. Yet history shows that national advantage often transfers to the ballot box in unexpected ways. While the national political climate impacted ... Read More
