Articles by James Strock

Is the Trump administration a decisive break from the Clinton-Bush-Obama status quo—or an extension of it? This fundamental question has hovered over Washington since the shock result of the 2016 election. On Friday, March 23, 2018, the president provided an unmistakable answer. President Trump set aside the sword of reform. He took the pen to sign a $1.3 trillion budget. The national debt, which doubled under the respective administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, remains on a stee...

Is there any more grotesque example of American “exceptionalism” than our longstanding failure to respond to recurring, murderous violence in our schools? Is the nation that led mankind to the moon and back unable to halt the tragic transformation of children and teachers into the neatly gathered, heedlessly compliant soft targets for cowards wielding weapons of war? THE CURTAIN RISES ON OUR KABUKI THEATER As the smoke and chaos cleared from the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas School, our politici...

Moviegoers 50 years ago were captivated and challenged by a provocative, topical film: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? The storyline was tailor-made for the moment. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn portrayed conventionally liberal white parents who found their principles put to the test when their daughter brought her betrothed home for the holidays. The prospective member of the family was every parent’s dream: a doctor, notably handsome, accomplished, and polished. The frisson arises becaus...

Shortly after the Second World War, a Republican legislator sought to temper criticism of a Democratic president. Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Arthur Vandenberg declared that we should stop “partisan politics at the water’s edge.” Today, partisan warfare knows no bounds. Democrats and Republicans routinely rationalize placing their own interests ahead of the national interest. Their mutual, unceasing attempts to subvert the other party’s political fortunes are now subverting a co...

The electoral earthquake that resulted in the election of President Trump is not limited to the United States. And it’s far from running its course. The Brexit referendum of June 2016 was an early indicator. Against general expectation, the British people overrode elite opinion, voting to exit the European Union. In 2017, Emmanuel Macron seized the presidency of France. He established a new political party of the center-left, muscling aside the longstanding, dominant political coalitions. In ...

These are the best of times—and the worst of times—for independents striving to disrupt and transform our broken politics. The Best of Times Though it can be obscured in the dust and smoke of moment-by-moment partisan rancor and wrangling, tangible progress is apparent in vital areas: 1. Poll after poll shows rising, record numbers of citizens declaring themselves as Independent. Given the extensive privileges in law and custom accorded to the Republicans and Democrats, this is no small cha...

There is one question that could redefine the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. An affirmative answer by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump could disrupt American politics: As president, would you commit that no American man and woman will be sent into combat without a declaration of war, passed by both houses of Congress, as required by the Constitution? A Constitutional Detour The United States last declared war more than seventy years ago, during the Second World War. Yet the na...

Among many good-government types, there’s a reliable refrain: We need more moderates in Washington! Such sentiments are no doubt well intended. It’s easy to see where they come from. The division and contentiousness in Washington is dysfunctional by any standard. Nonetheless, the yearning for more moderates is misplaced. Moderately Helpful We don’t dream of being moderately in love. We don’t search for a surgeon who’s moderately effective. Why should we look to moderates as a panacea for ou...

In the aftermath of the Brexit, there’s a rising sense of imminent political change in the United States. The spectacular, disruptive insurgencies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump illuminated the alienation of millions of Americans from our government and politics. The British seized their sole opportunity to reset their nation’s relationship with centralized governance from Brussels. Now Americans are seeking ways to reset our centralized governance from Washington, D.C. The need is so urge...