american politics essay

381 American Politics Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

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• The Challenges of Racism Influential for the Life of Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama However, Douglass became an influential anti-slavery and human rights activist because in the early childhood he learnt the power of education to fight inequality with the help of his literary and public speaking skills to […]
• Franklin Roosevelt and Veto Power In the United States, and as per the constitution, every bill passed by the House of Representatives is given to the president for assent. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• George Washington and Abraham Lincoln: Similarities and Differences George Washington and Abraham Lincoln appear to be the most prominent personalities in the entire history of the United States. Considering the fact that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln lived in different historical periods, it […]
• Barack Obama’s Charismatic Leadership In Obama’s Case, the sparkle and invisible energy as defined by Rao pushed him to the presidency and continues allowing him some loyal following albeit the fact that some are being disappointed by the slow […]
• Barack Obama as a Transformational Leader In this instance, Barack Obama’s approach was that of a transformational leader: he urged the American citizens to desire change and take measures towards achieving the transformation.
• “The Atlanta Compromise Speech” by Booker T. Washington The idea was that if it became clear to the whites that the black community was ready to contribute to national and global development, the barriers of social inequity and racial injustice would gradually diminish.
• Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson Comparison The two presidents managed to contribute to the development of the country in different ways. However, both of them managed to contribute greatly to the development of the USA and its empowerment.
• President Obama’s Inaugural Speech Analysis In his speech, Obama was seen to take advantage of the significance of that moment to address the Americans’ main concerns.
• Political Institutions Comparison: USA, UK and France In UK, the prime minister is elected into office through the house of the commons. In conclusion, France is the most interesting system of government due to its ceremonial prime minister and does not have […]
• Michele Obama’s Speech: A Rhetorical Analysis The main message of the First Lady was to draw attention to the suppression of the advertising of unhealthy food to minors.
• Logos, Ethos, and Pathos in Hillary Clinton’s Speech Looking at the example of the Clinton speech, her address focuses on the rights of women and the need to protect them.
• Christianity: The Making of a Leader by Clinton The book narrows down the subject of leadership to the stages of developing leaders and the lessons that one can draw from each of the involved steps.
• Eric Rauchway’s Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt’s America The author presents the full story of McKinley’s murder in his book, paying much attention to the details of that day, the consequences of the murder for the killer, the personality of Leon Czolgosz, his […]
• Obama Had Authority to Order Operation Geronimo The public opinion of the US citizens supported the president and military force actions because of the ongoing conflict between the USA and Al-Qaeda.
• George Washington’s Achievements and Farewell Address Washington was a successful leader because he promoted democracy, led the country through the revolutionary war, and achieved most of the goals which he had promised the people.
• George Washington: Life and Achievements His role in the French and Indian War was significant, as he was a commander of the Virginia Regiment, raised to oppose the French in the Ohio Valley.
• Four Freedoms by President Roosevelt Throughout the discussion we shall elaborate the four freedoms in a broader way for better understating; we shall also describe the several measures that were put in place in order to ensure the four freedoms […]
• Rhetorical Theory Applied to Michelle Obama’s Speech The next step was the discussion of the candidate’s history, her skills, and the nature of the election. In conclusion, this rhetorical analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic […]
• “Industrial Education for the Negro” by B. T. Washington In the article, the author insists on the introduction of industrial education to the curriculums of all black students to ensure that they understand the value of labor.
• Leadership Style of Bill Clinton: What Can We Learn? To have a good understanding of Bill Clinton, we shall have a review and a brief description of his biography in order to understand about the background of Bill Clinton right from the time he […]
• “Farewell Address” by George Washington The significant aspect of the president’s speech was the value of unity, loyalty to party over the nation, and the danger of foreign entanglements.
• George Washington’s and John Adams’s Policies George Washington is the first popularly elected President of the United States of America, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, a participant in the War of Independence, and the founder of the American institution of the […]
• The “Obama’s Deal” Documentary Reflection The world was not privy to the level of lobbying that happened behind the scenes, and the cost to his popularity, bipartisan ideals, and open government.
• Barak Obama and Donald Trump: Communication Styles Nonetheless, it is essential to determine which of the factors play a decisive role by comparing the communication styles of Barak Obama and Donald Trump, examining the examples of their debates and speeches across their […]
• Blackstone’s Influence on American Political Philosophy This collection of comments and discussions highlighted the role of the citizen in the country and greatly influenced the formation of the American ideas of the common law.
• The American Political System Of course, there are some controversies, but it is possible to note that the political system of the country does work.
• Donald Trump: Theory X and Autocratic Decision-Style Methods He has managed to maintain success using this style of headship in the real estate business in America and across the world.
• Natural and Revealed Law: American Political Philosophy While its roots go back to Ancient Greece and Rome, natural law has remained a part of modern history.[1] In particular, the rise of Christianity contributed to the evolution of natural and revealed law and […]
• Barack Obama: Ambassador Leadership Style The history and current experiences of the leaders determine the approaches to the management of contemporary institutions. The advantage of this leadership is that the staff gains a lot of experience as they become more […]
• The Reagan-Bush Years: 1981-1993 The 1980s would not be considered a Go-Go economy as there was significant instability in the earlier years of the decade with the adoption of Reaganomics.
• Tea for Trump Public Relation Campaign: ROPE Theory To popularize drinking green tea: the company made use of the opportunity to spread the idea of their healthy and cleansing product organic green tea. To spread the power of tea on the global level.
• Compare and Contrast of the Historical Figures: Barrack Obama and Joel Osteen He is also the best selling author and he has sold million copies of his books in America and abroad; he was included in the list of the ‘ten most fascinating people’ by Barbara Walter.
• Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Ideas The decision to promote progressive ideas was not spontaneous, and he saw the movement as the possibility to protect the real rule of humans.
• Donald Trump: Leadership Ability As a leader, Trump is committed to direct involvement in every business that has his name on it. As a leader, Trump is able to build strong business relationships and rally people behind his ideas […]
• Obama vs. Lincoln: Presidents’ Comparison The people of the nation are the first line to be affected with how the president handles the state that is why they are very keen in evaluating the current president.
• Inauguration of President Barack Obama on 2009 He smiled and waved to the audience, he was confident in correcting the Chief Justice during the oath and he was strong in his speech speaking of what has been done wrong in the past […]
• Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler: Leaders Ways This paper aims to reveal the cause of the problems faced by the United States and Germany as identified by their leaders in inaugural speeches and the ways Roosevelt and Hitler were planning to solve […]
• American Political Culture History They made several paintings on nature and depicted the beauty of the natural features that were in the United States. The political representatives in various positions are expected to make laws and also safeguard the […]
• Immigration as Political Issue in the USA The country has been witnessing a surge in the number of immigrants, and it is estimated that the number of illegal immigrants superseded that of the legal ones.
• Barack Obama’s Leadership Skills Between the ages of six and ten, the young Barrack lived in Indonesia before coming back to the US to complete his education which culminated in a degree from Harvard Law School.
• George Washington’s Leadership Style and Character From an in-depth analysis of his presidency and leadership the three events, it is worth noting that Washington was a visionary leader and a skilful individual whose patriotism, courage and dedication to the people and […]
• President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt In his view, Roosevelt was convinced that a good nation must be able to pass its resources to the future generation increased and not depleted.
• Biography of Bill Clinton: Interpretation of Personality Hillary Rodham Clinton, his life partner had played a vital role to boost up his political career and she gained immense popularity after the rejection of his health care reform bill by Congress in the […]
• Political Rhetoric: Barack Obama’s March 18 Speech The context of the speech was reassuring white voters that they did not stand a chance to lose anything based on a statement of a renown Black American Pastor. The speech used the pattern of […]
• Barack Obama’s Family History Payne, on the other hand, was born in the year 1922 in Wichita, Kansas and she died 86 years later on November 3, 2008 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• US Foreign Policy During Obama Presidency The foreign policy of Bush gets placed in a dire light, even as news springs grieve that the Afghanistan policy of Obama is parallel to that of Bush.
• Religion and American Politics On the other hand, the political interests of the majority shape the focus of philosophy. This book clarifies the role of religion in the fight for the human rights due to political changes in America.
• Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address Analysis It is good that Biden highlighted the achievements of his administration, which included the lowest unemployment rate in history and efforts to minimize the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis.
• Political Culture of American Government This type of political culture influenced the German government’s hesitation because they did not want to spoil the relationship with the Russian government.
• “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” by Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton’s speech about women’s rights effectively convinces her audience that women rights are an indispensable part of human rights through the use of logical argument, repetition, historical facts, and emotional stories.
• Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan The changes essentially affect the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that allows federal student loan borrowers to receive payment credits. As part of the plan, Biden paused the extension of loan repayment.
• Editorial on Donald Trump in 2024 Presidential Race This is a liberal view as the editors feel that the president will reverse some of the gains made towards creating a society where everyone feels entitled to the benefits that the nation has to […]
• Washington’s Farewell Speech Analysis With the help of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, Washington composed a letter in Philadelphia in what later became described as the “Farewell Address”.
• Donald Trump’s Election Campaign for 2024 A few days after the results of the midterm elections for the U.S. According to Trump, his rivals suspended the counting of votes in important states of the country in order to get additional ballots […]
• The Port Huron Statement: American Political System The manifesto was written in historically difficult times for the United States, which fell on the aggravation of relations with the USSR, the beginning of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the development of […]
• The Role of Japan in Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework This paper addresses the challenges that led to the framework’s creation, the IPEF’s four pillars, and the participation of the other nations in the region.
• The American Political Campaigns: Major Historical Eras A breakdown of the remaining three eras, how congressional candidates can capitalize on campaign laws, the primary factors in a congressional campaign, and the role of media in driving the public’s understanding of candidates for […]
• Joe Biden’s First Two Years in Office The outcome of the midterm elections for the US Congress, where the Republicans received a majority of the votes, is evidence that Biden did not act quickly enough to address the issues arising in society.
• Rhetoric in Obama’s 2008 Speech on Racism When the audience became excited, it was Obama’s responsibility to convey his message in a more accessible form. To conclude, Obama’s speech in 2008 facilitated his election as the first African American President in history.
• Barack Obama’s Biography and Political Leadership The main reason why many see him as an inspiration is that he was the first person of color to hold the office of president, but there is so much more to him and what […]
• Donald Trump: The Law Violations The former president of the US, Donald Trump, has been the subject of heated political and legal discussions due to the numerous charges he faces because of violating the law on several accounts.
• Foreign Policy of the Clinton Administration The foreign policy strategies of Clinton and Bush Jr.differed significantly. In contrast, Bush Jr.was focused on isolation and confrontation with the principles of globalization.
• President Obama’s Justification for Killing bin Laden In Schlag’s opinion, the secrecy of lawyers in working on the legal actions surrounding the plot of Bin Laden’s death raised concerns regarding the justification of his killing.
• Requesting a Warrant for Trump’s Home Search In his opinion piece for KCRA, Alanna Durkin observes that a checklist of stringent conditions governs the procedure of getting a search warrant. Durkin notes that the court could have only authorized the request if […]
• Conservatism in the Clinton and Obama Administrations Thus, the Clinton and Obama administrations have examples of how the presidents challenged the rise of conservatism and were considered the continuation of it simultaneously.
• Charismatic Rhetoric of Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech For example, Obama’s rhetoric and custom linguistic strategies allowed him to appeal to the values of the majority of American citizens.
• Biden’s Student Loan Dilemma by Barbaro & Cowley The podcast Biden’s Student Loan Dilemma by Michael Barbaro and Stacy Cowley examines the state of student debt loans in the U.S.
• Joe Biden’s Inaction on the Need to Eliminate Existing Tariffs The main effect of this decision was retaliatory tariffs on US agricultural imports to China, which led to a decrease in the export of soybeans.
• Trump’s Trade Dump: Agreement With China According to detractors, it is the sort of management trade policy that the U.S.has long opposed, particularly about China and its economic control.
• Women in the USA: The Emergence of Political Power The role of factors determining the status of American women in the state and society and the degree of influence of women themselves on the development of state policy in general and concerning the female […]
• George W. Bush’s Inaugural Speech It is rather interesting that, in the text, Bush says that “the best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world”. This text also helps to think about […]
• Black Lives Matter and Trump’s Use of Secret Police He has tried to hide the truth and the police brutality that took Floyd’s life, just as it endangered the lives of other black Americans.
• Trump Tells Story About Killing Terrorists With Bullets Dipped in Pigs’ Blood The text reflects on Donald Trump’s recollection of the myth that terrorists were killed before the bullets used were dipped in pig blood.
• President Biden’s State of the Union Address in 2022 The measures taken to date will help reduce the share of unresolved problems and give some impetus to the development of the well-being of America and its citizens.
• President Franklin Roosevelt’s Acts and Laws Thus, the president managed not only to engage people to participate in the agricultural spectrum but also promoted improvement of the African American, immigrants, and workers conditions.
• George Washington’s Farewell Address He considered the most important element of the success of the state and society to be the preservation and promotion of peaceful coexistence with all forces.
• Rhetorical Analysis: Logos and Pathos in Trump’s Truth In the third chapter, “The Truth Is the Greatest Enemy of the State,” attention is paid to Trump’s speeches and promises.
• 1968: The Turning Point in American Politics and Society Over the years of existence in the modern United States, there have been numerous iterations of the party systems and political structures in the attempts to address the differences between Democrats and Conservatives.
• The Speech About the Assassination of Osama bin Laden by Barack Obama To conclude, we can consider this speech as a good example of weighted but at the same time pompous and threatening speech regarding the issue of national security.
• President Obama’s Inaugural Address in 2009 First, the inclusion of certain phonological elements such as alliteration, consonance, and assonance works to beautify the language, which causes it to resonate with the listener.’Pounded the pavement’ or ‘picked up the phones’ is an […]
• Michelle Obama’s Tuskegee University Commencement Speech The commencement speech of Michelle Obama at the Tuskegee University primarily focused on the continuing and detrimental effects of racism, but even more improtantly on the concept of a post-racial America.
• Progressive Ideology by President Roosevelt In addition, the key role of the progressive lies in addressing the problems of the other, for which reason they are to remain enthusiastic and inspiring under any circumstances.
• Biden’s Push to Increase Tax on the Rich From New York Times The major reason for this news is Biden’s will to increase taxes for the rich to fund his plan of reshaping the economy.
• Biden Ends Workplace Immigration Raids, Reversing Trump Policy Firstly, the announcement will contribute immensely towards the integrity of most employers in the sense that it is going to push employers to pursue only documented immigrants for labor without putting excessive pressure on the […]
• The COVID-19 Bill Proposal by President Biden As the standing committees to introduce the bill to, the budget committees of the House and the Senate will be involved.
• The Actions of Roosevelt During the New Deal The period from 1929 to 1941, including the Great Depression and the New Deal, is undoubtedly one of the most important in American history.
• Watergate – American Biggest Political Scandal In an attempt to do so, participants of Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President broke into Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.
• Academic Reforms of George W. Bush The development and establishment of the Every Student Succeed Act, is an attribute of Bush’s education reforms from his initiative to provide every child with the right to education in his bipartisan act of No […]
• What Explains the Increased Use of Drones Under The Obama Administration in Pakistan The C.I.A.holds the responsibility for the Drone attacks in Pakistan.”The C.I.A.began using drones in Pakistan in 2004, even though the United States was not engaged in a war with that country.
• Washington vs. Texas Court Case No. 649: Issue, Facts, and Summary Still, the court authorities denied him a request to listen and consider the testimony of a witness or an accomplice, because of which the court’s verdict turned in the opposite direction.
• Booker T. Washington’s Position Regarding the Black Problem Washington saw the main goal of education in the social and cultural teaching of African Americans, thanks to the emphasis on the acquisition of technical skills.
• Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Speech The appeal to the white population was based on a call to reduce pressure on African Americans to build a socially equal society.
• Du Bois’ and Washington’s Disagreement on the Issue of Education The effects of racial discrimination and the resulting segregation echoed in every area in the late 19th and early 20th century, causing the debate concerning the need for integrated schools to become rather polarizing even […]
• Biden’s Stimulus Package: Impact on Society The new legislation will also provide direct payments to individuals through the US, and this is the second reason why I support it strongly.
• Why Washington Warned Against Political Parties Washington warned against the formation of many regional-based political parties because it would jeopardize the unity of purpose of the country.
• American Wars and American Political Development In his article “Wars and American Politics,” David Mayhew argues that there were at least five major wars faced by the US which determined its fate as a progressive state: the War of 1812, the […]
• Text Analysis of Trump’s Tweets Besides, the Network has a system of comments on the posts of politicians, which can also help to understand the mood of the public.
• American Political Thought in the Pre-Revolutionary Period Hence, the Enlightenment and Great Awakening played a central role in shaping the colonists’ ways of thinking, which significantly changed the way that the residents of North American colonies regarded the authorities.
• President Obama’s and Sen. Cruz’s Hanukkah Greetings The speeches reveal that upholding the celebration is an important event in commemorating the justice of redemption of Jerusalem and rededication of the second temple at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt.
• President Roosevelt’s New Deal in Tennessee The United States was in the middle of the Great Depression when Roosevelt was elected. In conclusion, the election of Roosevelt seemed like a solution to the impacts of the Great Depression.
• The Washington Consensus and 21st-Century Socialism The relation between market trade and the involvement of the state from one of the primary aspects upon which such models are compared. Both policies demonstrate particular differences in the context of the balance between […]
• Barack Obama Policies in Healthcare: Ethical and Unethical Behavior The United State should not have health care reform when members are working but it has to support every child and provide him/her with quality healthcare services.
• Obama’s Health Care Speech to Congress Summary He said that the failing economy was affecting businesses and homeowners and there was a need for decisive action to cut costs and therefore ensure the survival of the Americans by not counting the returns […]
• Franklin Roosevelt and The New Deal The New Deal was initiated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he was the 32nd president of the United States. His administration inherited the devastation of the Great Depression.
• Cooper’s “Perfect” Feedback Regarding Trump’s White House Address The segment featured a live Trump’s speech a few days before the election was called and had to be cut off due to the President’s remarks a few minutes into the session.
• Is Political and Racial Equality Possible in American Society? The study of this issue is important to modern American politics as it directly reflects the problems and opportunities of racial and ethnic minorities. It is also important to strive for justice and equality in […]
• Opioid Crisis During Trump, Obama, and Bush Presidency The president is the head of government, meaning that this political figure has the power to solve the existing problems. Trump declared the opioid crisis a national emergency, meaning that sufficient attention was necessary to […]
• Social Media Helped Obama Win The theory of hegemony is instrumental in understanding the relationship that exists between media and power as it can go a long way in reinforcing certain beliefs.
• The Under-Representation of Asian Americans in US Politics The vast disproportion between the percentage of Asian American individuals within the overall US population and the rate of their representation in office might be addressed by improving the likelihood of this community engaging in […]
• Donald Trump as a Global Leader His leadership style seems to be visionary in regards to his managerial skills and the ability to focus on the future rather than focusing on past events.
• “Michelle Obama Calls on You to Serve” Address Michelle pointed out initiatives and actions that were implemented and asked people to join her and the President to serve communities and build the foundation for the state’s future growth with the help of the […]
• Media Influence on Donald Trump’s Career Trump is the focus of this essay as a prominent case of a worldwide discourse regarding the negative effects of media on a politician’s image.
• A Critique of President Obama’s Administration Position on Contraception The paper comes from the premise that after all contraception is widely used in the US but not all the women can afford the contraceptive.
• Constitutional Issues vs. Obama Healthcare Law This is because of government involvement in subsidizing the medical cover costs and putting it mandatory for everyone to have a medical cover or pay a fine.
• Obama’s Health Reform and Weak Points Revealed Consequently, the chief goal of the US administration is to re-focus the benefits promised by the medical care in the USA on citizens but not on medical products manufacturers.
• Clinton Health Policy Formulation Its main components included the formulation of a national health board that was supposed to regulate the health care structure in the United States.
• The Trump Travel Ban The aim of the current paper is to explore the ban and review the implications of its enactment for the affected individuals and the global community as a whole.
• The Role of Interests and Factions in American Politics Thinking about the consequences of unregulated factions politics, the first idea that comes to mind is that the weaker groups will always be outsiders that are unable to promote their interests. Nevertheless, in my opinion, […]
• Stories From the Great Depression: President Roosevelt At the same time, the era of the Great Depression was the time when many Americans resorted to their wit and creativity.
• Political Communication: Donald Trump’s Insult Politics The purpose of this paper is to analyze Donald Trump’s insult politics and the role of racism and religion in it.
• Progressive Policies After Theodore Roosevelt’s Term By centralizing power in the federal government, he diminished the chances of misrepresentation by municipal governments and ensured close monitory of the United States affairs to the fulfillment of the will of the people.
• Donald Trump Note on Waterboarding In addition, as Trump said, waterboarding is a good method to gather information from the enemy and predict national or international threats.
• Success and Mistakes of Barack Obama’s Foreign Policy This paper aims at discussing the achievements and shortcomings of the 44th U.S.president’s foreign policy. The second mistake of Obama’s foreign policy seems to be its expansive nature.
• Barack Obama Made History: The First Black President of the United States In addition to becoming the first black president of the united states, Barack Obama has numerous prominent achievements that will remain the history of the United States.
• President Obama’s Budget Proposal for the United States The budget is also expected to have an expansion of the earned income tax credit for the working poor. Contrary to the above, Republicans argue that raising the tax of the wealthy during a downturn […]
• Roosevelt’s New Deal and Its Influence on the Society The meaning of the policy of “New Deal” was described by Roosevelt in a speech to the voters, as elements of economic planning for a “more equitable distribution of wealth and goods and supplies, the […]
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt His credits as a leader are tied to his successful leadership amidst the alarming economic depression that was a challenge to his administration. These are just a few of the great thing Roosevelt achieved during […]
• The Healthcare Reform Law by Obama: Budget of the Healthcare Reform The proposed healthcare reform has an estimated budget of $828 billion; half of which is scheduled to be acquired from the expansion of Medicaid with an extra $29 billion stipulated to aid in the funding […]
• The American Army: Political Science John wanted to become a warrior, belong to the company of the best soldiers in the world, to see the world, and to have financial stability.
• Satiric Cartoons on American Politics In this cartoon, a stout man in a formal suit is depicted. In this cartoon, there is a snake cut into parts.
• Bush on God: Bushisms From a Satirical Point of View According to the latest news, more and more people believe in the coming of the new Prophet. The witnesses claim, he was receiving a new message from the God at that moment.
• Franklin Roosevelt: The Evolution of an American Idea The following paper is intended to discuss and explain why the first inaugural speech of Franklin Roosevelt, the retirement announcement made by Lou Gehrig, John Kennedy’s inauguration address, and Martin Luther’s “Dream” disclosure are considered […]
• Will Donald Trump Make a Good President? Donald Trump might be a successful businessman and a true patriot, but he lacks the skills and experience to be a good leader of a country and represents opposition to core American values.
• Public Opinion About American Politics All three articles perform in depth analysis of the events, or offer all the necessary information for such an analysis, hence, whether these are discussion of a public opinion, description of the governor’s actions, or […]
• The Debate Over Gay Rights in American Politics Proponents of gay rights vigorously dispute these interpretations, but many people on both sides of the issue do not realize that the Bible has historically been used to argue many things in the past including […]
• Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in American Presidency Theodore Roosevelt is known as the 26th President of the United States and the first president to have served the full cadence in the 20th century.
• Colonialism Questions: George Washington and Monroe Declaration He believed that the US was in danger if it would entangle itself in the foreign affairs of other nations particularly those from Europe. The convention of 1800 saw an end to all the treaties […]
• Obama’s Health Care Bill: Legaslation`s Changes Review It is imperative to note that the passage of the bill involved wrangling from what appeared as proposition and opposition sides of the Health Care Reform bill.
• President Obama’s Wall Street Reforms The new “bill stipulates that the amount of fees charged by banks to process debit card transactions need to be realistic and relative to the cost of the transaction”.
• George Washington: The First President of the Great Free Country He was recognized not only as the commander in chief but also as one of the leaders who assisted in crafting the new constitution.
• The Jesus Factor in G. W. Bush’s Political Career This time marked the turning point in the life of George Bush as he was able to receive Jesus as his personal savior this was how Bush explained. The friends of Bush were able to […]
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Office Term The rationale for President Roosevelt running for these additional terms in the office was the perilous times in the early 1940s, as American faced the possibility of war in 1940 and was in the midst […]
• Obama’s Deal: The Problem of Healthcare Reform The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the problem of healthcare reform, which was raised in the documentary Obama’s Deal, and to evaluate the impact of lobbyists’ efforts on the legislative process.
• Barack Obama as an Exceptional Leader According to Huffington, “the first one hundred days of Obama in office has had a lot of achievements and intangible transformational leadership”.
• Obama and Sarkozy: Political Views and Personalities Comparing the forty-forth president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, to the twenty-third president of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, it should be noted that the historical background, economical systems and the foreign […]
• American History: Key Events in Social and Political Life In the beginning of the 18th century, half of the labor was provided by the African slaves while the rest was being provided by the Native Americans with the latter providing the Spanish farms or […]
• Social and Political Theory: American Theocracy Capitalism and the State rely on the exploitation of the majority of humanity. Mobilization of a working class calls on dealing with all the issues affect them.
• Rating of Barack Obama and Economic Problems Most of the respondents attributed the down fall in the economy to the previous regime’s poor economic policies hence, supporting President Barrack Obama.
• How Is Obama Doing: Discussion of Obama’s Presidency The anointment of Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States has signaled to the world that American democracy has finally matured and that it is truly the land of opportunity […]
• President’s Obama Ability to Address Issues In his capacity as the most senior member of the cabinet, the president needs to work together with other members of the executive including the cabinet to formulate policies for the nation.
• Bush Plan on Immigrants Since the program seeks to vet all aliens entering our country, it will be bound to increase the security in our country considerably. According to the program, all foreigners entering our country will have to […]
• Obama’s Political Ideals and Machiavelli’s Philosophy The problem of power is reduced, in the real world, to the control of specific acts of particular powers. In the first instance, the fundamental abuse is the usurpation of the legal authority itself, the […]
• American Politics and Power Decentralization The investigation done on policymaking for the period of 1947-1998 presented enough information on the subject of national government to decentralize its power to state government.
• President Obama and Congress on Healthcare System The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Obama and the congress over the health care plan. Using the power of the media, he is appealing to the voters to maintain his […]
• The Barack Obama Presidency in the United States This essay discusses President Obama’s administration policies on foreign and domestic issues, the challenges he faces, the strengths he can utilize, and what he needs to do in order to deliver the promises he made […]
• The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama In the book The Breakthrough, Gwen Ifill addresses the political background and what part the women and men the author calls “the breakthrough politicians” or what the editor of the New Yorker David Remnick refers […]
• President Barack Obama’s Job Performance He has proven to be a president who listens to the logic and needs of his constituents. He has shown the world that as the new image of America, he is not to be feared […]
• The Influence of Evangelical Christianity on American Politics and Culture The others are the belief in the supremacy of the bibles authority and the reiteration of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• George W. Bush’s Activities and Forecasts for Barack Obama So far, all he has done to show that he would make a better president, was to overturn a number of decisions made during the Bush administration.
• The Obama Stimulus Plan and Its Effect on Local and State Government The action of the plan is considered to attack the core of the problem of the recession, the reduction in spending that is manifesting in all sectors of the economy, using the Keynesian approach of […]
• Obama: The Rule of Law and the Chrysler Debacle
• The Actions of the Roosevelt on Great Depression
• Theodore Roosevelt as the Man and the American
• Obama’s Tax Relief Plan Analysis
• Political Parties in the Modern America
• Barack Obama and Joe Biden Committing to Domestic Reform
• Barack Obama’s First One Hundred Days in Office
• Obama: Successes and Failures
• The American Political System in California
• Future Peace Situation in the World after Obama’s Reign
• American Political and Economic History of the 20th Century
• President Bush’s Tax Cut Policies
• Obama and Solving the Problem of Racial Inequality
• American History: Presidents Starting From Roosevelt
• Obama or Mccain: President of the United States in 2008
• Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms. American “Civil Religion”
• Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
• Barack Obama: The Rhetoric of Political Words
• How the Election of Barack Obama as the U.S. President Will Affect America’s Racial Issues
• Obama’s and McCain’s Election Campaigns
• Global Security Interests of Bush and Clinton
• Americanization of Canadian Political Culture
• The Death of George Washington
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Great Depression
• Political Campaigns Finance Reform in USA
• Obama, the First US Black President: Is Racism Over?
• Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Great Depression
• Most Influential Politicians in American History
• American Politics: Judges Selection and Appointment
• Obama and McCain’s Taxation Policy
• Comparing Obama and Mccain Plans
• George Bush, Love Him or Hate Him
• B. Obama H. Clinton: Peculiar Individuals in US History
• Presidential Election in USA: Barack Obama
• Barack Obama as the Next President of the USA
• The Gilded Age as an Important Political Turning Point in American History
• Elizabeth Warren as a Figure in American Politics
• President Bush and United States Congress
• F. D. Roosevelt and L. B. Johnson: USA Presidents
• Barrack Obama Is a United States Presidential Candidate
• Vice President in the Political System of the USA
• American Vision and Values of Political Freedom
• 2008 US Elections: Barrack Obama and John McCain
• Barack Obama: The First Black President Ever
• Bill Clinton’s Accomplishments as President
• Barrack Obama’s Campaign Review
• Political Function of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
• Donald Trump and American Democracy
• Trump and Health Care
• George W. Bush’s Foreign Policies
• Trump’s Contributions to Healthcare Policy
• American History vs. Donald Trump
• Clinton’s Plan and Obamacare: Healthcare Policy
• President Trump’s Impeachment: For and Against
• Fake News and Donald Trump’s Political Career
• American vs. Russian Government & Politics
• Sentimentalism in American Political Culture
• Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Oppression
• Turnover Rate at President Trump’s White House
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Definition of Freedom
• Joe Biden’s Program Specifics in Healthcare
• President Trump’s Impact on Economy
• George Bush: President of the USA
• Politics and Justice Challenges in American Society
• American Democratic Political Model as an Innovation
• Barack Obama’s Charisma in Leadership
• Barack Obama’s Presidential Leadership and Charisma
• 2016 Presidential Elections: Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio
• The Heroic Deeds of George Washington
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt as an Admirable Historical Figure
• Barack Obama’s Second Presidential Term Agenda
• Bill Clinton’s Impeachment From Post-9/11 Perspective
• Roosevelt’s First New Deal and the Second New Deal
• Bush’s Memex Revisited and Kay & Goldberg’s Personal Dynamic Media
• Donald Trump: Leader Profile
• Asian Americans’ Political Involvement
• The Politics of Theorizing African American Families
• Obama Campaign vs. Save the Children Initiative
• Power, Politics, Government in Canada and America
• George Washington: Leader in the United States
• Politics in America Between 1820 and 1850
• Judicial System and Politics in American History
• American History and Politics in the 19th Century
• The American Revolution and Political Legitimacy Evolution
• Ethical Factors in Trump Campaign Funding
• Donald Trump’s Proposal to Ban Muslims From Entering the United States
• Trump’s Trade Restrictions and International Mechanisms
• Franklin Roosevelt’s Presidency and Its Influences
• Political Cartoon: Trump’s Healthcare Amendments
• Bush’s Best Baked Beans: International Expansion
• Is Obama “The Reagan of the Left”?
• Trump Phenomenon: Why Was He Popular?
• Internet in American Politics, Society, Economics
• Roosevelt’s Camapign for Japanese Americans
• American Political Ideology
• Brexit and Trump’s Election in Online News Media
• Popular Politics, Populism, and Donald Trump
• Muslim Ban From Entering the United States Enforced by Donald Trump
• Trump’s Refugee Order: Suppression or Protection
• Donald Trump’s Political Role in the USA
• Racism in Trump’s and Clinton’s Campaigns
• Obama’s Presidency and Racism in the USA
• Anti-Trump Protests for Third Night on CNN
• Hip-Hop and Politics Correlation in the USA
• Hillary Clinton and John Mccain: Media’s Defeat
• Importance of Religion in American Politics
• Why Franklin Delano Roosevelt Was Most Popular Presidents?
• Did President Obama Save the Auto Industry?
• Barack Obama and Race Impact on American Politics
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Presidential Era
• George Washington and Neo-Classical Imagery
• Hillary Clinton’s View on Religion and Politics
• Intelligence Problem in the Trump Administration
• Hillary Clinton’ Education Policy
• Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Candidate’s Position
• Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ Debates
• George Washington: Servant Leadership and Communication
• Marcus Garvey: Afro-American Political Leader
• New York Times: Obama Vows to Push Immigration Changes
• Three Problems That Obama Should Fix
• The Life of George Washington Truett
• The Politics of Crime and Punishment in America
• Presidential Elections Analysis: Clinton vs. Cruz
• The Congress by George Bush
• Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney’s Economic Plans
• First Presidential Debate: Mitt Romney and Barack Obama
• Obama’s Policy: Delta and Northwest Airlines’ Case
• George Bush’ National Strategy of War in Iraq
• Political Issues of Marijuana in America
• Presidential Campaign: Barack Obama’s Message and Its Power
• King’s and Obama’s Views on Racism in America
• Press and Politics Relations in America
• Post American Revolution Period: Washington Presidency
• Barack Obama and Mitt Romney Comparison
• The Third Party and Its American Political History
• Historical Event: Barack Obama’s Election
• Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton – Leaders Comparison
• Political Sciences: American Immigration
• Washington, Jefferson and Parker’ Role in the US History
• Political Issues: National Interest in America
• Obama’s Brain Mapping Project
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Era
• Roosevelt’s Plan to End the Great Depression
• Donald Trump: His Political Course and Contribution as a President
• President Clinton’s Impeachment
• Obama’s Health Care Reform and Utilitarian Theory
• The Challenges That Being Black Creates for Douglass and Obama
• George W. Bush Role in Foreign Policy of the United States
• American National Politics
• Ronald Reagan Revolution Through Obama
• George Bush Election Campaign
• President Barack Obama’s Healthcare Reforms
• Effects of the Indigenous Movements to the Politics of Modern Latin America
• Obama’s First Election and Racism
• Has President Obama’s Presidency Changed the US?
• The Political Views of Muslim Americans
• Economic, Political, Social, and Racial Concerns Affecting Mexican Americans
• How Obama’s First Election Has Been Affected by Racism?
• The Controversial Health Policy in the USA Initiated by the Obama’s Administration
• Features of Bill Clinton’s Obituary
• President Obama’s Higher Education Agenda
• The Monroe Doctrine and Its Roosevelt Corollary
• Latin American Government and Politics
• American Government and Politics Today
• Bush Tax Cuts Debate
• President Obama’s National Export Initiative
• Political Leadership: Bill Clinton and John Kennedy
• Republican Presidents Theodore Roosevelt & Taft
• President Obama’s Duties as the American CEO in His Second Term
• President Obama’s Foreign Policy
• President Obama: Manager of the Economy
• Did Obama’s Stimulus Work?
• Sumner, Wilson, Reagan, and Obama
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal
• Abraham Lincoln’s Cultural and Political Legacy on Central America
• Fiscal Policies of President Bush and President Obama
• Bill Clinton Leadership
• African American Political History
• Political Regimes and Business Environment Comparison Between China and USA
• Clinton Homosexual Discrimination Policy
• Theodore Roosevelt Role in the American History
• Obama’s American Jobs Act
• Analysis of Media Coverage of President Obama’s Activities
• Cultural and Political History in the USA: Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed and The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein
• American Political Parties in the Late Nineteenth Century
• General George Washington. Life of the Commander in Chief
• Lifespan & Personality: Towards Explaining President Barrack Obama’s Personality Traits
• Role of Politics in American Social Microstructures
• Role of Politics in American Society
• Print Media Journalism: Obama Campaign
• Politics in America: President and Congress
• American Political Culture
• Addressing Barack Obama’s Presidency Issues
• Barrack Obama and Race in Politics and Culture
• Political Structure and Process in America
• Obama’s Administration Seeking Peace With Iran
• Obama and Romney’s Plans for Higher Education
• Barrack Obama and Mitt Romney on Health Care
• The Views on the Debate of President Obama and Romney on 10/3/12
• American Politics and British Taxation
• Rhetoric in American Politics
• Public Speaking by American Politicians
• The Political Landscape of America
• Bush Doctrine, Explanation of the Administration and War on Terror
• Welfare Expenditure Reduction: Obama’s Federal Worker “Tax”
• Obama’s Wars and the International Relations
• Role of Judicial Review: Bush vs. Gore
• Political Causes of WWII for America and Germany
• Evaluating Obama’s Presidency
• Concepts of Bill Clinton
• President Obama’s State of the Union Address on January 1, 2011
• Role of the American Constitution in America’s Political Process
• Barack Obama as President of the United States
• Is Barrack Obama Like Hitler?
• Fiscal Policies by President Barrack Obama
• The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The Legacy of George W. Bush
• Bill Clinton’s Foreign Policies
• Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy: Partners or Opponents?
• Roles That Political Parties Play and Have Played in American Politics
• T. Roosevelt as a Rough Rider
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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287 American Politics Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on american politics, ✍️ american politics essay topics for college, 👍 good american politics research topics & essay examples, 🌶️ hot american politics ideas to write about, 🎓 most interesting american politics research titles, 💡 simple american politics essay ideas, 📌 easy american politics essay topics, ❓ american politics research questions.

• Theodore Roosevelt’s “Who Is a Progressive?” Speech
• Barack Obama Inauguration Speech 2009: Analysis
• A More Perfect Union Speech Analysis – Barack Obama’s Speech
• Bully: An Adventure With Teddy Roosevelt
• Continental European Model vs. Anglo-American Political Economy
• Nick Anderson’s Political Cartoons: Employment and Immigration in the USA
• “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene: Characters as Representations of Political Agendas
• Donald Trump’s Straw Man Fallacies Straw man fallacies are frequently utilized in politics, and Trump’s use of this device could contribute to his victory during the presidential elections
• Confident Body Language: Body Language Exhibited by Barack Obama When speaking, I sometimes use my hands to drive in points through gesticulation. I do this through waving of the hand, relaxing my palm to pose with an open hand.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Adaptable Mixed Leadership D. Roosevelt was highly adaptable in his leadership practices, utilizing a mixed-methods approach of democratic leadership and charisma.
• Roosevelt and Obama: Critical Analysis of Two Speeches The most interesting concept of freedom is the one introduced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his famous speech. The concept of the freedom of fear deserves closer speculation.
• Theodore Roosevelt Reform Movements on Prostitution Theodore Roosevelt’s reform movements on prostitution have been inspired from the time he was still an undergraduate student at Hard University.
• The President Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs Between 1933 and 1939, President Roosevelt endorsed the New Deal programs in the United States to counter the effects of the great depression via programs, financial reforms, etc.
• Views on Slavery by F.Douglass and B.Washington Douglass and Washington draw the readers’ attention to the fact that their situations and descriptions of slave life are the reflections of the conditions typical for the period.
• George W. Bush’s Speech: Rhetorical Analysis The speech under analysis is delivered by former US president George W. Bush on the crisis in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. The speech’s aim was to outline the US policy.
• Comparison Between Jackie Robinson and Barrack Obama This short essay seeks to look at the comparative aspects that both men had in their historic breakthroughs in their respective fields.
• George Washington and Toussaint Louverture Both George Washington and Toussaint Louverture have made history for leading their people against dominion by unpopular powers.
• President Obama’s Legal Authority to Order Operation Geronimo The paper states that as a lawful representative of the American government and people, President Obama has the right to command Operation Geronimo.
• George Washington: A True Hero for the United States George Washington was a true hero whose contribution to the birth and development of the United States cannot be overestimated.
• The Michelle Obama’s Commencement Speech at Spelman College In her speech at Spelman College, Michelle Obama was able to convince the audience to accept her vision of the students’ mission because of applying three modes of persuasion.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Main Achievements The most important achievements of Franklin D. Roosevelt were the development of the New Deal and the Second New Deal to overcome the Great Depression, and his foreign policy.
• The American Political System: The Essential Features The paper addresses the essential features of the American political system, the issues of political principles, government structure, government processes, and policy positions.
• Roosevelt’s, Taft’s, Wilson’s Foreign Policies and Freedom This paper explains how americans used the language of freedom when discussing foreign policy. It looks specifically at the foreign policies of T. Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson.
• Hitler’s and Roosevelt’s Inaugural Speeches This paper aims to compare Hitler’s and Roosevelt’s inaugural speeches in order to find similarities and differences in their political courses.
• American History: Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of the President of the USA and it was necessary for her to measure up to exacting demands of society. She tried to make her career and help people all over the world.
• Operation Geronimo and Barack Obama The purpose of the study is to show how Barack Obama related to the plan and analyze the key aspects that required governmental authorities to start working on this program.
• Libya’s Cultural and Ethnic Frameworks and Political Relations With America Cultural diversity in Libya focuses on the Islamic practices and belief system; therefore, the government structure is in the Sharia spectrum in addition to the courts.
• Who Is a Progressive According to Roosevelt? Progressives believe in using the general media to inform others of the government’s corruption and other ills so that their support is gathered in bringing change.
• Effectiveness of the American Political System The United States is presently one of the oldest modern democracies in the world. This reflective essay describes the effectiveness of the nation’s political system.
• Strength, Weakness, and Positive Impact of Congress on American Political System This paper seeks to explore the strength, weaknesses, and positive impact of Congress on the American political system.
• Barack Obama’s Leadership Qualities Obama’s leadership style has been noticed by the leadership experts and they have started to study the leadership style of Obama since it was noticed by the whole world.
• President Obama’s United Nations General Assembly Speech President Obama is critiqued and praised as an exemplar of liberalism in international relations. His approach can also be viewed as an expression of Constructivist thinking.
• Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler: Inaugural Speeches This paper analysis the two leaders’ Inaugural address to see the differences and similarities of their paths chosen to save their nations. The paper discusses Roosevelt and Hitler.
• President Joe Biden’s Effective Leadership The most important part for President Joe Biden is to be a more effective leader. It includes improving the most valuable things for all populations and social classes.
• Obama’s vs. Trump’s US National Security Strategy The U.S. National Security Strategy 2010 provides definitive ideologies on what contributes to global security, national security, and homeland security.
• Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan Leadership Styles Reagan and Obama are among the most respected presidents in the history of the United States primarily due to their exceptional leadership that transformed America in various ways.
• “Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt’s America” by Rauchway In his book “Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt’s America”, Rauchway states that the modernization which came with Roosevelt was the result of killing McKinley.
• President Biden: Executive Leadership Style A distinct executive leadership style is what sets a leader apart from previous and future leaders. Biden’s executive leadership style is closer to Carter’s than Regan’s.
• President Roosevelt’s New Deal Program Critics Three famous critics of Roosevelt’s New Deal program were Dr. Francis E. Townsend, Huey Long, and Upton Sinclair.
• President Obama Did Have Authority to Order Operation Geronimo It has been ten years since the death of the most dangerous terrorist. There is hardly anyone who has pitied the person responsible for the killing of so many innocent people.
• ”New Deal” by Franklin D. Roosevelt Overview The initiative of Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to as the New Deal, primarily targeted the economy, which was experiencing challenges of the Great Depression
• Routine Activity Theory and Crimes in Washington The routine activity theory was developed by Felson and Cohen in the 1970s and created a subfield within the crime opportunity theory.
• The Presidency of George W. Bush George W. Bush was the President of the United States between 2001 and 2009, succeeding Bill Clinton and being followed by Barack Obama.
• Education Policy by President Barack Obama Barack Obama and Joe Bidden’s education policy is based on the fact that American children cannot stand any more neglect and indifference in their education system.
• Theodore Roosevelt and Progressive Era This paper reveals that Roosevelt’s ideas of a progressive are capable of transforming the outcomes and experiences of many citizens.
• Theodore Roosevelt: Who Is a Progressive? Theodore Roosevelt attempted to run for President of the United States in 1912 due to his dissatisfaction with the person who held the position at the time, William Howard Taft.
• Leadership and Personality Traits of Donald Trump Donald Trump is one of the most remarkable participants of the presidential race. His decision to run for the presidency stirred all the mass media sources and caused numerous public debates.
• Obama Speech: Rhetorical Analysis and Evaluation In his speech, Obama starts by making reference to Martin Luther King Jr. He highlights the important role Luther played in the fight for the liberation of the Black Americans.
• “The Date of Infamy”: Roosevelt’s Speech Analysis “The Date of Infamy” is the designation for the date on which the Japanese Empire’s air force attacked Pearl Harbor, the leading U.S. naval base.
• Public Administration: The Trump Public Charge Rule The paper analyzes the Trump public charge rule through the lenses of public administration theories like classical public administration theory.
• The United States vs. Trump Supreme Court Case Investigations on Trump’s conduct have led to numerous cases in court, including stealing classified documents from the White House and storing them in Mar-a-Lago.
• The Impact of Populist and Progressive Reforms on American Politics Even though the events of the 1890s seem to be distant, the effects of the Depression affected the United States drastically.
• Thoreau vs. Roosevelt on Individual Freedom The paper states that freedom breeds responsibility, and responsibility directs freedom. Therefore, the more freedom, the more responsibility.
• Joe Biden’s 2021 Speech: Rhetorical Analysis Joe Biden, the current President of the US, gave a speech on the coronavirus pandemic on March 11, 2021. The speaker deployed various rhetorical strategies and devices.
• President Obama’s Legal Authorization on Operation Geronimo President Obama had the legal authority to order Operation Geronimo and the execution of the plan. Research by Salway establishes that after September 11, 2001.
• The US Development and George Washington’s Presidency George Washington played an outstanding role in the independence of the United States of America. It significantly contributed to forming a young state on a solid development path.
• President Obama’s Authority in Operation Geronimo This paper holds that President Obama had the legal authority to order Operation Geronimo and execute the plan because he was the commander in chief of the military.
• Washington’s and DuBois’ Speeches Comparison I read the writings of two of the great spokesmen for the Black rights movement, Washington and DuBois, and tried to choose which of them made the best case.
• Lessons from Trump’s Election on Power in America This paper focuses on Trump’s election and the events in his administration that showed the role of racism, white supremacy, populism, sexism, polarization, and identity politics.
• Obama’s and Clinton’s Speeches Rhetorical Analysis This article presents a rhetorical analysis of the speeches of the following historical figures: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
• Was President Obama Legally Justified in Executing Operation Geronimo? The decision of President Obama concerning the execution of Operation Geronimo was legally justified. Osama bin Laden would not surrender peacefully.
• The First Inaugural Address by Franklin Roosevelt In his First Inaugural Address, Franklin Roosevelt uses references to war and religion to inspire the American people and explain the course of action chosen for his presidency.
• Bias in the American News on Political Stories Recently CNN and Washington Post released news regarding the Russian army retreat in Ukraine’s village, which was ignored by FOX News.
• Did Barack Obama Have Legal Authority to Authorize “Operation Geronimo?” During “Operation Geronimo,” President Obama had the legal authority to approve the mission since he is the official accountable for national security principles.
• Obama’s Legal Authority in Operation Geronimo Operation Geronimo was actually legal and correlated with both U.S. and international law. President Obama had the legal authority to order the operation.
• Did Barack Obama Had the Authority to Execute Mission Geronimo? According to the paper, the authorization for the execution of the Geronimo mission by Obama was justified both legally and due to the global threat posed by bin Laden.
• Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama Comparison The paper states that between Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, President Obama was the most successful both on domestic and international fronts.
• The Main Points of George Washington’s Farewell Speech George Washington’s Farewell Address left an enormous cultural impact on the country’s political life. His ideas were reflected in future American history.
• Analysis of Conservatism in the Clinton and Obama Administrations Specific examples demonstrate how the Clinton and Obama administrations challenged the rise of conservatism and advocated for the continuation of the so-called conservative triumph.
• President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech Analysis The paper analyzes President Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address, focusing on his “Four Freedoms” postulates, and discussing the impact of the speech on US development.
• Changes in American Society, Economics, and Politics It is essential to view politics and economics as interconnected phenomena, which is the predominant point of this paper.
• President Obama’s Actions Regarding Operation Geronimo Despite the existence of opinions that Obama did not have the legal authority to conduct the Geronimo operation, the rules of law were complied with.
• George Washington as the Foundation of American Nation The present essay discusses the role of George Washington in founding the American nation, as no one contributed to the nation-building of the US as much as he did.
• George Washington’s Farewell Address: Description and Key Aspects George Washington’s Farewell Address was a letter to the citizens of the country providing explanations about his choice to not seek a third term.
• Donald John Trump’s Biography and Career Donald John Trump is a globally renowned individual whose major spotlight was when he served as the 45th President of The United States of America.
• Lincoln’s, Obama’s, Biden’s Speeches Analysis The essay analyzes Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Barrack Obama’s final speech as the US president, and President Joe Biden’s recent speech on the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
• The Power of Media in American Politics Media has a great deal of influence on society and politics in America. The primary role of media is to inform and educate people about everyday life events.
• Franklin Roosevelt: Shift of the New Deal The phases of the New Deal show evolving ideologies in Roosevelt’s government. The boundaries between the Second and the First New Deal should be considered porous.
• History of American Political Thought The history of American political thought is a complicated one, compounding both of the nation’s separatist idealistic roots and the dark legacy of slavery.
• Impact of Trump’s Decision on Cyberattacks Cyber security is one of the most imperative components of national security, as many individuals spend much of their time online.
• Roosevelt: Four Freedom Address Roosevelt is a perfect example of a democratic leader who understands the population’s needs and makes everything possible to meet them.
• Theodore Roosevelt Biography The paper discusses Theodore Roosevelt’s biography. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, was born in New York in 1858.
• Bill Clinton Presidency: Grand Strategy, Grand Rhetoric The late presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush was associated with the vast military success in the Gulf War and the associated increase in approval ratings.
• Aspects of Obama’s Tax Reforms This essay discusses the taxation policies proposed during the Obamas administration, their implementation, and an evaluation of the policies’ achievements.
• Obama’s Legal Authority to Order the Geronimo Operation Geronimo’s operation culminated in eliminating Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization that was behind the September 11 attacks that shocked America.
• Carter-Reagan-Bush Bipartisan Consensus In his work “A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present”, Howard Zinn argues that this period is marked by a political phenomenon he defines as bipartisan consensus.
• George Washington’s “Farewell Address” Analysis George Washington’s “Farewell Address” is often considered the most important document for the US political strategy.
• Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy in Latin America and Asia Roosevelt’s foreign policy in Latin America lowered the level of compliance due to fear that the creditor countries of Latin America would use it for their political purposes.
• Obama’s Taxation Policies: Application and Evaluation This essay deliberates on policies of taxation proposed through the government of Obama, their application, and evaluation.
• Bill Clinton’s Place Among American Ex-Presidents Despite the scandals accompanying the presidency of Bill Clinton, he played a significant role in the country’s life during his time.
• Theodore Roosevelt’s Most Outstanding Achievements Theodore Roosevelt is documented as one of the best world leaders and most influential presidents of the United States of America.
• President Obama’s Operation Geronimo President Obama had full authority to order and execute the operation due to Osama bin Laden being a global threat, a non-state terrorist, and an active military combatant.
• President Obama and Legal Authority on the Operation Geronimo To discuss whether President Obama had the legal authority to carry out the operation, this essay examines the limits of the jurisdiction of the President.
• President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps Program President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a work relief program, was an opportunity for millions of young and unemployed Americans in the 1930s.
• Joe Biden’s New Reform on Healthcare The autonomous power of public authorities in outlining critical choices is the thing that is portrayed by modernization theory.
• Washington’s Farewell Speech: Discovering the American Purpose Created as a valedictory after the president’s 20 years o service, the “Farewell Address” had especially powerful significance.
• Impeachment Trial of William Jefferson Clinton Section three of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution provides that the Senate is the only body with the power to try all the impeachments.
• Presidents Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson When it comes to the discussion of the U.S. presidency, with the election of every new president, his policies are compared to those characteristics of other presidents.
• Obama and Bush Administration The Obama and Bush administrations used various techniques to ensure that their respective agendas and pledges to the people of the United States were carried out.
• President Obama and Operation Geronimo The paper discusses President Barack Obama’s authority to plan and execute operation “Geronimo” to seize bin Laden, leading to the terrorist death.
• African-American Women: Representation in Politics Most scholars agree that women face serious obstacles concerning the representation in politics, and African-American women, in turn, also face barriers related to race.
• George Washington and Thomas Jefferson’s Role in the Liberation Movement George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are directly related to the liberation movement in America, as they both fought for the freedom of the United States as a nation.
• Watergate Scandal and Impeachment of Trump The Watergate scandal was similar to Trump’s first impeachment. Both were related to abuse of power to win the elections but different in the approach of the two politicians.
• Has the Trump Presidency Been Good or Bad for the Country and the World? The latest US president, Donald Trump can be considered one of the most controversial characters in the history of American presidency.
• In Support of President Obama’s Operation Geronimo Operation Neptune Spear, otherwise known as Operation Geronimo, was a CIA-led operation carried out on May 2, 2011, intended to kill Osama Bin Laden.
• Was President Obama Legally Justified in Executing Operation Geronimo? The legality of Operation Geronimo and the killing of the leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden in Pakistan remains debatable in terms of liberal democracy.
• Political Crises in 1840s & 1850s in America The sharp contrast between the proslavery states in the South and free states in the North over slavery and free labor fuelled the abolition of enslavement.
• Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois Fighting Discrimination Against African Americans Washington prioritized education as the vehicle for African American people to gain independence, whereas Du Bois emphasized the significance of political involvement.
• Bush, Obama, and Trump: Healthcare Policy The following reflection will discuss how Bush, Obama, and Trump addressed the issues connected to AIDS and HIV.
• Jair Bolsonaro and Hillary Clinton in Social Media The paper’s purpose is to compare Jair Bolsonaro and Hillary Clinton as political leaders with ethical and unethical behavior accordingly, and their approaches.
• Historical Analysis of Washington’s Education System This paper examines the specifics of Washington’s vision of an education system for African-Americans and why this approach appealed to the Southerners.
• Hillary Clinton and Jair Bolsonaro in Social Media This paper aims to analyze the difference between Jair Bolsonaro and Hillary Clinton in terms of their behavior on social media platforms.
• Grand Strategy in the Early Years of Trump Presidency The selected articles maintain that President Trump’s foreign policy centers around a nationalist, neo-isolationist approach
• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or Obama Care Obama care inform that the main aim of the healthcare reform is to “improve community healthcare centers in an effort to improve health for those who cannot afford private health care”.
• Healthcare Reform by Barack Obama One of the biggest constraints that has impeded healthcare reform is public opinion, each person has its own point of view which is considered to be correct.
• President Bush’s Judicial Nominations The presidential judicial nominations made by President Bush earned him a long-lasting legacy in American law history and had far-reaching effects on individual rights.
• “Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Strike down Affordable Care Act” by Stolberg “Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Strike down Affordable Care Act” by Stolberg narrates the ultimate goal of the President Donald Trump government.
• The Impact of Religious Beliefs of George W. Bush George W. Bush is one of the most influential presidents of the United States. This essay aims to explore the impact of religious beliefs on the life of the forty-third president.
• George Washington’s Contribution to the American Independence War George Washington’s participation was a decisive factor that contributed to the outcome of the War of Independence.
• Social and Political Problems in Latin America: Monterrey Hotel Attacked in Mexico Kidnappings Violence connected with the drug bands has spiked during several months in northeastern part of Mexico and broadened over the territories around Monterrey.
• Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado and Washington The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington has raised a lot of controversy in American society in the recent past.
• Obama’s State of the Union Address Summary The American president Barrack Obama on January 27, 2010, said that the constitution of America required the president to tell congress the information about the state of the union.
• Progressivism in American Political Life Progressivist reforms have been about government regulation of monopolies, support for trade unions, government health programs, curbing political corruption, etc.
• Trump’s Responsibility for the Charlottesville March The article discusses the march of far-right ideologies in Charlottesville and the role of Trump’s rhetoric in promoting Nazi views.
• Women and Political Leadership in America Despite the milestone made towards female governmental leadership, the US is still a relatively political infant in this realm compared to other nations.
• George Washington: An Effective and Intelligent Leader Any team must have an effective and intelligent leader. George Washington is one of the clearest historical examples of such a leader.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt Inaugural Speech The speech is historically significant due to the unique truthfulness and courage that Roosevelt managed to communicate.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan as the Most Outstanding American Presidents Reagan spearheaded the New Deal introduced by Roosevelt; both leaders embraced social reforms. In 1932, Reagan voted for Roosevelt.
• Martin Luther King and the March on Washington Martin Luther King resorted to religious Christian philosophy and oratorical speech imagery in his political speeches, invariably evoking an active response from his audience.
• Triggered by Trump Jr. Analysis Triggered is a recent book by Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the current US President and the Executive Vice President in the Trump Organization.
• The New Deal Program of President Franklin Roosevelt Adopted by the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal program was aimed at rebuilding the country after the Great Depression.
• Barack Obama’s Speech on Race in Philadelphia The article analyzes in detail Barack Obama’s speech in Philadelphia on slavery and racial discrimination in the United States.
• Federalism in the Context of Immigration and Trump’s Presidency The key element of American federalism is the power of individual states to determine their own political structure and the policy to influence the central government bodies.
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These essay examples and topics on American Politics were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 5, 2024 .

25 Essay Topics for American Government Classes

Writing Ideas That Will Make Students Think

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If you are a teacher searching for essay topics to assign to your U.S. government or civics class or looking for ideas, do not fret. It is easy to integrate debates and discussions into the classroom environment. These topic suggestions provide a wealth of ideas for written assignments such as  position papers , compare-and-contrast essays , and  argumentative essays . Scan the following 25 question topics and ideas to find just the right one. You'll soon be reading interesting papers from your students after they grapple with these challenging and important issues.

• Compare and contrast what is a direct democracy versus representative democracy. 
• React to the following statement: Democratic decision-making should be extended to all areas of life including schools, the workplace, and the government. 
• Compare and contrast the Virginia and New Jersey plans. Explain how these led to the Great Compromise .
• Pick one thing about the U.S. Constitution including its amendments that you think should be changed. What modifications would you make? Explain your reasons for making this change.
• What did Thomas Jefferson mean when he said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants?" Do you think that this statement still applies to today's world? 
• Compare and contrast mandates and conditions of aid regarding the federal government's relationship with states. For example, how has the Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered support to states and commonwealths that have experienced natural disasters?
• Should individual states have more or less power compared to the federal government when implementing laws dealing with topics such as the legalization of marijuana  and abortion ? 
• Outline a program that would get more people to vote in presidential elections or local elections.
• What are the dangers of gerrymandering when it comes to voting and presidential elections?
• Compare and contrast the major political parties in the United States. What policies are they preparing for upcoming elections?
• Why would voters choose to vote for a third party, even though they know that their candidate has virtually no chance of winning? 
• Describe the major sources of money that are donated to political campaigns. Check out the Federal Election Regulatory Commission's website for information.
• Should corporations be treated as individuals regarding being allowed to donate to political campaigns?  Look at the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC ruling on the issue. Defend your answer. 
• Explain the role of social media in connecting interest groups that have grown stronger as the major political parties have grown weaker. 
• Explain why the media has been called the fourth branch of government. Include your opinion on whether this is an accurate portrayal.
• Compare and contrast the campaigns of U.S. Senate and House of Representatives candidates.
• Should term limits be instituted for members of Congress? Explain your answer.
• Should members of Congress vote their conscience or follow the will of the people who elected them into office? Explain your answer.
• Explain how executive orders have been used by presidents throughout the history of the U.S. What is the number of executive orders issued by the current president?
• In your opinion, which of the three branches of the federal government has the most power? Defend your answer.
• Which of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment do you consider the most important? Explain your answer. 
• Should a school be required to get a warrant before searching a student's property? Defend your answer. 
• Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail? What kind of campaign could be run to see it passed?
• Explain how the 14th Amendment has affected civil liberties in the United States from the time of its passage at the end of the Civil War.
• Do you think that the federal government has enough, too much or just the right amount of power? Defend your answer.
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Essays on Contemporary American Politics

In contrast to most of modern American political history, partisan control of our national elective institutions has been unusually tenuous during the past several decades. This essay series argues that the ideologically sorted parties that contest elections today face strong internal pressures to overreach, by which I mean emphasizing issues and advocating positions strongly supported by the party base but which cause the marginal members of their electoral coalitions to defect. Thus, electoral losses predictably follow electoral victories. Institutional control is fleeting. The first group of essays describes the contemporary American electorate. Despite myriad claims to the contrary, the data show that the electorate is no more polarized now than it was in the later decades of the twentieth century. What has happened is that the parties have sorted so that each party is more homogeneous than in the twentieth century; liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats have largely passed from the political scene. The muddled middle is as large as ever but has no home in either party. The growth in the proportion of self-identified independents may be a reflection of the limited appeal of today’s sorted parties. The second group of essays develops the overreach argument, discusses the role of independents as the marginal members of an electoral majority, and explains how party sorting produces less split-ticket voting. Rather than most voters being more set in their partisan allegiances than a generation ago, they may simply have less reason to split their tickets when almost all Democratic candidates are liberals and all Republican candidates are conservatives. The third group of essays embeds contemporary American politics in two other contexts. First, in a comparative context, developments in the European democracies are the mirror image of those in the United States: the major European parties have depolarized or de-sorted or both, whereas their national electorates show little change. The rise of anti-immigrant parties may have some as yet not well-understood role in these developments. Second, in a historical context, the instability of American majorities today resembles that of the late nineteenth century, when similar significant social and economic changes were occurring. A final postelection essay will wrap up the series.

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The Paranoid Style in American Politics: An Essay

from The Paranoid Style in American Politics

By Richard Hofstadter

Part of a vintage short, category: domestic politics.

Oct 04, 2016 | ISBN 9780525433811 | ISBN 9780525433811 --> Buy

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Oct 04, 2016 | ISBN 9780525433811

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About The Paranoid Style in American Politics: An Essay

A Vintage Shorts Selection   A timely reissue of acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter’s authoritative and unforgettable essay. First published in 1964 and no less relevant half a century later, The Paranoid Style in American Politics  scrutinizes the conditions that gave rise to the extreme right of the 1950s and the 1960s, and presages the ascendancy of the Tea Party movement and, now, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.   Fringe groups can and do both influence and derail American politics, and Hofstadter remains indispensable reading for anyone who wants to understand why paranoia, a persistent psychic phenomenon with an outsize role in American public life, refuses to abate.   An ebook short.

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Also by Richard Hofstadter

About Richard Hofstadter

Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970) was one of the leading American historians and intellectuals of the twentieth century. Throughout his career, he worked at many universities, most recently as the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University. His works include the… More about Richard Hofstadter

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Praise for Richard Hofstadter’s The Paranoid Style in American Politics : “[Hofstadter’s] account stands as the most balanced and authoritative analysis we have of a formidable and apparently permanent force in American politics.” —The  New York Times Book Review “Calm, clear, dispassionate and devastating-a joy to read.” — Harper’s “Helps us understand a political history that goes far beyond the issues of the fifties and sixties which it was invoked to explain.” — New Republic

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1. the biggest problems and greatest strengths of the u.s. political system.

The public sees a number of specific problems with American politics. Partisan fighting, the high cost of political campaigns, and the outsize influence of special interests and lobbyists are each seen as characteristic of the U.S. political system by at least 84% of Americans.

Yet 63% also say that “ordinary Americans care about making the political system work well” is a good description of U.S. politics today. Still, when asked to describe a strength of the political system in their own words, more than half either say “nothing” (22%) or decline to give an answer (34%).

Americans view negative statements as better descriptions of the political system than positive ones

More than eight-in-ten adults say that each of the following is at least a somewhat good description of the U.S. political system today:

• Republicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other than on solving problems (86%);
• The cost of political campaigns makes it hard for good people to run for office (85%);
• Special interest groups and lobbyists have too much say in what happens in politics (84%).

About six-in-ten (63%) think ordinary Americans want to make the political system work well. This is the rare positive sentiment that a majority views as a good descriptor of the political system.

Fewer than half of adults hold the view that the government deserves more credit than it gets: Majorities say that “the federal government does more for ordinary Americans than people give it credit for” (59%) and “Congress accomplishes more than people give it credit for” (65%) are both bad descriptions of the political system.

Nearly seven-in-ten adults express frustration with the availability of unbiased information about politics: 68% say the statement “it is easy to find unbiased information about what is happening in politics” is not a good description of the political system.

And just 22% of Americans say that political leaders facing consequences for acting unethically is a good description of the political system. They are more than three times as likely to say that this is a bad description (76% say this).

Many critiques of the political system are bipartisan

Partisans have similar views of many of the descriptions of the political system included in the survey.

Overwhelming majorities in both parties think there is too much partisan fighting, campaigns cost too much, and lobbyists and special interests have too much say in politics. And just 24% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 20% of Republicans and Republican leaners say that political leaders face consequences if they act unethically.

The widest partisan gap is over a description of the federal government. Democrats are roughly twice as likely as Republicans to say “the federal government does more for ordinary Americans than people give it credit for” (54% vs. 26%).

There is a narrower gap in views of Congress’ accomplishments: 37% of Democrats and 28% of Republicans say it accomplishes more than people give it credit for.

Democrats are also more likely to say, “It is easy to find unbiased information about what is happening in politics” (36% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans say this is a good description of the political system today), while Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to view ordinary Americans as wanting to make the political system work well (67% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats say this is a good description).

In their own words: Americans on the political system’s biggest problems

When asked to describe in their own words the biggest problem with the political system in the U.S. today, Americans point to a wide range of factors.

Negative characteristics attributed to politicians and political leaders are a common complaint: 31% of U.S. adults say politicians are the biggest problem with the system, including 15% who point to greed or corruption and 7% who cite dishonesty or a lack of trustworthiness.

The biggest problem, according to one woman in her 50s, is that politicians are “hiding the truth and fulfilling their own agendas.” Similarly, a man in his 30s says, “They don’t work for the people. They are too corrupt and busy filling their pockets.”

Explore more voices: The political system’s biggest problems

What do you see as the biggest problem with the political system in the U.S. today?

“An almost total lack of credibility and trust. Coupled with a media that’s so biased, that they’ve lost all objectivity.” –Man, 70s

“Lying about intentions or not following through with what elected officials said they would do.” –Woman, 20s

“Blind faith in political figures.” –Woman, 50s

“Our elected officials would rather play political games than serve the needs of their constituents.” –Woman, 50s

“Same politicians in office too long.” –Woman, 30s

“Extremism on both sides exploited by the mainstream media for ratings. It is making it impossible for both parties to work together.” –Man, 30s

“It has become too polarized. No one is willing to compromise or be moderate.” –Woman, 40s

“Too much money in politics coming from large corporations and special interest.” –Man, 30s

“The people have no say in important matters, we have NO representation at all. Our lawmakers are isolated and could care less what we want.” –Man, 60s

About two-in-ten adults cite deep divisions between the parties as the biggest problem with the U.S. political system, with respondents describing a lack of cooperation between the parties or among elected leaders in Washington.

“Both of the political parties are so busy trying to stop the other party, they are wasting their opportunities to solve the problems faced by our nation,” in the view of one man in his 70s.

Even as some blame polarization, others (10% of respondents) identify the other party as the system’s biggest problem. Some Republicans say that the biggest problem is “Democrats” while some Democrats simply say “Republicans.”

Smaller but substantial shares of adults name the media and political discourse (9%), the influence of money in politics (7%), government’s perceived failures (6%), specific policy areas and issues (6%) or problems with elections and voting (4%) as the biggest problem with the political system today.

In their own words: Americans on the political system’s biggest strengths

Far fewer adults name a specific strength of the political system today when asked to describe the system’s biggest strength in their own words. More than half either say that the system lacks a biggest strength (22%) or decline to answer (34%). As one woman in her 60s writes, “I’m not seeing any strengths!”

Among those who do identify strengths of the U.S. political system, the structure of political institutions and the principles that define the constitutional order are named most frequently (by 12% of respondents). Many respondents specifically point to the Constitution itself or refer to the separation of powers or the checks and balances created by the Constitution.

A man in his 20s believes that the “separation of powers and federalism work pretty well,” while one in his 30s writes that the system’s greatest strength is “the checks and balances to make sure that monumental changes aren’t made unilaterally.”

Explore more voices: The political system’s biggest strengths

What do you see as the biggest strength of the U.S. political system today?

“Everyone getting a say; democracy.” –Woman, 40s

“The right to have your opinions heard.” –Man, 60s

“In spite of our differences, we are still a democracy, and I believe there are people within our government who still care and are interested in the betterment of our country.” –Woman, 50s

“The freedom of speech and religion” –Woman, 50s

“If we have fair, honest elections we can vote out the corruption and/or incompetent politicians.” –Man, 70s

“The Constitution.” –Man, 50s

“The checks and balances to control the power of any office. The voice of the people and the options to remove an official from office.” –Man, 60s

“New, younger voices in government.” –Woman, 40s

“If we can’t get more bipartisanship we’ll become weaker. Our biggest strength is our working together.” –Woman, 60s

“The way that every two years the people get to make their voice heard.” –Man, 30s

About one-in-ten (9%) refer to individual freedoms and related democratic values, while a similar share (8%) discuss the right to vote and the existence of free elections. A woman in her 70s echoes many similar comments when she points to “the possibility of change in upcoming elections.”

However, even some of the descriptions of positive characteristics of the system are couched in respondents’ doubts about the way the system is working today. One woman in her 50s adds a qualification to what she views as the system’s biggest strength, saying, “Theoretically every voter has a say.”

Smaller shares of the public point to the positive characteristics of some politicians (4%) or the positive characteristics of the American people (4%) as reasons for optimism.

Are there clear solutions to the nation’s problems?

The public remains roughly evenly split over whether there are clear solutions to the biggest issues facing the country. Half of Americans today say there are clear solutions to most of the big issues facing the country, while about as many (48%) say most big issues don’t have clear solutions.

There are relatively modest demographic and political differences in perceptions of whether the solutions to the nations’ problems are clear or not.

While both men and women are relatively divided on this question, women are 6 percentage points more likely to think the big issues facing the country don’t have clear solutions.

Race and ethnicity

While 43% of Hispanic adults and about half of Black (50%) and White (48%) adults say there aren’t clear solutions for most big issues, that rises to 62% among Asian adults.

Age differences on this question are modest, but those under 30 are slightly more likely than those 30 and older to say most big issues have clear solutions.

Partisanship and political engagement

Both Republicans and Democrats are relatively split on this question, though Republicans are slightly more likely to say there are clear solutions to most big issues.

Those with higher levels of political engagement are more likely to say there are clear solutions to most big issues facing the country.

About six-in-ten adults with high levels of political engagement (61%) say there are clear solutions to big issues today, compared with half of those with medium levels of engagement and 41% of those with lower engagement.

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Table of contents, about 1 in 4 americans have unfavorable views of both biden and trump, how republicans view climate change and energy issues, tuning out: americans on the edge of politics, americans’ dismal views of the nation’s politics, narrow majorities in u.s. house have become more common but haven’t always led to gridlock, most popular.

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Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — American Government — The Logic of American Politics Summary

The Logic of American Politics Summary

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Published: Mar 16, 2024

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The role of separation of powers and checks and balances, the influence of political parties, the impact of political institutions, the role of public opinion.

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American Politics Term Paper

The perennial threat of Soviet aggression endowed nine presidents with popular authority: stop the Soviet. The threat, however real or false, was symbolically used to enhance the political authority of the president. When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House of the winter of 1981, he knew that aircraft carriers could be employed as visual aids, simultaneously instantiating the reality of the enemy and the necessity of a greater military. The focus on defense spending allowed Reagan to further his economic policies of defect spending. During the Great Depression, FDR was able to construct the most significant socialist political agenda in America's history. Under his liberal reforms, the unemployment rate dropped steadily, but the depression sill held the U.S. fully at the throat. There was more confidence in businesses to invest in development, but a general fear of relapsing into depression curtailed contributing liquid assets to investments, hindering full financial recovery. It was the declaration of war on December 8, 9141 that ended the depression for good. The war had the two-fold effect of converting industrial factories to unilaterally profitable military output, and furnishing FDR with the requisite symbolic potency to earn mass faith in his New Deal programs. Similarly, President Bush has made sweeping domestic changes under the aegis of the 9/11 attack. The hastily enacted, little-debated Patriot Act has resulted in massive domestic upheaval, some of which, certain critics will suggest, is directly in opposition to the Constitution. Take, for instance, the roundup of potential suspects, many of whom remain in custody uncharged and incommunicado, the suspension of the right of habeas corpus, and the denial of requests for public information. Consider, moreover, that with little or no debate, in the last six months Bush has withdrawn from the 1972 ABM Treaty, deployed special-operations forces in at least six countries, and, recently, had made public its intention to invade Iraq. These are alarming developments, but subsumed within the greater threat outlined by a dogmatic and hyperbolic executive office, they are little noted. Obviously well versed in the rhetoric of the "rallying effect," Bush clearly demarcates both international and domestic terrain into two camps: good and evil. More efficient than rallying behind contempt for Jewish usury or a communist ICBM, Bush enlist the populist as soldiers of good rallying against an evil enemy of freedom, democracy, and the American way of life. There is a supplemental bill presently being introduced to Congress which would, besides giving a massive $27 billion more for the war on terrorism, fundamentally change the laws currently governing U.S. foreign aid. The bill would channel millions of dollars in foreign aid through the Pentagon rather than the State Department. That means less congressional oversight of where the money goes and how it is spent: a direct example of use of the 'rallying effect' to advance domestic agenda, strengthen the role of the executive and circumvent congressional checks and balances. There is an endless catalogue of examples of presidents advancing domestic policy during times of crisis: JFK was the start of the Vietnam War, possibly as a way to escalate the Cold War and advance his Public Service agenda (Peace Corps, etc.); George Bush Sr. used the Persian Gulf War against an almost non-existent enemy as a demonstration of the Pentagon's newest weaponry and a method to keep industry happy; Nixon used Vietnam to gain Conservative support and to avert attention from his growing scandals; LBJ rode the tidal crisis of JFK's assassination to advance his Civil Rights policies. This catalogue, however, is answered by an equal number of counterexamples; when a crisis begins to abate, the voice behind the 'rallying effect' begins to thin and, as the symbolic significance of the presidents fades, so does the ease with which he can forward his domestic agenda. During the Vietnam War Nixon received high approval…

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Abigail adams’ essay on american politics, post 18 march 1801, [abigail adams’ essay on american politics].

[ post 18 March 1801 ] 1

Mr Jefferson in his Speech; makes observes, that, He may [“]I Shall often go Wrong through defect of Judgment, when right, I shall often be thought wrong by those Whose positions will not command a view of the Whole ground, I also ask support against the Errors of others, who May condemn what they Would not if Seen in all its parts;” 2 If the Same measure was to be meeted to the new administration by the federalist, Which has so rancourisly and maliciously follow’d persued that of Washington and Adams Mr Jefferson would have little reason to hope for support, however wise his measures, or upright his conduct; witness the vile publication which have unceaseingly issued from the Aurora and other democratic papers for these 12 years past; these papers have received the countanance and encouragement of the leaders of a faction, and the Heads of a party, Who by such means and measures have wrested from the Government that confidence and respect which, was its firmest Support;

I would request mr Jefferson to read the Letter of Lyons addrest to the late President, 3 and ask himself Whether if there could possibly be amongst the federal Party a Character equally low, mean & base he Would have any preeminence for Shield to protect him against Such malicious Slanders, such grose miss misrepresentations— to these and such like falshoods, propogated throughout the United States, by the leading partizens of a faction, aiming with more than fanatic zeal to obtain prosilites, 4 is the world furnishd with one more example, how the most important Services to the public, and a long laborious life anxiously, and successfully devoted to their welfare, are rewarded in popular governments; 5 I hope and I confidently believe; that our late chief Majestrate possesses a mind too firm, and too independant, not to suffer this event with calmness and composure, or to think more hardly of his Country than She deserves. Her truest friends I am persuaded will more keenly feel his removal from the head of her administration than himself. 6 In his retirement he will have, not only the consolation of a consciousness that he has discharged all the duties of a virtuous citizen, but the genuine pleasure of reflecting, that by the Wisdom and firmness of his administration, he has, left that very Country in safe and honorable peace which at the period of his entranc into office was involved in a dangerous and complicated dispute, with more than one formidable foreign power— that without the smallest sacrifice of National honour and dignity he has Succeeded in settling a quarrel with France, Which under any other System of conduct, than that Which was persued, Would at this moment have burst into a most ruinous and fatal War, or could only be pacified by disgracefull and burdthensome humiliations— The Merrit of this System, is so intirely and exclusive belongs to the magnanimous Character Who pland it, 7 and that in opposition to most of the principle leaders of the Party friendly to the constitution, and the Union; the Great Supporters of his former Election, and that it is my firm opinion, 8 that to this defection of the federal party, originating Solely in the adherence of our chief Majestrate to the system he had adopted against their opinions must be asscribed his removal from the Chair at this time; but if this be the case, it is not the fame or honour of Mr Adams that will suffer by the result— The common and vulgar herd of Statesmen and warriours are so wont to promote on every occasion their private and personal interest and influence to the at the expence of their Country, that to him it will be a great and glorious preeminence to have exhibited an example of the contrary; of a statesman who made the sacrifice of his own interest and influence to the real and unquestionable benifit of his Country. altho I am satisfied convinced that the Gentlemen Who Were So much dissatisfied with the last Mission to France, acted from motives of pure patriotism at first, however they may have sufferd Wounded pride and angry passions to influence their conduct since But in their aversion to the last embassy they certainly proceeded upon inaccurate information as to the general state of things in Europe, and upon judgments into which there enterd more of temper than of consideration. Had the issue of the Mission been eventually unsuccessful, it would still have been a measure grounded upon the Soundest policy: but if ever the Wisdom of a questionable plan was justified to the utmost by the event, it has been So on this occasion— The convention with France has not indeed given us every thing, we could have wished, but it has secured us more than We could have obtained without it, it has intirely removed the danger of a War which must probably have ended in a dissolution of our union—and this Without giving any umbrage to England, since the british Government have given a formal assurence that they See nothing in the convention, of which they have reason to complain— That a Want of a Stipulation for a compleat indemnity, for the Spoilations committed upon our commerce Should have induced the Senate to have put this convention at hazard is Sincerely to be regreeted by a regection of that article is sincerely to be regreeted 9 when We consider how impossible any Stipulation of indemnity is to obtain where it cannot be compelled, or how illusive and nugatory 10 it would be if made. we must be convinced, as well as the people of in general, that the convention taken all together is highly advantageous to the Country; Let then a thinking and impartial Man Compare the Situation of the united States on the 4 of March 1797 when the President assumed the office of their first executive magistrate with their Situation on the Same day 1801, when those functions ceased Let him observe them at the first period, at the point of war, to every appearance inevitable with France and Spain, yet at the Same time having the highest reason to complain against the treatment of Great Britain—at the Same period in full and as far as human foresight can judge, in safe and permanant peace with all these powers and let him ask himself, how much of this favourable change ought justly to be ascribed to mr Adams? the answer will flash with the light of demonstration. if mr Adams had been the man of one great party, which divides the people of the united States, he might have purchased peace, by tribute under the name of loans & bribes as one of the leaders of that party formally avowed his disposition to do , under that of Presents, by sacrificing with pleasure, as one of the leaders of that party formally avowed his disposition do, the rights of the union to the pleasure of France, by answering her injuries with Submission, and her insults with crouching. had he been the Man of the other party, he would have lost the only favourable moment for negotiating Peace to the best advantage, and at this moment would have seen the united States at open war with an Enemy in the highest exultation of victory, without an ally, and in the general opinion of the world if not in real truth, little better than once more a colony of Great Britain

In resisting therefore with all the Energys which with which the constitutional powers had invested the President, & all the personal influence he could excite amongst his countrymen against the voilence of France, He Saved the honour of the [Americ]an name, from disgrace, and prepared the way for obtain[ing fair] terms of reconciliation—By Sending the late mission, he has restored an honorable peace to the Nation—without tribute, without bribe, without voilating any previous engagement, without the abandonment of any claim of right, and without even exciting the resentment of the great Enemy of France. he has therefore given the most decisive proof that in his administration, he was not the man of any Party—but of the whole Nation—and altho the Eyes of Faction have shut themselves against the value of Such a Character, and the legal & constitutional judgment of the Country, as express’d by their Suffrages (tho God knows by what means obtained) 11 at the late Election have become insensible to it. Still may our late worthy and respected chief Majestrate revered and respected as he is the greatest portion of the American Nation he may with conscious innocence & integrity appeal 12 Safely and confidently appeal from the voice of heated and unjust passions, to that of cool and equitable reason, from the Prejudices of the Present to the sober decision of posterity—

a Lover of Justice 13

MS (Adams Papers). Text lost due to a torn manuscript has been supplied from JQA to JA , 25 Nov. 1800 (vol. 14:448 ). Filmed in two parts at [ post 4 March 1801 ] and [ ca. 1801 ].

1 .  The dating of this MS is based on JA ’s 18 March arrival at Quincy, for which see William Smith Shaw to AA , 2 March , and note 5, above. JA carried with him JQA ’s letter of 25 Nov. 1800 , which AA used as the basis of this essay ( AA to TBA , 22 March 1801 , below).

2 .  AA was quoting the fifth paragraph of Thomas Jefferson’s 4 March inaugural address. In his remarks the third president called for American unity and a toleration of opposing views. The address was published in the Boston Columbian Centinel , 14 March ( Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson , ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, and others, Princeton, N.J., 1950– . description ends , 33:148–152).

3 .  Retired Vermont representative Matthew Lyon wrote to JA on 4 March (Adams Papers), blaming JA for his conviction for sedition and offering a blistering critique of JA ’s presidency: “Your mad Zeal, for Monarchy and hatred for rational liberty, your love of pomp, your unhappy selection of favourites, your regardlessness of the public treasure, the heard earning of your fellow Citizens has divided the people into parties and fostered among them envy, malice and the most rancorous hatred toward each other.” The letter was published in the Georgetown, D.C., Cabinet , 4 March, a newspaper edited by Lyon’s son James, a point noted in the Philadelphia Gazette , 9 March, which printed extracts and stated, “This malicious, but imbecile production, is characterized by the ignorance and vulgarity which distinguish its beastly author.”

4 .  The remainder of the essay is extracts from the second through seventh paragraphs of JQA ’s letter to JA , 25 Nov. 1800, for which see vol. 14:445–448 .

5 .  From here to the end of the sentence JQA in his letter wrote instead: “As I know, that from the earliest period of your political life, you have always made up your account to meet sooner or later such treatment in return for every sacrifice, and every toil, I hope and confidently believe, that you will be prepared to bear this event with calmness and composure, if not with indifference— That you will not suffer it to prey upon your mind, or affect your health; nor even to think more hardly of your Country than she deserves—”

6 .  AA omitted the following here: “Your long settled and favourite pursuits, of literature and of farming, will give you full employment and prevent that craving void of the mind which is so apt to afflict statesman out of place; which conjures up a spectre to haunt them, or embitters them against their own species in a degree that renders their own lives miserable.”

7 .  JQA instead began this sentence, “The merit of this system too, is so entirely and exclusively your own.”

8 .  Instead of the previous five words, JQA wrote, “the general opinion is.”

9 .  JQA instead began this sentence, “Probably the individual sufferers under the french depredations, and the party who declared themselves so strongly against the late negotiation, will think the want of a stipulation for complete indemnity, a sufficient stipulation objection against the conclusion of the Treaty—”

10 .  The essay to this point was filmed at [ post 4 March 1801 ]; the remainder was filmed separately at [ ca. 1801 ].

11 .  AA added the words within the parentheses.

12 .  AA added the words from the beginning of the canceled text to this point.

13 .  Psalms, 11:7, 99:4.

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Guest Essay

Trump’s Backers Are Determined Not to Blow It This Time Around

By Thomas B. Edsall

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality.

In a rare display of unity, more than 100 conservative tax-exempt organizations have joined forces in support of Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda, forming a $2 billion-plus political machine.

Together, these organizations are constructing a detailed postelection agenda, lining up prospective appointees and backing Trump in his legal battles.

Most of the work performed by these nonprofit groups is conducted behind closed doors. Unlike traditional political organizations, these groups do not disclose their donors and must reveal only minimal information on expenditures. In many cases, even this minimal information will not be available until after the 2024 election.

Nonprofits like these are able to maintain a cloak of secrecy by positioning themselves as charitable organizations under section 501(c)(3 ) of the tax code or as social welfare organizations under section 501(c)(4 ).

Not only are these tax-exempt organizations attractive to large contributors who want to keep their roles secret; 501(c)(3) groups have an added benefit: Donors can deduct their gifts from their taxable incomes.

The benefits don’t end there. The minimal reporting requirements imposed on political nonprofits lend themselves to self-dealing, particularly the payment of high salaries and consulting fees, and the award of contracts to for-profit companies owned by executives of the charitable groups.

“The growth of these groups is largely flying under the radar,” Sean Westwood , a political scientist at Dartmouth, wrote by email in response to my inquiry. “This level of coordination is unprecedented.”

Theda Skocpol , a professor of government and sociology at Harvard, replying by email to my inquiry, wrote, “These are detailed plans to take full control of various federal departments and agencies from the very start and to use every power available to implement radical ethnonationalist regulations and action plans.”

This activity, Skocpol continued, amounts to a “full prep for an authoritarian takeover, buttressed by the control Trump and Trumpists now have over the G.O.P. and its apparatuses.”

In this drive by the right to shape policy, should Trump win, there are basically three power centers.

The first is made up of groups pieced together by Leonard Leo , a co-chairman of the Federalist Society, renowned for his role in the conservative takeover of the Supreme Court and of many key posts in the federal and state judiciaries.

If cash is the measure, Leo is the heavyweight champion. Two years ago, my Times colleagues Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher disclosed that a little-known Chicago billionaire, Barre Seid , who made his fortune manufacturing electronic equipment, turned $1.6 billion over to the Marble Freedom Trust , a tax-exempt organization created by Leo in 2021, helping to turn it into a powerhouse.

The second nexus of right-wing tax-exempt groups is the alliance clustered on Capitol Hill around the intersection of Third Street Southeast and Independence Avenue — offices and townhouses that fashion themselves as Patriots’ Row .

Former Trump campaign aides, lawyers and executive appointees, including Mark Meadows , Stephen Miller , Edward Corrigan and Cleta Mitchell , run these organizations. After Trump was defeated in 2020, the cash flow to these groups surged.

The third center is coordinated by the Heritage Foundation , which, under the leadership of Kevin D. Roberts , who assumed its presidency in 2021, has become a committed ally of the MAGA movement.

Heritage, in turn, has created Project 2025 in preparation for a potential Trump victory in November. In a statement of purpose, the project declared:

It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on Day 1 of the next conservative administration.

There are more than 100 members of Project 2025, and they include not only most of the Patriots’ Row groups but also much of the Christian right and the anti-abortion movement.

In the view of Lawrence Rosenthal , the chairman and founder of the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies, the convergence of so many conservative organizations leading up to the 2024 election marks a reconciliation, albeit partial, between the two major wings of the Republican Party: the more traditional market fundamentalists and the populist nationalists.

“In 2024,” Rosenthal wrote by email,

the free-market fundamentalists are making their peace on a more basic level than simply tax cuts. Their historic long-term goal — rolling back the federal government to pre-New Deal levels — corresponds to the nationalists’ goal of “deconstruction of the administrative state.” This is what the likes of the now thoroughly MAGA-fied Heritage Foundation is putting together. Recasting the administrative state as the “deep state,” a veritable launchpad for conspiracy-mongering innuendo, easily brings the populists along for the ride despite a “What’s the Matter With Kansas”-like abandonment of their own economic interests on the part of a sector of the population particularly dependent on the range of targets like Social Security and Medicare that the administrative-state deconstructors have in their sights. In return the populists are seeing avatars of Christian nationalism in unprecedented roles of political power — to wit, the current speaker of the House.

The populist-nationalist wing has an agenda that “goes beyond what the free-market fundamentalists have had in mind,” Rosenthal continued:

The model here is by now explicitly Orbanism in Hungary — what Viktor Orban personally dubbed “illiberal democracy.” By now, MAGA at all levels — CPAC, media, Congress, Trump himself — has explicitly embraced Orban. Illiberal regimes claim legitimacy through elections but systematically curtail civil liberties and checks and balances, structurally recasting political institutions so as to make their being voted out of office almost unrealizable.

The centerpiece of Leo’s empire of right-wing groups is the Marble Freedom Trust. The trust described its mission in a 2022 report to the I.R.S.: “To maintain and expand human freedom consistent with the values and ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.”

In 2016, according to an April 2023 I.R.S. complaint against Leo filed by the Campaign for Accountability , a liberal reform advocacy group, Leo created a consulting company, BH Group, and in 2020 acquired a major ownership interest in CRC Advisors . Both are for-profit entities based in Virginia.

The Campaign for Accountability’s complaint alleges that “Leo-affiliated nonprofits” paid BH Group and CRC Advisors a total of $50.3 million from 2016 to 2020. During this period, according to the complaint, Leo’s lifestyle changed:

In August 2018, he paid off the 30-year mortgage on the McLean, Va., home, most of which was still outstanding on the payoff date. Later that same year, Leonard Leo bought a $3.3 million summer home with 11 bedrooms in Mount Desert, an affluent seaside village on the coast of Maine, using, in part, a 20-year mortgage of $2,310,000. Leonard Leo paid off the entire balance of that mortgage just one year later in July 2019. In September 2021, Leonard Leo bought a second home in Mount Desert for $1.65 million.

The complaint was based partly on a March 2023 Politico story by Heidi Przybyla. She wrote that her “investigation, based on dozens of financial, property and public records dating from 2000 to 2021, found that Leo’s lifestyle took a lavish turn beginning in 2016,” citing Leo’s purchases of the Maine properties, along with “four new cars, private school tuition for his children, hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to Catholic causes and a wine locker at Morton’s Steakhouse.”

In October 2023, Przybyla disclosed (also in Politico ) that Leo was refusing to cooperate with an investigation by Brian Schwalb , the attorney general for the District of Columbia, “for potentially misusing nonprofit tax laws for personal enrichment.”

In a study covering more recent data , Accountable US , another liberal reform group, reported that from 2020, when Leo acquired a share of CRC Advisors, to 2022, seven “groups with immediate ties to Leo’s network have made payments totaling at least $69.77 million to CRC Advisors.”

Those figures were confirmed by Bloomberg’s Emily Birnbaum , who reported that “the sums paid to CRC Advisors by seven nonprofit groups have doubled since Leo came aboard as co-owner and chairman in 2020.”

Leo defended the payments, telling Bloomberg that criticism of the money flowing to CRC Advisors is “baseless” and that CRC performs high-quality work. “CRC Advisors employs nearly 100 best-in-class professionals that put its clients’ money to work,” he told Bloomberg.

In the drive to set the stage for a future Trump administration, the second conservative power center is dominated by the Conservative Partnership Institute , which coordinates its own pro-Trump network.

From 2018 to 2020, the Conservative Partnership was a minor player in Washington’s right-wing community. In that period, according to its 990 report to the I.R.S., its revenues totaled $16.9 million. In the next two years, donations shot up to $80.7 million.

Seven executives at the partnership in 2022 made in excess of $300,000 a year, topped by Meadows, Trump’s last White House chief of staff, whose annual compensation at the Conservative Partnership totaled $889,687 in 2022.

The Conservative Partnership and allied groups do not disclose donors, and none of the data on how much they raised and spent in 2023 and 2024 — or the identities of grant recipients — will be available before Nov. 5, 2024, Election Day.

The Conservative Partnership, like many of its sister groups, filed its 990 reports to the I.R.S. for 2020, 2021 and 2022 on Nov. 15 of each following year. If that pattern continues, its reports covering 2023 and 2024 will not be filed until Nov. 15 of the next year.

The partnership lists its address as 300 Independence Avenue Southeast in Washington, a three-story office building on Patriots’ Row that was originally the German-American Building Association.

Groups using the same mailing address include the Center for Renewing America (“God, country and community are at the heart of this agenda”), the Election Integrity Network (“Conservative leaders, organizations, public officials and citizens dedicated to securing the legality of every American vote”), Compass Legal Group , American Creative Network (“We will redefine the future of media-related conservative collaboration”), the American Accountability Foundation (“Exposing the truth behind the people and policies of the Biden administration that threaten the freedoms of the American people”), America First Legal (“Fighting back against lawless executive actions and the radical left”), Citizens for Renewing America and Citizens for Sanity (“To defeat ‘wokeism’ and anti-critical-thinking ideologies that have permeated every sector of our country”).

Since it was formed in 2020, Stephen Miller’s America First Legal foundation has been a case study in rapid growth. In its first year, it raised $6.4 million. In 2021 this rose to $44.4 million and to $50.8 million in 2022.

America First lawyers wrote two of the amicus briefs arguing to the Supreme Court that Trump should be restored to Colorado’s ballot . In one of the briefs , America First defended Trump’s actions and language on Jan. 6, 2021:

President Trump did not “engage in” insurrection. To engage in something is to take an active, personal role in it. Comparisons in modern language abound. When news emerges that nations have “engaged in military exercises,” one expects to read that “ships and planes” have been deployed, not tweets or press releases. Similarly, if someone has been described as “engaging in violence,” one expects that the person being spoken about has himself used force on another — not that he has issued some taunt about force undertaken by a third party. Engaging in a matter and remarking publicly about it are not the same, even with matters as weighty as wars or insurrections.

While the Heritage Foundation had relatively modest revenues of $95.1 million in 2022, according to its I.R.S. filing , its Project 2025 has become an anchor of the MAGA movement.

Trump has said he does not feel bound to accept all of the Project 2025 proposals, but the weight of institutional support from the right and Trump’s lack of interest in detailed planning suggest that those proposals may well shape much of the agenda in the event of a Trump victory.

The authors of Project 2025 want to avoid a repetition of 2017, when Trump took office with scant planning and little notion of who should be appointed to key positions.

Spencer Chretien , an associate director of Project 2025, put this concern delicately in a January 2023 essay published by The American Conservative , pointedly avoiding any criticism of Trump:

In November 2016, American conservatives stood on the verge of greatness. The election of Donald Trump to the presidency was a triumph that offered the best chance to reverse the left’s incessant march of progress for its own sake. Many of the best accomplishments, though, happened only in the last year of the Trump administration, after our political appointees had finally figured out the policies and process of different agencies, and after the right personnel were finally in place.

One function of the project is to put as much ideological muscle as possible behind Trump to ensure that if he wins the White House again, he does not wander afield.

From the vantage point of the right, that muscle is impressive, ranging from Oren Cass’s populist American Compass to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America , from the tradition-minded American Conservative to the Independent Women’s Forum .

In the foreword to the project’s nearly 1,000-page description of its 2025 agenda, “ Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise ,” Roberts, the president of Heritage, wrote:

This book is the work of the entire conservative movement. As such, the authors express consensus recommendations already forged, especially along four broad fronts that will decide America’s future: 1. Restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children. 2. Dismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people. 3. Defend our nation’s sovereignty, borders and bounty against global threats. 4. Secure our God-given individual rights to live freely — what our Constitution calls “the blessings of liberty.”

Perhaps the most impressive part of Project 2025 is the detailed and ideologically infused discussion of virtually every federal department and agency, all guided by the goal of instituting conservative policies.

Take the 53-page chapter, including 87 footnotes, focused on the Department of Health and Human Services, written by Roger Severino , the vice president for domestic policy at Heritage. The top priority of the department in January 2025, he wrote, must be “protecting life, conscience and bodily integrity.” The secretary “must ensure that all H.H.S. programs and activities are rooted in a deep respect for innocent human life from Day 1 until natural death: Abortion and euthanasia are not health care.”

Going deeper, Severino contended that the department must flatly reject “harmful identity politics that replaces biological sex with subjective notions of ‘gender identity’ and bases a person’s worth on his or her race, sex or other identities. This destructive dogma, under the guise of ‘equity,’ threatens American’s fundamental liberties as well as the health and well-being of children and adults alike.”

Severino did not stop there. In his view, the department must be in the business of “promoting stable and flourishing married families” because “in the overwhelming number of cases, fathers insulate children from physical and sexual abuse, financial difficulty or poverty, incarceration, teen pregnancy, poor educational outcomes, high school failure and a host of behavioral and psychological problems.”

Regarding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Severino’s analysis:

By statute or regulation, C.D.C. guidance must be prohibited from taking on a prescriptive character. For example, never again should C.D.C. officials be allowed to say in their official capacity that schoolchildren “should be” masked or vaccinated or prohibited from learning in a school building. Such decisions should be left to parents and medical providers.

At the start of the book, Paul Dans , the executive director of Project 2025, pointedly wrote that “it’s not 1980,” when Heritage produced the first “Mandate for Leadership” to guide the incoming administration of Ronald Reagan. Instead, Dans argued, the United States in 2024 is at an apocalyptic moment:

The game has changed. The long march of cultural Marxism through our institutions has come to pass. The federal government is a behemoth, weaponized against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom and liberty under siege as never before. The task at hand to reverse this tide and restore our republic to its original moorings is too great for any one conservative policy shop to spearhead. It requires the collective action of our movement. With the quickening approach of January 2025, we have one chance to get it right.

This time, the conservative movement plans to exercise maximum surveillance over an incoming Trump administration. In other words, there will be no kidding around.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here's our email: [email protected] .

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An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of an associate director of Project 2025. He is Spencer Chretien, not Chretian.

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Thomas B. Edsall has been a contributor to the Times Opinion section since 2011. His column on strategic and demographic trends in American politics appears every Wednesday. He previously covered politics for The Washington Post. @ edsall

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Americans think a president’s power should be checked, AP-NORC poll finds — unless their side wins

A new Associated Press-NORC poll finds that while Americans say they respect the Constitution’s checks and balances and don’t want a president to have too much power, that view shifts if the candidate of their party wins the presidency.

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks at an event in Raleigh, N.C., March. 26, 2024. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Opinion Research conducted March 21-25, finds that while Americans say they respect the Constitution’s checks and balances and don’t want a president to have too much power, that view shifts if the candidate of their party wins the presidency. It’s a view held by members of both parties, though it’s especially common among Republicans. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley, File)

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FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks April 2, 2024, at a rally in Green Bay, Wis. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Opinion Research conducted March 21-25, finds that while Americans say they respect the Constitution’s checks and balances and don’t want a president to have too much power, that view shifts if the candidate of their party wins the presidency. It’s a view held by members of both parties, though it’s especially common among Republicans. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like many Americans, Richard Bidon says he’d like to see the U.S. government “go back to its original design” — a system of checks and balances developed nearly 240 years ago to prevent any branch, especially the presidency, from becoming too powerful.

But that’s mainly when Republicans are in power.

Bidon, an 84-year-old Democrat who lives near Los Angeles, said if President Joe Biden is reelected , he doesn’t want him to have to get the approval of a possibly Republican-controlled Congress to enact policies to slow climate change. He wants presidents to have the power to change policy unilaterally — as long as they’re from the right party.

“When a Democrat’s in, I support” a strong presidency, Bidon said. “When Republicans are in, I don’t support it that much. It’s sort of a wishy-washy thing.”

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Opinion Research finds that Bidon’s view is common. Though Americans say don’t want a president to have too much power, that view shifts if the candidate of their party wins the presidency. It’s a view held by members of both parties, though it’s especially common among Republicans.

Overall, only about 2 in 10 Americans say it would be “a good thing” for the next president to be able to change policy without waiting on Congress or the courts. But nearly 6 in 10 Republicans say it would be good for a future President Donald Trump to take unilateral action, while about 4 in 10 Democrats say the same if Biden is reelected.

The sentiment comes amid escalating polarization and is a sign of the public’s willingness to push the boundaries of the political framework that has kept the U.S. a stable democracy for more than two centuries. In the poll, only 9% of Americans say the nation’s system of checks and balances is working extremely or very well. It also follows promises by Trump to “act as a dictator” on day one of a new administration to secure the border and expand oil and gas drilling.

Bob Connor, a former carpenter now on disability in Versailles, Missouri, wants that type of decisive action on the border. He’s given up hope on Congress taking action.

“From what I’ve seen, the Republicans are trying to get some stuff done, the Democrats are trying to get some other stuff done — they’re not mixing in the middle,” said Connor, 56. “We’re not getting anywhere.”

He blames the influx of migrants on Biden unilaterally revoking some of Trump’s own unilateral border security policies when he took office.

“I’m not a Trump fanatic, but what he’s saying has to get done is right,” Connor said.

Joe Titus, a 69-year-old Democrat from Austin, Texas, believes Republicans have destroyed Congress’ ability to act in its traditional legislative role and says Biden will have to step into the gap.

“There’s this so-called ‘majority’ in Congress, and they’re a bunch of whack-jobs,” Titus, a retired Air Force mechanic, said of the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. “It’s not the way this thing was set up.”

The current Congress is setting dubious records as the least productive one in the country’s history, with fewer than three dozen bills sent to Biden’s desk last year. At Trump’s urging, House Republicans have stalled aid to Ukraine and a bipartisan immigration bill .

Titus said that in general he opposes expanded presidential power but would support Biden funding more immigration judges and sending additional aid to Ukraine on his own.

“There’s certain things that it seems to me the public wants and the other party is blocking,” Titus said.

The presidency has steadily gained power in recent years as congressional deadlocks have become more common. Increasingly, the nation’s chief executive is moving to resolve issues through administrative policy or executive orders. The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule later this year on a case that could significantly weaken the ability of federal agencies — and thus a presidential administration — to issue regulations.

Meanwhile, conservatives are planning a takeover of the federal bureaucracy should they win the White House in November, a move that could increase the administration’s ability to make sweeping policy changes on its own.

The AP-NORC poll found that voters’ views of which institutions have too much power were colored by their own partisanship. Only 16% of Democrats, whose party currently controls the White House, say the presidency has too much power while nearly half of Republicans believe it does. In contrast, about 6 in 10 Democrats say the U.S. Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has too much power.

With Congress evenly divided between the two parties — the GOP has a narrow House majority, Democrats a narrow Senate one — Americans have similar views on its power regardless of party. About 4 in 10 from both major parties say it has too much power.

“I think Congress had too much power when the presidency and Congress were both ruled by Democrats, but now that Republicans are in the majority there’s an equal balance,” said John V. Mohr, a 62-year-old housecleaner in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In contrast, he complained that Biden is “sitting there writing executive orders left and right,” including his proclamation marking Transgender Day of Visibility , which fell on Easter Sunday this year.

The abstract idea of a president with nearly unchecked power remains unpopular.

Steven Otney, a retired trucker in Rock Hill, South Carolina, said major policies should be approved by Congress and gain approval from the courts. But he also said it depends on the topic. He wants to see prompt action on certain issues by the next president if he’s Trump.

“Some things need to be done immediately, like that border wall being finished,” said Otney, a Republican.

He said it’s just common sense.

“If Trump got in there and said ‘I want to bomb Iran,’ no, that’s crazy,” Otney said. “Within reason, not stupid stuff either way. Something to help the American people, not hurt us.”

The poll of 1,282 adults was conducted March 21-25, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Riccardi reported from Denver.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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A Brief History of the Political Essay

From swift to woolf, david bromwich considers an evolving genre.

The political essay has never been a clearly defined genre. David Hume may have legitimated it in 1758 when he classified under a collective rubric his own Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary. “Political,” however, should have come last in order, since Hume took a speculative and detached view of politics, and seems to have been incapable of feeling passion for a political cause. We commonly associate political thought with full-scale treatises by philosophers of a different sort, whose understanding of politics was central to their account of human nature. Hobbes’s Leviathan , Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws , Rousseau’s Social Contract , Mill’s Representative Government , and, closer to our time, Rawls’s Theory of Justice , all satisfy that expectation. What, then, is a political essay? By the late 18th century, the periodical writings of Steele, Swift, Goldsmith, and Johnson had broadened the scope of the English essay for serious purposes. The field of politics, as much as culture, appeared to their successors well suited to arguments on society and government.

A public act of praise, dissent, or original description may take on permanent value when it implicates concerns beyond the present moment. Where the issue is momentous, the commitment stirred by passion, and the writing strong enough, an essay may sink deep roots in the language of politics. An essay is an attempt , as the word implies—a trial of sense and persuasion, which any citizen may hazard in a society where people are free to speak their minds. A more restrictive idea of political argument—one that would confer special legitimacy on an elite caste of managers, consultants, and symbolic analysts—presumes an environment in which state papers justify decisions arrived at from a region above politics. By contrast, the absence of formal constraints or a settled audience for the essay means that the daily experience of the writer counts as evidence. A season of crisis tempts people to think politically; in the process, they sometimes discover reasons to back their convictions.

The experience of civic freedom and its discontents may lead the essayist to think beyond politics. In 1940, Virginia Woolf recalled the sound of German bombers circling overhead the night before; the insect-like irritant, with its promise of aggression, frightened her into thought: “It is a queer experience, lying in the dark and listening to the zoom of a hornet which may at any moment sting you to death.” The ugly noise, for Woolf, signaled the prerogative of the fighting half of the species: Englishwomen “must lie weaponless tonight.” Yet Englishmen would be called upon to destroy the menace; and she was not sorry for their help. The mood of the writer is poised between gratitude and a bewildered frustration. Woolf ’s essay, “Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid,” declines to exhibit the patriotic sentiment by which most reporters in her position would have felt drawn. At the same time, its personal emphasis keeps the author honest through the awareness of her own dependency.

Begin with an incident— I could have been killed last night —and you may end with speculations on human nature. Start with a national policy that you deplore, and it may take you back to the question, “Who are my neighbors?” In 1846, Henry David Thoreau was arrested for having refused to pay a poll tax; he made a lesson of his resistance two years later, when he saw the greed and dishonesty of the Mexican War: “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” But to Thoreau’s surprise, the window of the prison had opened onto the life of the town he lived in, with its everyday errands and duties, its compromises and arrangements, and for him that glimpse was a revelation:

They were the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I was an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village inn,—a wholly new and rare experience to me. It was a closer view of my native town. I was fairly inside of it. I had never seen its institutions before. This is one of its peculiar institutions; for it is a shire town. I began to comprehend what its inhabitants were about.

Slavery, at that time, was nicknamed “the peculiar institution,” and by calling the prison itself a peculiar institution, and maybe having in mind the adjacent inn as well, Thoreau prods his reader to think about the constraints that are a tacit condition of social life.

The risk of political writing may lure the citizen to write—a fact Hazlitt seems to acknowledge in his essay “On the Regal Character,” where his second sentence wonders if the essay will expose him to prosecution: “In writing a criticism, we hope we shall not be accused of intending a libel.” (His friend Leigh Hunt had recently served two years in prison for “seditious libel” of the Prince Regent—having characterized him as a dandy notorious for his ostentation and obesity.) The writer’s consciousness of provocative intent may indeed be inseparable from the wish to persuade; though the tone of commitment will vary with the zeal and composition of the audience, whether that means a political party, a movement, a vanguard of the enlightened, or “the people” at large.

Edmund Burke, for example, writes to the sheriffs of Bristol (and through them to the city’s electors) in order to warn against the suspension of habeas corpus by the British war ministry in 1777. The sudden introduction of the repressive act, he tells the electors, has imperiled their liberty even if they are for the moment individually exempt. In response to the charge that the Americans fighting for independence are an unrepresentative minority, he warns: “ General rebellions and revolts of an whole people never were encouraged , now or at any time. They are always provoked. ” So too, Mahatma Gandhi addresses his movement of resistance against British rule, as well as others who can be attracted to the cause, when he explains why nonviolent protest requires courage of a higher degree than the warrior’s: “Non-violence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.” In both cases, the writer treats the immediate injustice as an occasion for broader strictures on the nature of justice. There are certain duties that governors owe to the governed, and duties hardly less compulsory that the people owe to themselves.

Apparently diverse topics connect the essays in Writing Politics ; but, taken loosely to illustrate a historical continuity, they show the changing face of oppression and violence, and the invention of new paths for improving justice. Arbitrary power is the enemy throughout—power that, by the nature of its asserted scope and authority, makes itself the judge of its own cause. King George III, whose reign spanned sixty years beginning in 1760, from the first was thought to have overextended monarchical power and prerogative, and by doing so to have reversed an understanding of parliamentary sovereignty that was tacitly recognized by his predecessors. Writing against the king, “Junius” (the pen name of Philip Francis) traced the monarch’s errors to a poor education; and he gave an edge of deliberate effrontery to the attack on arbitrary power by addressing the king as you. “It is the misfortune of your life, and originally the cause of every reproach and distress, which has attended your government, that you should never have been acquainted with the language of truth, until you heard it in the complaints of your people.”

A similar frankness, without the ad hominem spur, can be felt in Burke’s attack on the monarchical distrust of liberty at home as well as abroad: “If any ask me what a free Government is, I answer, that, for any practical purpose, it is what the people think so; and that they, and not I, are the natural, lawful, and competent judges of this matter.” Writing in the same key from America, Thomas Paine, in his seventh number of The Crisis , gave a new description to the British attempt to preserve the unity of the empire by force of arms. He called it a war of conquest; and by addressing his warning directly “to the people of England,” he reminded the king’s subjects that war is always a social evil, for it sponsors a violence that does not terminate in itself. War enlarges every opportunity of vainglory—a malady familiar to monarchies.

The coming of democracy marks a turning point in modern discussions of sovereignty and the necessary protections of liberty. Confronted by the American annexation of parts of Mexico, in 1846–48, Thoreau saw to his disgust that a war of conquest could also be a popular war, the will of the people directed to the oppression of persons. It follows that the state apparatus built by democracy is at best an equivocal ally of individual rights. Yet as Emerson would recognize in his lecture “The Fugitive Slave Law,” and Frederick Douglass would confirm in “The Mission of the War,” the massed power of the state is likewise the only vehicle powerful enough to destroy a system of oppression as inveterate as American slavery had become by the 1850s.

Acceptance of political evil—a moral inertia that can corrupt the ablest of lawmakers—goes easily with the comforts of a society at peace where many are satisfied. “Here was the question,” writes Emerson: “Are you for man and for the good of man; or are you for the hurt and harm of man? It was question whether man shall be treated as leather? whether the Negroes shall be as the Indians were in Spanish America, a piece of money?” Emerson wondered at the apostasy of Daniel Webster, How came he there? The answer was that Webster had deluded himself by projecting a possible right from serial compromise with wrong.

Two ways lie open to correct the popular will without a relapse into docile assent and the rule of oligarchy. You may widen the terms of discourse and action by enlarging the community of participants. Alternatively, you may strengthen the opportunities of dissent through acts of exemplary protest—protest in speech, in action, or both. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. remain the commanding instances in this regard. Both led movements that demanded of every adherent that the protest serve as an express image of the society it means to bring about. Nonviolent resistance accordingly involves a public disclosure of the work of conscience—a demonstrated willingness to make oneself an exemplary warrior without war. Because they were practical reformers, Gandhi and King, within the societies they sought to reform, were engaged in what Michael Oakeshott calls “the pursuit of intimations.” They did not start from a model of the good society generated from outside. They built on existing practices of toleration, friendship, neighborly care, and respect for the dignity of strangers.

Nonviolent resistance, as a tactic of persuasion, aims to arouse an audience of the uncommitted by its show of discipline and civic responsibility. Well, but why not simply resist? Why show respect for the laws of a government you mean to change radically? Nonviolence, for Gandhi and King, was never merely a tactic, and there were moral as well as rhetorical reasons for their ethic of communal self-respect and self-command. Gandhi looked on the British empire as a commonwealth that had proved its ability to reform. King spoke with the authority of a native American, claiming the rights due to all Americans, and he evoked the ideals his countrymen often said they wished to live by. The stories the nation loved to tell of itself took pride in emancipation much more than pride in conquest and domination. “So,” wrote King from the Birmingham City Jail, “I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court because it is morally right, and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances because they are morally wrong.”

A subtler enemy of liberty than outright prejudice and violent oppression is the psychological push toward conformity. This internalized docility inhabits and may be said to dictate the costume of manners in a democracy. Because the rule of mass opinion serves as a practical substitute for the absolute authority that is no longer available, it exerts an enormous and hidden pressure. This dangerous “omnipotence of the majority,” as Tocqueville called it, knows no power greater than itself; it resembles an absolute monarch in possessing neither the equipment nor the motive to render a judgment against itself. Toleration thus becomes a political value that requires as vigilant a defense as liberty. Minorities are marked not only by race, religion, and habits of association, but also by opinion.

“It is easy to see,” writes Walter Bagehot in “The Metaphysical Basis of Toleration,” “that very many believers would persecute sceptics” if they were given the means, “and that very many sceptics would persecute believers.” Bagehot has in mind religious belief, in particular, but the same intolerance operates when it is a question of penalizing a word, a gesture, a wrongly sympathetic or unsympathetic show of feeling by which a fellow citizen might claim to be offended. The more divided the society, the more it will crave implicit assurances of unity; the more unified it is, the more it wants an even greater show of unity—an unmistakable signal of membership and belonging that can be read as proof of collective solidarity. The “guilty fear of criticism,” Mary McCarthy remarked of the domestic fear of Communism in the 1950s, “the sense of being surrounded by an unappreciative world,” brought to American life a regimen of tests, codes, and loyalty oaths that were calculated to confirm rather than subdue the anxiety.

Proscribed and persecuted groups naturally seek a fortified community of their own, which should be proof against insult; and by 1870 or so, the sure method of creating such a community was to found a new nation. George Eliot took this remedy to be prudent and inevitable, in her sympathetic early account of the Zionist quest for a Jewish state, yet her unsparing portrait of English anti-Semitism seems to recognize the nation-remedy as a carrier of the same exclusion it hopes to abolish. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to a widened sense of community is the apparently intuitive—but in fact regularly inculcated—intellectual habit by which we divide people into racial, religious, and ethnic identities. The idea of an international confederation for peace was tried twice, without success, in the 20th century, with the League of Nations and the United Nations; but some such goal, first formulated in the political writings of Kant, has found memorable popular expression again and again.

W. E. B. Du Bois’s essay “Of the Ruling of Men” affords a prospect of international liberty that seems to the author simply the next necessary advance of common sense in the cause of humanity. Du Bois noticed in 1920 how late the expansion of rights had arrived at the rights of women. Always, the last hiding places of arbitrary power are the trusted arenas of privilege a society has come to accept as customary, and to which it has accorded the spurious honor of supposing it part of the natural order: men over women; the strong nations over the weak; corporate heads over employees. The pattern had come under scrutiny already in Harriet Taylor Mill’s “Enfranchisement of Women,” and its application to the hierarchies of ownership and labor would be affirmed in William Morris’s lecture “Useful Work Versus Useless Toil.” The commercial and manufacturing class, wrote Morris, “ force the genuine workers to provide for them”; no better (only more recondite in their procedures) are “the parasites” whose function is to defend the cause of property, “sometimes, as in the case of lawyers, undisguisedly so.” The socialists Morris and Du Bois regard the ultimate aim of a democratic world as the replacement of useless by useful work. With that change must also come the invention of a shared experience of leisure that is neither wasteful nor thoughtless.

A necessary bulwark of personal freedom is property, and in the commercial democracies for the past three centuries a usual means of agreement for the defense of property has been the contract. In challenging the sacredness of contract, in certain cases of conflict with a common good, T. H. Green moved the idea of “freedom of contract” from the domain of nature to that of social arrangements that are settled by convention and therefore subject to revision. The freedom of contract must be susceptible of modification when it fails to meet a standard of public well-being. The right of a factory owner, for example, to employ child labor if the child agrees, should not be protected. “No contract,” Green argues, “is valid in which human persons, willingly or unwillingly, are dealt with as commodities”; for when we speak of freedom, “we mean a positive power or capacity of doing or enjoying something worth doing or enjoying.” And again:

When we measure the progress of a society by its growth in freedom, we measure it by the increasing development and exercise on the whole of those powers of contributing to social good with which we believe the members of the society to be endowed; in short, by the greater power on the part of the citizens as a body to make the most and best of themselves.

Legislation in the public interest may still be consistent with the principles of free society when it parts from a leading maxim of contractual individualism.

The very idea of a social contract has usually been taken to imply an obligation to die for the state. Though Hobbes and Locke offered reservations on this point, the classical theorists agree that the state yields the prospect of “commodious living” without which human life would be unsocial and greatly impoverished; and there are times when the state can survive only through the sacrifice of citizens. May there also be a duty of self-sacrifice against a state whose whole direction and momentum has bent it toward injustice? Hannah Arendt, in “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” asked that question regarding the conduct of state officials as well as ordinary people under the encroaching tyranny of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Citizens then, Arendt observes, had live options of political conduct besides passive obedience and open revolt. Conscientious opposition could show itself in public indications of nonsupport . This is a fact that the pervasiveness of conformism and careerism in mass societies makes harder to see than it should be.

Jonathan Swift, a writer as temperamentally diverse from Arendt as possible, shows in “A Modest Proposal” how the human creature goes about rationalizing any act or any policy, however atrocious. Our propensity to make-normal, to approve whatever renders life more orderly, can lead by the lightest of expedient steps to a plan for marketing the babies of the Irish poor as flesh suitable for eating. It is, after all—so Swift’s fictional narrator argues—a plausible design to alleviate poverty and distress among a large sector of the population, and to eliminate the filth and crowding that disgusts persons of a more elevated sort. The justification is purely utilitarian, and the proposer cites the most disinterested of motives: he has no financial or personal stake in the design. Civility has often been praised as a necessity of political argument, but Swift’s proposal is at once civil and, in itself, atrocious.

An absorbing concern of Arendt’s, as of several of the other essay writers gathered here, was the difficulty of thinking. We measure, we compute, we calculate, we weigh advantages and disadvantages—that much is only sensible, only logical—but we give reasons that are often blind to our motives, we rationalize and we normalize in order to justify ourselves. It is supremely difficult to use the equipment we learn from parents and teachers, which instructs us how to deal fairly with persons, and apply it to the relationship between persons and society, and between the manners of society and the laws of a nation. The 21st century has saddled persons of all nations with a catastrophic possibility, the destruction of a planetary environment for organized human life; and in facing the predicament directly, and formulating answers to the question it poses, the political thinkers of the past may help us chiefly by intimations. The idea of a good or tolerable society now encompasses relations between people at the widest imaginable distance apart. It must also cover a new relation of stewardship between humankind and nature.

Having made the present selection with the abovementioned topics in view—the republican defense against arbitrary power; the progress of liberty; the coming of mass-suffrage democracy and its peculiar dangers; justifications for political dissent and disobedience; war, as chosen for the purpose of domination or as necessary to destroy a greater evil; the responsibilities of the citizen; the political meaning of work and the conditions of work—an anthology of writings all in English seemed warranted by the subject matter. For in the past three centuries, these issues have been discussed most searchingly by political critics and theorists in Britain and the United States.

The span covers the Glorious Revolution and its achievement of parliamentary sovereignty; the American Revolution, and the civil war that has rightly been called the second American revolution; the expansion of the franchise under the two great reform bills in England and the 15th amendment to the US constitution; the two world wars and the Holocaust; and the mass movements of nonviolent resistance that brought national independence to India and broadened the terms of citizenship of black Americans. The sequence gives adequate evidence of thinkers engaged in a single conversation. Many of these authors were reading the essayists who came before them; and in many cases (Burke and Paine, Lincoln and Douglass, Churchill and Orwell), they were reading each other.

Writing Politics contains no example of the half-political, half-commercial genre of “leadership” writing. Certain other principles that guided the editor will be obvious at a glance, but may as well be stated. Only complete essays are included, no extracts. This has meant excluding great writers—Hobbes, Locke, Wollstonecraft, and John Stuart Mill, among others—whose definitive political writing came in the shape of full-length books. There are likewise no chapters of books; no party manifestos or statements of creed; nothing that was first published posthumously. All of these essays were written at the time noted, were meant for an audience of the time, and were published with an eye to their immediate effect. This is so even in cases (as with Morris and Du Bois) where the author had in view the reformation of a whole way of thinking. Some lectures have been included—the printed lecture was an indispensable medium for political ideas in the 19th century—but there are no party speeches delivered by an official to advance a cause of the moment.

Two exceptions to the principles may prove the rule. Abraham Lincoln’s letter to James C. Conkling was a public letter, written to defend the Emancipation Proclamation, in which, a few months earlier, President Lincoln had declared the freedom of all slaves in the rebelling states; he now extended the order to cover black soldiers who fought for the Union: “If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive—even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.” Lincoln was risking his presidency when he published this extraordinary appeal and admonition, and his view was shared by Frederick Douglass in “The Mission of the War”: “No war but an Abolition war, no peace but an Abolition peace.” The other exception is “The Roots of Honour,” John Ruskin’s attack on the mercenary morality of 19th-century capitalism . He called the chapter “Essay I” in Unto This Last , and his nomenclature seemed a fair excuse for reprinting an ineradicable prophecy.

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From Writing Politics , edited by David Bromwich. Copyright © 2020 by David Bromwich; courtesy of NYRB Classics.

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