PARTY LINES SETH ACKERMAN Failure Is an Option Haunted by the specter of democracy, the Constitution’s framers blundered into a historic miscalculation. We’re still living with the consequences. THE SOAPBOX Down and Out in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas A slice of life from a country in crisis. STRUGGLE SESSION EZRA KLEIN INTERVIEWED BY BHASKAR SUNKARA Don’t Blame Polarization A discussion on American partisanship, political dysfunction, and why it’s not our passions that are the problem—it’s the Constitution itself. FRIENDS & FOES DANIEL BESSNER The General Who Brought Down the American Empire In 2002, the Pentagon staged a $250 million war game known as the “Millennium Challenge.” It was supposed to be a fixed fight—until a retired Marine lieutenant general, playing the role of a Middle Eastern country, brought the US military to its knees. MEANS OF DEDUCTION Data Collection VULGAR EMPIRICIST America the Laggard By virtually any measure, people in the United States are worse off than those in other rich countries. There’s no disputing the impact of our weak entitlements and paltry labor protections. TRANSITIONS The Great Divergence It used to be better to be a low-wage worker in the United States than in France. That hasn’t been the case for a long while. UNEVEN & COMBINED Mapping the Decline How the neoliberal project’s very own fifty-state strategy left poverty and low wages in its wake. READING MATERIEL Peer Review FIELD NOTES America’s Railroad to Nowhere We know the US rail network is no match for trains in France or Japan. But Barack Obama’s plan for high-speed rail couldn’t even match that of Morocco or Uzbekistan. CANON FODDER PHILIP ROCCO Ending Federalism as We Know It A new book shows how the fragmented American state arrests democracy. What we need is nothing short of a reconstruction. CANON FODDER LUKE SAVAGE A Very British Dystopia A Very British Coup embraced the intrigues of class war, but its sequel falls prey to the mundanities of culture war. Illustration by Joe O’Donnell The New American Exceptionalism FEATURE RICHARD LACHMANN Effective states can enforce discipline on elites. The United States is not one of them. Illustration by Mark Pernice American Capitalism Is Working—That’s the Problem FEATURE NICOLE ASCHOFF The United States is not a failed state—just ask any American capitalist. But we desperately need something better for everyone else. Where’s Our Gorbachev? FEATURE JONATHAN STEELE The United States today isn’t on the verge of a Soviet-style disintegration—but neither is there any force at the top willing and able to reform our political system. Message in a Bottle FEATURE MEAGAN DAY In the United States of 2020, millions are desperate for help, and they’re forced to compete for scraps from Twitter philanthropists. CULTURAL CAPITAL Emergency Eye-Wash Station RED CHANNELS EILEEN JONES John Carpenter, Apocalyptic Filmmaker John Carpenter’s movies provide visions of societies falling apart. No wonder his work is resonating now more than ever. WAYS OF SEEING BEN DAVIS The Collision of Self-Importance and Despair In the United States today, as in 1990s Russia, for a lot of intellectuals, total nihilism seems more plausible than hope for even modest reform. WAYS OF SEEING OWEN HATHERLEY From Your House to Our House America’s experiment with public housing was far less successful than Europe’s—but this hasn’t made it any less influential. THE TUMBREL Lighting the Bunsen Burner Illustration by Daniel Zender GIRONDINS ABI WILKINSON On Being a Mother in America Within ten days of giving birth, a quarter of us are forced to return to work. If liberals truly want to support parents’ choices, they need to back the subsidies and employment legislation that are vital to child-rearing. THERMIDOR BRANKO MARCETIC Stories for the End of the World From the mutant animals of Chernobyl and Marie Antoinette’s perverted orgies, to QAnon and Russiagate, conspiracy theories flourish in times of crisis and collapse of political legitimacy. LEFTOVERS Mouse #4 Has Died POPULAR FRONT PETER FRASE Blue Order In an increasingly unstable country, what if a “deep police state” threatens to undermine our electoral gains? DUSTBIN MATT KARP How Abraham Lincoln Fought the Supreme Court It is not enough to question the decisions, the justices, or even the structure of the current court—we need to challenge, as Abraham Lincoln did, the foundation of its power to determine the law. DUSTBIN AMBER A’LEE FROST Socialists Should Be Republicans The first generation of the GOP tried—and failed—to build a modern republic. Socialists today won’t get very far unless we finish their work. PROLETOCCULT DONALD HUGHES Your Quarterly Horoscope Real left strategy isn’t found in socialist magazines. It’s found in the stars. Illustration by Pete Gamlen MEANS AND ENDS VIVEK CHIBBER Celebrating Ten Years of Jacobin And our decades to come.