Thomas Byrne Edsall Replies  

Ruy Teixeira and I are in substantial agreement on many of the forces at work in contemporary politics—particularly on the central role of white, working-class voters in recent elections and the necessity of having an effective plan for promoting economic …



Class Doesn’t Trump Culture  

America’s Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters by Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers Basic Books, 2000, 232 pp., $27 The basic premise of Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers’s America’s Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still …



Business in American Politics  

For the Democratic party, business has been a central political dilemma, ranking just behind race as the source of a policy conundrum pitting elite reformers against a working- and lower-middle-class electorate hungry for material improvement. It is corporate America that …



Irish Power  

Steven P. Erie’s Rainbow’s End is a major study of Irish-American political organizations in eight cities. Although the focus of Erie’s book is on the forces behind the successes and failures of such powerful figures as Richard Daley, James Michael …



Irish Power  

Steven P. Erie’s Rainbow’s End is a major study of Irish-American political organizations in eight cities. Although the focus of Erie’s book is on the forces behind the successes and failures of such powerful figures as Richard Daley, James Michael …



Money and Political Stagnation  

Money is not the only gauge of political vitality, but in the case of both the Republican and Democratic parties, money reflects the general stagnation of partisan competition as the Reagan years come to a close. For the Republican National …



And Now, the Political Consequences?  

Sorting out the likely political consequences of the Iran-contra scandal is a difficult process. The scandal comes at a time when American politics have become exceptionally fluid, with the Democrats just beginning to regain their voice and the Republicans weakened …





Money (and Politics) in Both Parties  

Underlying the continuing financial advantage of the Republican party over the Democratic party are changes in the sources of cash for each party that have significant consequences for both policy and candidates. For the Democratic party, the pressure to raise …





An Enduring Republican Majority?  

The Republican party under Ronald Reagan has shaped a fragile majority in presidential elections whose strength and vitality will be tested in 1988. In terms of partisan allegiance, the GOP has made striking gains over the past five years, reaching …



Politics and the Power of Money  

For the future of the Democratic party, the 18-percentage-point defeat of Walter F. Mondale in the last election was far less important than the decisive failure of the party’s basic strategy: voter mobilization. Both the Mondale campaign and the Democratic …





The 97th Congress: A Deep Shift to the Right  

Just ten years ago, Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina, hired his first black congressional staff member. This was widely viewed as a recognition of the changing politics of the South, the accommodation of the segregationist, Dixiecrat Republican to …



Political Reform–Social Retreat  

Conservative trends across the country result not only from a middle-class taxpayers’ revolt but also from forces within the Democratic party that are hostile to any left-leaning tilt. An unexpected mainstay of these forces have been the procedural reformers, men …