Steven L. Taylor
@sltaylor.bsky.social
Professor Emeritus of PoliSci and former Dean of Arts & Sciences. My research is focused on comparative democratic institutions.🖖🤘 I write about politics at www.outsidethebeltway.com
To understand the Founders’ words, we must read them through the eyes of a non-landowning white male whom the Founders wouldn’t have let brush their horse, and who also probably couldn’t read
Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie@audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 2d agoif you were wondering whether Alito's book is an embarrassing crock of shit, I can now officially answer your question with a resounding yes ballsandstrikes.org/legal-cultur...
Wherein I attempt to address the question of whether the system was working fine until Trump, or whether the system had inherent problems. outsidethebeltway.com/but-didnt-th...
But, Didn’t the US System Work Recently?
Answering a question about our messy institutional mechanisms.
outsidethebeltway.com
Really not the most important thing here—that'd be the egregious racism and abuse of power—but the state with the most Mercedes sales is CA, and highest luxury cars per capital are NJ and CT. Lies within lies. A whole party geared around lying and trying to make everyone else live inside their lie.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterdayTrump: "You go up to Minnesota -- number one place in the entire country for the sale of Mercedes-Benz. And Somalians are buying them. They come here with low IQs and no money and they get rich. Do we feel stupid? Our fraud division is getting them all."
Exactly 10 years ago today: Hillary Clinton said Vladimir Putin would rather have "a puppet as president of the United States.” She absolutely nailed it. 🔨
"When does a party even get to really govern? The answer is: almost never. Even holding a trifecta is not enough; to have enough votes to actually pass legislation requires 60 seats in the Senate alongside a majority in the House. This almost never happens." outsidethebeltway.com/the-messy-na...
The Messy Nature of America’s Democratic Structures
Or should that be “democratic” structures.
outsidethebeltway.com
Musk's "flying car" is just Evel Knievel with money and a development team. Forget the ramp: jump Snake River Canyon if you want to impress me. (Kids, ask your parents.)
"I am simply noting that by no metric does 50%+1 of the public actually want what we've got, and yet we have it. If that is a true statement, and I am prepared to defend it, then where is the real blame?Is it "the voters" or is it the structure of the system?" outsidethebeltway.com/whom-to-blam...
Whom to Blame? The Voters of the System? (The Previous Subject Continued)
Sure, los dos, but one is more responsible for what we get than the other.
outsidethebeltway.com
Authoritarian regime grabs electronic communication devices of prominent opposition member. Since it’s highly unlikely there is anything on her phone about immigration paperwork from 30 years ago we can assume this just became a fishing expedition.
Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray”@ryanjreilly.com · 7d agoFeds seized Ilhan Omar's phone and subpoenaed members of her family just weeks before the 2026 midterms:
John Ossoff comes off as radical and deeply refreshing when all he does is dispassionately and accurately recount what his opponent says and does. This should be neither radical nor refreshing.
Jon Ossoff@ossoff.bsky.social · 6d agoThis is a sitting member of Congress who called for immigrants to be executed by throwing them to their deaths out of helicopters. Mike Collins personally amplified neo-Nazi propaganda online. It's disqualifying for a member of Congress and for a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
@sltaylor.bsky.social is clear eyed that the US system doesn't work—and has never worked—in the separation of powers way we were taught. Juan Linz, not Madison, was right—presidentialism is perilous In '27 & '29 we can't return to a republic that never was. We need fundamental constitutional reform
Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · last wk."Will a Democratically controlled Congress have some tools to deploy? Some, but not as many as some may hope. What’s important to understand is how the very design of the Constitution is at the root of the problem." www.liberalcurrents.com/checks-and-b...
Linguistic/polisci pet peeve: we don’t want “term limits” for SCOTUS, we want “fixed terms.” They are already limited to one term for all practical purposes: they just get it for life. What we want is a fixed term of some specific number of years.
Been giving it a lot of thought and my favorite Marvel movie of all time is "How Many Spider-men Can Fit In A Jamba Juice" youtu.be/U5MYa4tyMeU?...
How Many Guys Dressed As Spider-Man Can Fit In Jamba Juice? | David Letterman
YouTube video by Letterman
youtu.be
Today's essay by @sltaylor.bsky.social makes a good companion to @jamellebouie.net's column on how Senate Democrats will need to steel themselves to use what tools they have without giving in to delusions of bipartisanship. Both focus on specifics www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/o...
Opinion | If Democrats Win the Senate, They Cannot Play Games (Gift Article)
The party will need to make the most of whatever majority it has.
nytimes.com
Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · last wk."Will a Democratically controlled Congress have some tools to deploy? Some, but not as many as some may hope. What’s important to understand is how the very design of the Constitution is at the root of the problem." www.liberalcurrents.com/checks-and-b...
I have a new piece at @liberalcurrents.com
Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com · last wk."Will a Democratically controlled Congress have some tools to deploy? Some, but not as many as some may hope. What’s important to understand is how the very design of the Constitution is at the root of the problem." www.liberalcurrents.com/checks-and-b...
David Brooks' latest piece in @theatlantic.com did not hit me well. outsidethebeltway.com/brooks-and-m...
Brooks and Meritocracy
Brooks’ latest led me to rant a bit.
outsidethebeltway.com
Dragging yourself to a voting booth to support some candidate with a better tax or energy policy? That's a chore. An obligation, like jury duty. Dragging yourself there to support a guy who just told Mike Collins all the things you wish you could say to his face? _Now_ it's fun.
Nationalism is always a story that seems to be about the past, but is justifying the present moment.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2w agoThe American Dream is amazing: within just a few years you can go from being the child of Cuban immigrants to the great-grandson of Spanish settlers.
Important tip from Star Trek: do not ask Claude to role play a super smart Professor Moriarty; it may gain consciousness
