Your Prospect Weekend Reads Week of 6/28/2021 Stories from the week you don’t want to miss!
Patrick Semansky/ AP Photo
Nina Turner introduces Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders during a campaign event, January 4, 2020, in Mason City, Iowa.
Nina Turner Is Reaching Forward and Reaching Back: In this profile, Contributor Sarah Jaffe asserts that although Democrats may find Turner's style abrasive, they can learn a lot from the Bernie Sanders ally. Specifically, it is because Turner has invited regular people to join her fight for progressive ideas that she's found a coherent message that resonates with working-class people.
Washington Isn't Used to the Left Setting the Agenda: Executive Editor David Dayen explains that the reason Washington is alarmed by Democrats linking two separate infrastructure bills is because they're not used to the left setting the agenda. For the left to succeed, Dayen argues, they must also erase privatization from the agenda.
The New Freedom Rides: Contributor Luis Feliz Leon profiles the successors of the original Freedom Riders: a cross-country bus caravan led by Black Voters Matter and the UNITE HERE hospitality workers union who are fighting back against a resurgence of voter suppression bills nationwide, advocating for federal voting rights legislation, and statehood for D.C.
VIDEO - It's Payback Time: Can Public Programs Get Us Out of Economic Depression?: Managing Editor Jonathan Guyer, Staff Writer Alex Sammon, and Contributors Kalena Thomhave and Bryce Covert reassess the welfare system, digging further into the concepts they explored in our May/June issue: UBI, cash benefits, and the Child Tax Credit.
The Senate's Quiet Opposers: Contributor Amelia Pollard explains that although progressive Democrats view Manchin as the chief blocker of progress for thwarting the voting rights bill and refusing to break the filibuster, he's definitely not alone. And in fact, the filibuster has served to protect the guise of Democratic consensus the party so desperately tries to maintain.
Biden's War Powers Without Limits:
Contributor Karen Greenberg breaks down how airstrikes blur the distinction between war and hostilities, arguing that Congress needs to rise to the challenge, as re-establishing norms of restraint are not enough.
