Democracy

The New 'I Do'

Ron Tang — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:15:00 -0400

Hold the champagne.

Or at least the California sparkling wine.

This week should be a joyous one for those of us who believe in the right to marry the person you love. A month after the California Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage, gay couples will be able to walk into county offices here and secure the same marriage license to which heterosexual couples such as my wife and I are entitled.

Partners are hastily arranging nuptials, and the wedding-industrial complex of caterers and consultants is anticipating a summer windfall. In San Francisco, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who are… more

Democracy Inc.

Ron Tang — Sun, 18 May 2008 08:38:00 -0400

In Thousand Oaks, the owner of a local chain of home improvement stores called Do It Centers is locked in fierce, expensive competition with Home Depot. But the contest has nothing to do with which can offer the lowest prices and the friendliest service, or which will sell you the better chain saw.

No, even though this war is all about business, it's being fought on a political battlefield, and will come to a head on June 3, when the residents of Thousand Oaks vote on a municipal ballot initiative known as Measure B.

Measure B represents a small but growing species… more

Reihan Salam

Operations — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:02:00 -0500

Fellow

Reihan Salam is an associate editor at The Atlantic, and was previously a producer for NBC News, a junior editor and editorial researcher at The New York Times, a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. He is the co-author of Grand New Party: How Conservatives Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (Doubleday, 2008). He writes regularly on politics, culture, and technology for The Weekly Standard, Slate, and other publications, and he is the editor of “The American Scene,” a wide-ranging blog.

As a Fellow at the New America… more