Centered Politics

A Bad Week for the GOP on Immigration

By Douglas Rivlin on March 4, 2010 2:35 PM

Immigration doesn't break cleanly along left/right, liberal/conservative, or Democratic/Republican lines. There are lots of pro-immigration and pro-immigrant conservatives and they come in different varieties. Likewise, there are lots of progressives with deep reservations about immigration reform and immigration in general. But the divisions the immigration debate creates on the right are deeper, more passionate, and much more destructive to GOP unity than the division on the left and the last few ...
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A Progressive Game Changer: Immigration Reform in 2010

By Douglas Rivlin on February 11, 2010 2:55 PM

Progressives need a game changer. Assuming progressives have the twin goals of helping Democrats avoid a monumental defeat in November and positioning progressive policies to have more sway in the two- or six-years that remain of the Obama administration, progressives need an issue around which to mobilize and energize. Consider immigration reform. It builds coalitions on the left, divides coalitions on the right, and mobilizes Latino and immigrant voters who ...
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Lessons From the Health Care Debate For The Looming Immigration Debate

By Douglas Rivlin on December 23, 2009 2:52 PM

The legislative process is messy, with many ups and downs along the way if any significant or even incremental change is to be made against the (almost) immoveable forces arrayed against progress in Washington. As the health care reform effort moves closer to the end game that will now likely result in a bill signing at the White House, those progressives gearing up for the fight for comprehensive immigration reform ...
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Democrats Going Rogue

By Sheri Rivlin and Allan Rivlin on November 16, 2009 11:35 AM

We don't need intercepted dispatches to know there are intense discussions going on now about our national policy -- the marching orders are posted for all to see. In the past couple of weeks, Markos Moulitsas has openly instructed the followers of his blog, the DailyKos, against donating to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). "If you've got money to give to House races, give directly to those who are fighting for ...
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Can the "Yes Men" and Michael Moore Fix Capitalism?

By Sheri Rivlin and Allan Rivlin on November 6, 2009 1:45 PM

With billions of taxpayer dollars propping up the largest financial institutions amid news stories about record bonuses on Wall Street and forecasts for a "jobless recovery" at best, there are a lot of good reasons to doubt the core promises of the capitalist system these days. Populist anger abounds and two movies in theaters now are helping bring the evils of capitalism into focus; "The Yes Men Fix The World" ...
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Middle East Peace

By DavidV on June 1, 2009 6:01 PM

Filmaker David Vyorst ("The First Basket") shares a preview of his next documentary feature about people working on a local level to create relationships of peace in the Middle East. (Click "Continue Reading" to see the video.) ...
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Torturing the Straw Man

By Sheri Rivlin and Allan Rivlin on May 5, 2009 11:35 PM

It's ridiculous, incredible! What the Democrats want to do now (in the narrative of conservatives) is absurd, laughable! Reading Miranda Rights to terrorists? Giving government bailouts to Starbucks? Regulating bovine flatulence? It's a national farce! Actually Democrats are not for any of these things, and that is really the point. The size of the conservative minority is contracting, but more importantly so are their arguments. It is not fair ...
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