Christopher Baylor (Holy Cross): “Building Blocs”: The Group Origins of Cultural Conservatism in the Republican Party. Daniel A. Farber (UC-Berkeley): The Thirty Years War Over Federal Regulation. Ethan Porter (Chicago): The Consumer Logic of Anti-Government Antagonism. From Democracy Corps, Stan Greenberg, James Carville, and Erica Seifert go inside the GOP: Report on focus groups with Evangelical, Tea Party, and moderate Republicans. Rick Perlstein on thinking like a conservative: Mass shootings and gun control, biding time on voting rights, and shutting down the government. James Surowiecki on the business end of Obamacare: Will the Affordable Care Act hurt the economy? Makers, takers, and the real immoral behavior: Mark Thoma on how inexcusable Republican tactics endanger the economy. Can business take the Republican Party back from the Tea Party? The left thinks business controls the Republican Party — they’re wrong: An interview with Theda Skocpol, author of The Tea Party and the Remaking of American Conservatism. Meet the “Newest Right”: Michael Lind on how Tea Party radicalism is misunderstood. Bruce Bartlett on how this government shutdown will defeat the GOP in 2014. Noam Scheiber on why a short-term debt limit increase would be a disaster. Sean Wilentz on Obama and the debt: Despite what the president says, he has the power to avoid a debt default. Josh Marshall on why there's no escape hatch. Let's call the shutdown what it is: Secession by another means.
