Matthew Downhour

The Bellicose Stance of the State

The incoming "America First" coalition is likely to put the United States in greater, not less, risk of conflict. 

Liberals Must Get Comfortable Running Counter to the Media

Vocal pushback to harmful stories about DEI or trans healthcare won’t crumple the media or rob it of its ability to stand up against oppression.

A UBI in the United States May Necessitate Land Value Taxes

Towards a Georgist public finance regime for state level universal basic income.

America's Failure to Defend Liberalism Abroad

The US has failed to deliver on its promise of a rules based international order.

Western Liberals Need to Extend the Same Humanity to Gaza as They Did to Ukraine

Western liberals have not extended the same solidarity to the Palestinian people that they did to the Ukrainians.

Biden’s Foreign Policy Is Not Just ‘Better than Trump’, It’s the Best in the Field

The entrance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. into the Democratic Primary and announcement that Cornel West will be seeking the nomination for the Green Party in 2024 have both sought to turn what is usually the automatic re-nomination of a presidential incumbent into a heated contest between rival factions like

The Number of Geopolitical “Poles” is Irrelevant Compared to their Disposition

The discourse about the structure of the world political order has come to turn increasingly around the question of ‘poles’ of geopolitical power—centers of influence and control, usually assumed to be particularly influential nation states, around which others orbit. Most recently, France’s president Emmanuel Macron declared, after discussions

A Uniquely American Liberalism: Christopher William England's Land and Liberty

It is often remarked that the Americans and Europeans use the term ‘Liberal’ in quite different contexts—in the US, to signify a greater welfare state, while in Europe it is a signifier of free markets, with the two usages coinciding only on social issues. The distinct history of the

Regime Change Is Still Illiberal

Few words have become more loaded in the vocabulary of American international relations than ‘regime change’.  As documents regarding the origins of the Iraq war became public, it became clear that it was this—the removal of the government of Iraq—that was the ultimate goal of the war, and

The Housing Crisis Is Nationwide

Perhaps the most salient feature of American individualism that has asserted itself in political culture has been a particular affinity for describing systemic problems in terms of individual decisions. In cases where more sweeping explanations are sought, cultural degeneration provides a handy scapegoat.  The flexibility of these explanations knows no

Opportunities and Pitfalls for a Revived Liberal International Order

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed the world—and the Ukrainian counterattack in Kharkiv Oblast may have changed it again. While it’s too soon to say what will ultimately end up happening in Ukraine, at this point the continued existence of the Ukrainian state (if not its borders)

Role Playing Games and Liberal Empathy

“Fantasy Roleplaying is Hurting America” shouted a provocative title in Christianity Today in July. The article focused on Steve Bannon and his realization that many people yearned for a more exciting life—the kind they could explore in a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG)—and how he managed