Friday Mailbag! ✉️
Questions. Answers. Fridays.
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Happy Friday, ya filthy animals!
For those who have asked, yes, today is my 50th birthday. And, yes, I am going to write something about it. But probably not today.
Below I answered a bunch of questions asked by paid subscribers. Want to be able to ask me questions? Become a paid subscriber today! It’s $6 a month or $60 for the year.
Let’s do this!
Q: Do you agree with Chuck Todd that we are at the beginning of a reform era?
A: I LOVED that piece by Chuck Todd. If you haven’t read it, you need to do so:
Chuck’s argument is that we are on the edge of a new age in politics, one in which there is bipartisan agreement that we need to reform a number of governmental excesses — starting with the presidential pardon power.
I love the optimism. And the smart thinking.
I HOPE Chuck is right. I think we need a series of reforms — both in Congress and in campaigns. I would love to see ranked-choice voting become the norm. Or, short of that, open party primaries in every state.
The reality is that unless and until we change the ways (and the incentives) for how we elect these people, we can’t really expect them to change how they behave in office. Changing how our government works requires real and structural changes that can only come with a bipartisan reform effort.
Will Congress show the guts to make these changes? That’s where I am more skeptical than Chuck.
Q: Andy Beshear has written a book. So is he running for president? Isn’t that a requirement now?
A: I thought Andy Beshear was running for president before he announced his book — it’s coming out this fall and is centered on his faith — and I think Andy Beshear is running for president now.
I actually think that writing a memoir as a way to signal you are seriously considering running for president has been replaced by starting a Substack to signal you are seriously considering running for president.
Or, maybe better put: You need to write a book AND start a Substack these days to show that you are moving toward a national bid.
Q: Do you see any significance in the fact that CBS did not allow Talarico’s interview with Stephen Colbert to run on Monday night, but there was no warning about allowing Jon Ossoff to appear on Wednesday’s show? Both are running for Senate, so why the difference?
