So there are razor-thin margins of control in the current Congress—the Republicans in the House and the Democrats in the Senate. And we are reading about how much power this will give the extremists in both parties to hold up the legislative agenda. But how about losing that partisan framework, and instead returning to the days when members of both parties regularly worked across the aisle?

A famous example of this can be found in the friendship between President Ronald Reagan and progressive Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill. At six o'clock they ceased to be adversaries. They drank together and socialized. And this from O’Neill’s son:

“What both men deplored more than the other’s political philosophy was stalemate, and a country that was so polarized by ideology and party politics that it could not move forward. There were tough words and important disagreements over everything from taxation to Medicare and military spending. But there was yet a stronger commitment to getting things done.”

Read the full article here.

As a nation we have lost sight of what the terms “liberal” and “liberalism” really mean and, in doing so, we arguably have also lost the capacity to distinguish liberal from illiberal politicians.

For instance, one side of the political aisle accuses former President Obama of being illiberal, while the other side of the political aisle accuses the late Senator John McCain of the same. In fact, they both are (or were) advocates of liberal values, as are many other conservative Republican and progressive Democratic politicians.

In our confusion, we elected an illiberal person as President, Donald Trump, and were faced with illiberal governance, including all the intolerance and abuses of power that fundamentally distinguishes a liberal government from an illiberal one.

What are some examples of illiberal governance? What's the history of the term "liberal?" Read the full article here.

Representative Millicent Fenwick became, in the words of television anchorman Walter Cronkite, “the conscience of Congress.” She was also referred to as “the Katharine Hepburn of politics [who,] with her dignity and elegance, could get away with saying things others couldn’t.” While debating equal rights for women, Fenwick recalled a male legislator saying “I just don’t like this amendment. I’ve always thought of women as kissable, cuddly and smelling good,” to which Fenwick replied, “That’s the way I feel about men too. I only hope for your sake that you haven’t been as disappointed as I have.”

Read more about Millicent Fenwick on the LLR website.