This Election Season, Ask WWMD—‘What Would Machiavelli Do?’

Finding Hope in the Writings of a Renaissance Writer Who Knew the Minds of Tyrants and Charlatans

I have a mousepad on my office desk adorned with the Renaissance image of Niccolò Machiavelli and, beneath it in Italian, a very good question: Cosa farebbe Machiavelli? What would Machiavelli do?

Over the years, particularly at fulcrum moments in my life, I have engaged in silent discourse with it, staring into his ferret face and looking for guidance. I stared hard at it in November 2016, and I find myself asking for guidance now.

Machiavelli has been part of my life since junior high, when my history teacher assigned us book …

by Oliver Mayer | October 30, 2020

Antonio Villaraigosa Sees Opportunity in Crisis

L.A.’s 41st Mayor Has Advice for Elected Officials Right Now, Some of It Hard-Won

October 28, 2020

“In every crisis there’s an opportunity,” Antonio Villaraigosa said yesterday.

The 41st mayor of Los Angeles was responding to a question asked by moderator Saul Gonzalez, KQED correspondent and co-host of …

Two Would-Be Supreme Court Justices and Me

How Do You Cope When Two of Your High School Newspaper Friends Show Up on the Short Lists for the Nation’s Highest Court?

by Joe Mathews | October 27, 2020

The stakes of the presidential election are huge and global. The results may determine the future of public health, the republic, even the planet.

The stakes of the presidential election …

Why States Can Lead America Forward

Pursuing Progressive Policies on the State Level Can Move the Dial on Major Issues Like Citizenship, Immigration, and Health Care

by Joe Mathews | October 23, 2020

American states, conventionally seen as threats to Americans’ constitutional rights, also can be powerful forces for protecting and extending rights in ways that benefit the whole country, said panelists at …

Californians Need a New Political Party That Can Keep Us Afloat

Forget Democrats and Republicans. Real Change Requires Fresh Ideology

by Joe Mathews | October 13, 2020

I got one of those calls again—they come every six months or so—from a Silicon Valley hotshot who wants to use his brain and his wealth to fix what ails …

It’s Time for the U.S. to Manifest Humility

America’s Political Crack-Up Is an Opportunity to Learn More From the Rest of the World

by Joe Mathews | October 7, 2020

Political hysteria has conquered America—and made the United States much more like the rest of the world.

So argued the London-based essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra during a fast-paced and wide-ranging …

American politics