This week The Steady State focused on the country’s internal polarization and the underlying challenges involving democratic culture, institutional resilience, and the continuing concentration and personalization of political power at a time that the country is facing international instability and strategic risk. We maintain that democracy’s survival depends not only on elections or constitutions, but […]
Peoria once symbolized an America where political opponents still shared democratic values and basic decency. The disappearance of “Peoria Nice” reveals how profoundly American politics—and the Republican Party—have changed. “Will this play in Peoria?” American presidents were famously known to ask this in the mid-20th century. Peoria, a small central Illinois city between Chicago and […]
Nuclear weapons-usable uranium, biolabs for biological warfare, secret chemical facilities — In Operation Sapphire, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense Andy Weber found and disposed of them. Where are the current threats? What does Iran still have? Biological threats may ultimately prove even more dangerous than nuclear ones. How do we control them? This special joint […]
Missile Silo at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center in South Dakota The collapse of the latest Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference was not an isolated diplomatic disappointment. It reflected a deeper breakdown in great-power relations, American diplomatic capacity, and the unresolved regional conflicts that increasingly overwhelm nuclear diplomacy. The inability of the Nuclear […]
Normalization of the Presence of Uniformed Military on our City Streets The decisive question is no longer whether Trump tests constitutional limits, but whether those around him will resist or accommodate expanding executive power. The country is well launched on the road to autocracy, and the President is leading the MAGA faithful and the rest […]
The debate is not fundamentally about architecture or design. It is a debate about whether public institutions reflect democratic values—or increasingly reflect the image and tastes of a single leader. The current controversy surrounding the proposed White House ballroom, the “Trump Arch,” and now the repainting of the Old Executive Office Building has generated intense […]
Host Lauren C. Anderson, former senior FBI executive, sits down with pollster Stefan Hankin of Lincoln Park Strategies and journalist Joel Anderson of The Ringer and Slate to unpack a national poll released in May 2026. Key findings: 54% of Americans say they hesitate to express political views at work, online, or in their communities […]
Today we remember the Americans who gave their lives in service to this country. The best way to honor them is not only with gratitude, but with responsibility. We owe them a republic worthy of their sacrifice: one grounded in truth, accountable government, equal justice, and the steady defense of democracy itself. Memorial Day asks […]
Today we remember the Americans who gave their lives in service to this country. The best way to honor them is not only with gratitude, but with responsibility. We owe them a republic worthy of their sacrifice: one grounded in truth, accountable government, equal justice, and the steady defense of democracy itself. Memorial Day asks […]
The Steady State provides both a warning and a call to action: The greatest threat to the United States is not a sudden collapse of democracy but the gradual normalization of intimidation, institutional erosion, unchecked executive power, and public disengagement. We contend that democratic resilience ultimately depends not only on institutions, but on citizens willing […]