For the past four years, Americans have experienced a political culture characterized by a complete lack of accountability.

Recent events may hold out some hope for a transformation of that culture.

Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for murdering George Floyd.

Dominion and Smartmatic are suing Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Fox News, and Mike Lindell for billions of dollars for spreading conspiracy theories about their voting machines.

Matt Gaetz is being investigated for possible sex-trafficking.

The Southern District of New York continues to investigate Donald Trump’s finances.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating election interference in…

It’s raining racism in America, and we’re all getting soaked.

When it comes to barrage of voter suppression efforts afoot in state legislatures, we have Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court to thank for gutting the Voting Rights Act back in 2013.

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned us back then that this assault on the Voting Rights Act was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

It’s now storming. Currently over 250 bills in at least 43 states are designed to restrict voting rights.

Georgia’s recent legislation, obviously, has…

2020 witnessed a record surge in gun sales. Last January two million guns were sold in America, an 80% increase and the third-highest monthly total on record.

When you stop to think about the enormous number of guns produced, bought, and sold in America, it should really be no surprise to anyone that gun violence is a deadly epidemic in our nation.

The National Rifle Association, its supporters, and second amendment fanatics (who typically don’t carefully read the second amendment) will, of course, continue to peddle the mantra, “Guns don’t kill people; people do.”

Maybe. But wouldn’t it be hard…

Last January former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and eight other state officials were criminally charged for their alleged roles in the Flint water crisis that accounted for at least 12 deaths and 80 people sickened. Of course, the full effects on the population from the lead poisoning the drinking water, resulting from changes in the infrastructure implemented by emergency managers to save money, cannot yet be fully assessed.

The crimes with which the eight were charged range from perjury to misconduct while in office to involuntary manslaughter. …

Earlier this month Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos for the title of wealthiest being on planet earth, as rising stock values swelled his net worth to $182 billion. Bezos topped out at a paltrier amount, a mere $181 billion. But that was mid-March. Who knows the status of this horse race now?

One fact we do know is that last Thursday the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled against Musk’s anti-union behavior, citing Tesla for violating labor laws by retaliating against employees who supported unionization and by posting a tweet that threatened workers with a loss of stock options should…

Using Donald Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen as their motivating rationale, Georgia legislators, as has now already been widely reported, rammed through a suite of voter suppression laws yesterday.

In addition to imposing restrictive voter ID requirements, curtailing early voting, closing polls at 5:00 pm, eliminating drop boxes, and more, the new law also greatly expands the legislature’s control over the election process in the state. For example, whereas heretofore the secretary of state served as chair of the state election board, now this position will be appointed by the legislature. Remember that Secretary of…

Political observers seem to be on tenterhooks watching the drama around the senate filibuster unfold.

Will the Democrats exercise the “nuclear option” and jettison the filibuster rule altogether?

Will they institute reforms, or carve outs, to enable the Senate Democrats to pass certain kinds of legislation, such as the For the People Act designed to counteract the flood of voter suppression legislation around nation, with only 51 votes, a simple majority?

Senators Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Krysten Sinema (D-Arizona) hold democracy and the Democrats hostage with their dithering over the need for compromise with a Republican party that has…

Last week’s racist and misogynist murder spree targeting Asian American women in Georgia marks yet another episode in an ongoing string of violent manifestations of white supremacy in America.

As I’ve written about previously in the pages of PoliticusUsa, these acts of white supremacist violence, powerfully exemplified by the assault on the Capitol last January 6, are assaults upon democracy itself; or, more properly put, they are efforts to maintain racial inequality and injustice, to thwart the achievement of democracy in our nation long hobbled by white supremacy.

Indeed, we need to recognize that racism isn’t just a defect in…