FEATURES

25 Can Democrats Ride

Ballot Initiatives to Victory? The party realizes that progressive issues win voters, even when their candidates don’t. GLENN DAIGON

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VOLUME 88, NUMBER 4 • This issue of The Progressive went to press on July 24, 2024.

35 The Nuclear Regulatory

Commission’s Antiques Roadshow As new U.S. nuclear construction grinds to a halt, one company aims to restart a Michigan reactor that violated fif ty codes—in just one year. ROGER RAPOPORT

38 Child Care Does Not

Need to Be a Crisis Our system leaves parents with unreliable waitlists and mortgage-size payments, while teachers go overburdened and underpaid. MINDY ISSER

42 Two Competing

Visions of a Populist Education System Community schools and the ‘parent empowerment’ movement offer conflicting models for what schools should look like. JEFF BRYANT

SHUTTERSTOCK

30 How to Make a ‘War Reserve’ Nuclear Bomb The dark art of crafting nuclear ‘pits’ was almost lost.

Now it ’s ramped up into a multi-billion dollar industry. JIM CARRIER

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44 Lessons From the

Campaign of 1924 What ‘Fighting Bob’

La Follette’s third-party presidential run can teach us a century later about empire and race in politics. RICHARD DRAKE

48 The Way

Democracy Crumbles With a government by the people on the line, what of its most sacred pillars? JAKE WHITNEY

51 More Than the Lesser of

Two E v i l s The multi-party democracies of Europe show us how opening up the political field can help thwart fascism. JOHN NICHOLS

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THE PROGRESSIVE | 3