Personal essays
Notes on attention, technology, judgment, and the small practices that shape a thoughtful life.
Judgment / October 9, 2026
The first time I heard a member of Congress talk about filing a White House tour request for a constituent, I barely registered it. It sounded like the most...
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There is an old saying on Capitol Hill that most voters have never heard, and that is partly the point. The rule is the bill. The rule under which the House...
Every election cycle, the political class works itself into a froth over dark money. The left demands donor disclosure. The right defends donor privacy...
Every election cycle produces the same demand: cap contributions to super PACs. Pick a number. Five thousand dollars. A thousand. Whatever number tests well...
The first time a normal American tries to use the congressional financial disclosure search, he assumes he is doing something wrong. He types in his...
Most discussions about live pair programming miss the point entirely. They treat the question as one of productivity-does putting two developers on one...
Most people know the House Judiciary Committee from impeachment hearings, subpoena fights, and five-minute cable-news shouting matches. I'll say plainly...
Most political reporting trains your attention on final passage votes. That is a mistake. If you want to know how much of your representative is left after...
In the fight over federal judges, few phrases sound more like harmless Senate housekeeping than the blue slip deadline. It sounds like something a clerk...
Every time the debt ceiling deadline nears, Washington runs the same tired play. The Treasury Secretary issues a warning. The press runs stories about...