November 17—This article from Governing.com looks at how localities will be using funds from the Biden administration-sponsored 2021 Infrastructure bill to come up with ways to reduce the horrid toll in human suffering—42,939 deaths and 2.5 million injuries in 2021—caused by America's car culture. The Social Democrat sees traffic deaths and fatalities as an under-reported crisis of modern America and supports all efforts to create built environments geared toward people, safety and comfort, not merely machinery and speed.

In the wake of Republican setbacks in Ohio and Virginia, this Reuters article explains, strategists from both major parties agree that Republican attempts to narrowly restrict abortion rights has become a liability for the GOP. Pragmatic Republican pols will be seeking a middle ground between the Roe second-trimester threshold and draconian measures designed to completely end abortion access.

November 5—This Governing article looks at primary challenges to far-left candidates from more centrist Democrats in local elections around the country. Chatham University political scientist Jennie Sweet-Cushman is quoted as saying, "There's this shift for voters in [Allegheny County, PA] where the [Demcratic] party has moved so left in many ways that they're starting to entertain more moderate Republicans." For more on the county executive race in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), seen by some as a bellwether for the nation, see this Washington Post link: "How a Pittsburgh county election foreshadows the 2024 presidential race".

November 3—A vital component of social democracy is the preparation of youth for viable career paths. Maryland, under Democratic leadership, is addressing the issue as it creates a Blueprint for Maryland's Future: with more technical education, apprenticeships and better tracking of career readiness. A report from Maryland Matters.

November 1—If you're mystified by concepts like the "Fed balance sheet" or "open market operations," CNN offers a primer on one of the key mechanisms by which the federal government tries to control inflation while maintaining the economy as close to full employment as possible.

October 31—In a state Donald Trump carried in 2020 with 62 percent of the vote, Democratic Kentucky governor Andy Beshear is up in the polls in this fall's contest with the state's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron. Informed observers credit good governance and a focus on state and local issues for Beshear's success—thus far—in swimming against the red tide.

October 27—Gavin Newsom's quest to build gun control into the U.S. Constitution is surely quixotic under America's current political dispensation: with the majority of state legislatures, 75% of which must approve of constitutional amendments, under Republican control. But the California govenor's campaign reminds us that Democrats will need to significantly increase their base of support among American voters if real change is to be achieved.

October 25—The news site Governing takes a look at Alaska's 2022 experience with rank choice voting. A study by the Unite America Institute, a non-profit that advocates for voting changes and greater bipartisanship, found that the system, in which voters' second choices are counted if their first-choice candidate does not make the run-off, led to less advantage for incumbents and closer elections, and forced candidates to speak to the broader middle rather than their party's extremes.

October 24—Writing in The Guardian, former advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sidney Blumenthal, describes the chaos which is the current GOP.

October 24—The defeat of Poland's rightist Law and Justice party by a coaltiion of centrist and center-left groups in recent parliamentary elections has brought the country back into the mainstream of Western European social democracy and rendered Hungary's nationalist rightist government under Victor Orbán the odd man out in the European Union. A commentary from Austrian political scientist Ivan Krastev.

October 20—A major failing of American society, from a social democratic standpoint, is the lack of a coherent strategy to accompany American youth, particularly those not college-bound, on their quest to find a solid livelihood. One of the country's bluest states, with both legislative chambers and the governor's mansion in Democratic hands, is now proposing a comprehensive plan which includes high-school level apprenticeships leading to industry-recognized credentials and tighter collaboration with community colleges.

October 20—The Labor Department has proposed raising from $35,568 to $55,068 the salary threshold below which employers must pay overtime rates of time-and-a-half for executive, administrative and professional (EAP) workers. The proposed change was published in the Federal Register on September 8 and is subject to a 60-day comment period through November 7. The measure is likely to face court challenges.

October 11—The state politics site Governing takes a look at how the Biden administration's signature infrastructure bill, the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, is spurring upgrades in the nation's rail system. The Social Democrat applauds investment in public transportation, crucial to a saner and more ecologically sustainable civilization. And credit where it is due to Joe Biden: politics matter, vote Democrat!

October 11—This Guardian article takes a look at the Culdesac community outside of Phoenix, a 17-acre site which will eventually house 1,000 residents, with shops and services found in most American neighborhoods, but with one typically American fixture missing: automobiles. Featuring mediterranean architecture and public plazas, this innovative car-free community points the way to better built environments for Americans: kudos to the development's founders, Ryan Johnson and Jeff Berens!

October 10—The intervention of government in private-enterprise economies, particularly through targeted subsidies to industries a government wishes to foster, has long been out of favor. But the Biden administration, with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act has put the concept back on the map. In this Guardian opinion piece, UCAL Berkeley economics professor Barry Eichengreen looks at some of the pros and cons of industrial planning.