Articles
Longer pieces about questions in public life: the ones that changed something, the ones nobody asked in time, and the ones worth asking now. Every article lists its sources.
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If a state is still counting after Election Day, does that mean something is wrong?
Why does it take days to count the votes, and should it?
Why some states take days to count ballots, what the Supreme Court decided about late-arriving mail ballots in 2026, and the main arguments on each side.
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When a child asks "why?" for the fifth time, what are they actually after?
Why kids ask so many questions, and how to answer them
What research says about children's questions, why "why?" is a real request for an explanation, and practical ways for adults to answer, including the hard ones.
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How can a missile officer know that a launch order is lawful and sane?
Harold Hering's question about nuclear launch orders
In 1973 an Air Force major in missile training asked how he could know a launch order came from a sane president. What happened to him, and why it still matters.
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What would we have needed to ask in 2002 to see what the reviews found in 2004?
The questions that weren't asked before the Iraq war
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, questions about weapons intelligence, troop numbers and cost were raised but not pressed. What the later official reviews found.
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What would the Senate need to know to give real "advice and consent"?
Questions senators can ask at confirmation hearings
What makes a strong confirmation hearing question, with examples from the Hagel, Tower, Bork and Ginsburg hearings, and question types any committee could use.
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When money buys a meeting, what else does it buy?
Donors and access: questions to ask about money in politics
What research shows about donors and access to officials, recent cases from both parties, and specific, nonpartisan questions voters and reporters can ask.
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What makes one question powerful enough to change what happens next?
How one question changed history
Five moments when one question changed what happened next, from the Watergate tapes and the Army-McCarthy hearings to the Challenger inquiry, and what they share.
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Who gets to make the rules for a place that isn't anywhere?
John Perry Barlow's questions about the internet and freedom
The questions John Perry Barlow and the early internet-freedom movement raised in the 1990s about speech, sovereignty, ownership and privacy, and how they look now.
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