Election
Charter Schools' Billion-Dollar Fraud Stinks Worse Than We Thought
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore / flickr / cc Earlier this year, when members of Congress repeatedly confronted U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about a study finding the federal government’s charter school grant program had wasted an estimated $1 billion on...
Mayor Pete, Get Big Money Out Of Your Campaign
What will it take to get big money out of politics? As a voter and a student, that’s what I want to know from any candidate who wants my vote, so I asked Mayor Pete Buttigieg this when he visited our campus – Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa – this weekend....
Will The 2020 Contenders Take On Inequality?
Is America’s political discourse on inequality finally getting real? In the early going of the 2020 presidential campaign, this has become a question worth asking. White House hopefuls have been condemning the maldistribution of America’s income and wealth with an...
Progressive Ideas Are Popular, They Win - Here’s How
How do we build a bigger “we”? Anat Shenker-Osorio says we do this when we talk about race and class in a way that welcomes everybody in, and leaves nobody out. This “Race-Class Narrative Strategy,” which she and UC Berkeley law professor Ian Haney López developed in...
Is Pete Buttigieg A Shill For The Donor Class?
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore / flickr / cc Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old Maltese-American mayor of South Bend, the fourth-largest town in Indiana, is the shiny new object in the race to become the Democrats' candidate for president in 2020. Coming from almost...
How Social Media Amplifies Trump's Rants And Disinformation
Photo credit: White House official photo / cc As 2020 nears, disinformation—intentionally false political propaganda—is increasing and getting nastier. Central to this disturbing trend is President Trump, whose re-election campaign and allies revel in mixing selected...
Warren Won't Back Down On Medicare For All
When Elizabeth Warren was criticized for not detailing how she would pay for Medicare for All, most pundits assumed she would duck and cover. M4A is Bernie Sanders’s signature legislation, but the establishment dismisses him as a movement candidate. Warren, on the...
We Can Breathe Life Back Into Democracy
Many people hate the word “politics.” They equate it with corruption, greed and the consolidation of unchecked power. And the U.S. Presidential race only magnifies these feelings and perceptions. Our sitting President, Donald Trump, has proven himself a master at...
Can Bloomberg Buy The White House?
Michael Bloomberg’s first term as the Republican mayor of New York began after the billionaire spent an incredible $74 million to get himself elected. He spent, in effect, $99 for every vote he received. Now Bloomberg appears to be on the verge of running — as a Democrat — for the White House. Could he possibly afford to replicate his lavish New York City campaign spending at the national level? The quick answer: absolutely.
Turning States A Bolder Shade Of Blue
Regina Romero - an environmental activist committed to co-governing with the People’s Action affiliate group LUCHA (Living United For Change In Arizona) - made history Tuesday night by becoming Tuscon’s first woman and Latina mayor in a landslide victory. “I’m still...
