Politics

The Barriers to Black-Brown Unity

Can Chicago's black and brown communities come together to elect a new mayor?

Salim Muwakkil

Robert Reich: Without Reeling In Wall Street, the Middle Class Is Doomed

It’s nice that presidential aspirants are talking about rebuilding America’s middle class. But to be credible, candidates must take clear aim at Wall Street.

Robert Reich

Rahm Emanuel Is a Union-buster. So Why Are Chicago Unions Backing Him?

Most of the city's labor movement is laying low or supporting the mayor in the upcoming election, despite his well-known anti-worker policies.

David Moberg

On Jonathan Chait, ‘Politically Correct’ Speech and the Social Media Left

Progressive social media activism can be absurd and self-defeating, but it shouldn’t be a tool for smug liberals to dismiss radical critiques.

David Sessions

With Syriza’s Victory, the Anti-Austerity Movement is Going Mainstream

Big business and centrist and right-wing parties throughout the world have called Syriza "dangerous." Well, maybe it's time to get dangerous.

Kate Aronoff

Along Arizona’s ‘Palestine-Mexico Border,’ Security Companies Are Making a Killing

The U.S. borderlands are becoming a vast open-air laboratory for tech companies where almost any form of surveillance and security technology can be developed and tested.

Todd Miller and Gabriel Schivone

All the Chicago Mayoral Candidates Are Getting It Wrong: We Don’t Need More Cops

The only real solution to reducing violence is reducing inequality.

Andy Thayer

Big Tax Bills for the Poor, Tiny Ones for the Rich

Regressive state and local tax policies don’t just harm the poor—they harm entire economies.

David Sirota

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Christian Radical—And Saint

King’s treatment in the media shows the degree to which, in the American mind, Christianity has been completely stripped of any radicalism.

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig

Community College in the Crosshairs

Even as Obama is calling for free community college, California's landmark system is under attack by accreditors allied with ALEC and for-profit schools.

Rebecca Burns

How To Sell Off a City

Welcome to Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago, the privatized metropolis of the future.

Rick Perlstein

Should Rahm Emanuel Be Exempt From Ethics Laws?

Executives at firms managing Chicago pension money have made more than $600,000 in donations to the mayor, despite a city ordinance—and an executive order by Emanuel himself—restricting contributions from city contractors.

David Sirota

Sen. Lindsey Graham Attempts to Exploit Fear After Charlie Hebdo Terrorist Attacks

The South Carolina senator's charge that President Obama is to blame for terrorism is based on no evidence—and only serves to stoke fear among Americans.

Chris Edelson

The Upside of a Republican Congress

Progressives face a 'tough slog,' but so do Obama's pro-corporate trade deals.

Cole Stangler

The New Cuba: Capitalism with a Socialist Face?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is delighted that Obama normalized relations with Cuba.

Joel Bleifuss

An Open Letter to a Young Army Ranger, From an Old One: Why the War On Terror Isn’t Your Battle

"I’m writing this letter in the hope that offering you a little of my own story might help frame the bigger picture for you."

Rory Fanning

Mario Cuomo, the Speech and the Challenge to Democrats Today

Today's Democrats should look to Mario Cuomo’s vision of an America in which we embrace our responsibility for each other.

Dan Cantor and Richard Kirsch

Is Chris Christie’s Bromance With Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Violating Ethics Laws?

The only thing more awkward than the New Jersey governor and presidential hopeful's hug with the widely despised billionaire owner: Christie may have been breaking the law while doing it.

David Sirota