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How to Pass a Gas Tax
The politics of an unpopular policy In 1993, President Bill Clinton pushed the last bill through Congress to increase the gas tax. Even this, however, was watered-down reform; the tax was not indexed to inflation and increased the price of gas...
Slimming Down America
To combat obesity and improve America’s health, change the food industry More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years. For the first time since the Civil War, Americans’...
The Dangers of Direct Democracy
In Federalist No. 63, James Madison wrote that the defining principle of American democracy, as compared to Athenian democracy, “lies in the total exclusion of...
The Tea Party: Past, Present, and Future
Explaining the right-wing movement The Tea Party movement attracted a lot of attention with its vocal opposition to the Democratic health care legislation,...
When Science Meets State
Who should decide on the future of stem cell research? It has been over a year since President Obama lifted the bans that his predecessor placed on federal...
Manipulating Self-Determination
Puerto Rico might become a state without wanting to Puerto Rico has been a self-governing commonwealth of the United States since 1952, a status that...
Midterm Madness
A Republican resurgence in the 2010 election? One year into the Obama presidency, the Democrats have faltered on key initiatives, most notably health care...
Unfulfilled Promise
Evaluating the first year of the Obama presidency Barack Obama’s administration just celebrated its first birthday. Conservatives deem it a year of policy...
Gold Coins Tip the Scale of Justice
Why the Citizens United case is a blow to democracy The outcome of Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission has rocked the political...
The Times Charges Ahead
New online business model will help the press serve the public good Early next year, when the New York Times begins to enforce a metered system...
Current Issue: Summer 2010
Religion in America
- Is Godless Great? A New Heyday for American Secularism
The American Way of Faith Compromise, innovation, and tradition
Read more