Northern America

BY BEN BLINK I was disappointed last week to learn that Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson was officially excluded from the three U.S. presidential debates. The two-term New Mexico governor, who cares equally about reducing budget deficits, protecting civil liberties, and improving the justice system, will not get a podium. I was frustrated, but hardly […]

In this personal essay, Janiece Mackey discusses how she navigated the complexities of race within the educational context. Now, having progressed from student to teacher, she promotes civic engagement and intersectional empowerment among underserved youth. Janiece’s story  serves as a precursory example of the Black student and educator experience, discussed in depth in our 2016 feature of “The Politics of […]

BY EDWARD CUIPA On 16 December 2015, the US Federal Reserve announced the first increase in the federal funds rate in almost a decade, hiking the target benchmark rate range by 0.25 percentage points to 0.25–0.50 percentage points.[i] The move impacts economic growth because the federal funds rate sets the rate at which banks can […]

BY KAVI PATEL Democrats added a $15 federal minimum wage to their platform before the Democratic National Convention at a time when the minimum wage debate is a hot topic and the “Fight for 15” Movement has already been successful in California and New York.  Advocates of an increase in the minimum wage argue that it […]

BY BRYNNA QUILLIN Crammed into a narrow hallway leading to the convention hall, I stood on my tiptoes to locate the podium on stage above the ponytails and tall “Hillary” signs. For months I had been eagerly awaiting Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. Clutching the “USA” and “Michelle” signs I had scavenged […]

BY ANDREAS WESTGAARD For years, the Republican Party’s foundation has solidly rested on a three-legged stool of social conservatism, interventionist foreign policy, and fiscal moderation. Remarkably, the current Republican nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, does not espouse any of these values, deviating from what the Reagan Revolution set in stone more than three decades […]

BY MATTHEW E. SPECTOR The balloons dropped slowly, almost painfully so, to close last week’s Republican National Convention. A string of controversies and half-truths, the part-P.T. Barnum antics, part-raucous rally was something the American voter had not anticipated. This election has become at its core a battle between globalism and nationalism, and puts American democracy […]

Since launching his presidential bid last year, Donald Trump has come under fire for promising to “take” Iraq’s oil, ban Muslims from entering the United States, and subject terrorism suspects to “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.” So how does the Arab world – which is the focus of some of Trump’s most bellicose rhetoric – view […]

BY STEPHEN HAWKINS AND TOMMY FLINT It’s a troubling day when we have to admit that the TV pundits are right: America is politically polarized. From the halls of Congress, to news articles posted online, and even to our local neighborhoods, we’re increasingly sorting ourselves along ideological lines. But reality is not as simple as our liberal […]

BY VANESSA CALDER The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has promulgated a new rule that requires equal housing outcomes in an attempt to clarify and give teeth to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which requires racial groups be given equal access to housing. HUD’s “Duty to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing” requires […]

BY KATHERINE HARPER It is a refrain commonly heard: “I don’t understand the Electoral College.” Every four years, Americans and political junkies abroad get to fathom the complexities known as the Electoral College system of voting for the President of the United States. With two polarizing figures, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, likely to secure […]

BY LAUREN WINDMEYER For a woman in Lubbock, Texas to access an abortion provider, she must get in her car and drive 350 miles to the nearest clinic in Fort Worth. She must arrive at the clinic a full 24 hours before her procedure to receive an ultrasound, as mandated by the state. If she […]