“…be a participator in the government of affairs, not merely at an election one day in the year, but every day.” – Thomas Jefferson, “Letter to Joseph C. Cabell“ “Do something: Vote. Or better yet: Run.” – Harleen Gambhir, Julia Konrad, Victoria Wenger, “Politics Matters“ I’m sitting at a bar watching two hip Harvardians drink down neat whiskey cocktails … Read more
As an MSNBC host and editor-at-large of The Nation, Chris Hayes has written extensively on liberalism and labor politics; and as a fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, he has worked on issues of socioeconomic inequality. It is this political and analytic background that Hayes brings to bear upon his … Read more
The road to immigration reform in the United States is filled with potholes, disappointments, and broken promises. According to Esther Olavarria, the Deputy Assistant of Homeland Security for Policy who spoke at the University of Miami Law School in January, “[The United States’] family immigration system and employment immigration system has not been reformed since … Read more
August 15, 2012, I was sitting crouched at a desk in my father’s law office, helping fill out his clients’ forms to be filed immediately that night. It was the day that the Obama administration started receiving applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that offers qualifying undocumented immigrants under the age … Read more
Last year, President Obama announced the ‘Pacific Pivot,’ a rebalancing of American international emphasis away from Europe and the Middle East and toward East Asia. In declaring this new foreign policy doctrine, President Obama addressed the Australian Parliament and revealed the deployment of an additional 2,500 U.S. troops in Australia. This symbolic measure established the … Read more
My grandfather was born in 1936. When he was 16, Puerto Rico ceased being a mere territory of the United States and adopted “Commonwealth” status. His mother had helped found the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), and his father was a pro-statehood Republican and local Supreme Court justice. He would become the pro-Commonwealth party’s leader … Read more
Many Virginian voters still remember the ‘macaca moment’ from the 2006 Virginia Senate race. The Republican candidate, then-Senator George Allen, uttered a racial slur at a campaign tracker for his opponent, Democrat Jim Webb, propelling Webb to an incredible upset victory. Allen is attempting to re-enter the Senate with Webb’s impending retirement, and is currently … Read more