Last call for state parties? For many state parties, the party may soon be over. State party officials across the country say the explosion of money into super PACs, nonprofit groups, and presidential campaigns has made fundraising more difficult. And some of those outside groups are starting to take over the traditional local roles state parties…

Here’s why the richest nation in the world still can’t get health care right Even after the Affordable Care Act is more than a decade old, there will still be 31 million people who don’t have health insurance. That’s 25 million fewer uninsured than there would have been without the new law, but it’s still a lot of people….

The GOP’s immigration conundrum House Republicans’ latest revolt against immigration reform spells potential trouble for the party’s 2016 presidential candidates. The last thing the GOP needs in 2016 is another primary season marked by debate and dissension over the fraught issue. The party’s handling of immigration reform legislation since President Obama won reelection with 71 percent…

Elizabeth Warren vs. the neoliberals: The battle over Americans’ retirement security In the last year or two, something remarkable has happened in American politics. After decades in which future deficits, mostly caused by healthcare costs and conservative tax cuts, were invoked by those seeking to slash Social Security benefits for reasons of ideology or pecuniary…

Fight over minimum age illustrates web of industry ties Just four blocks from the White House is the headquarters of the Employment Policies Institute, a widely quoted economic research center whose academic reports have repeatedly warned that increasing the minimum wage could be harmful, increasing poverty and unemployment. But something fundamental goes unsaid in the institute’s reports: The…

Colorado and the future of the Democratic Party Last month, Colorado opened its first retail marijuana shops. At the Colorado Springs airport, there are now bins to help departing travellers remember to drop their pot before flying off to less liberated states. The law legalizing marijuana in Colorado was the result of a long grass-roots…

Oglala Sioux vow to stop Keystone XL on the ground if Obama won’t say no In the latest in a series of announcements escalating resistance to oil and gas development in North America, the Oglala Sioux nation and its allies have committed to stopping the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on their territory if…

Texas’ next governor? Meet Wendy Davis’ opponent, Greg Abbott There’s been a lot of talk in national political circles about how Texas will inevitably turn blue. The state is already majority-minority and the Hispanic population continues to grow rapidly. Democrats have pinned their main hopes on Wendy Davis, a state senator who became a party and…

Alive in the sunshine There’s no way toward a sustainable future without tackling environmentalism’s old stumbling blocks: consumption and jobs. And the way to do that is through a universal basic income. For as long as the environment has existed, it’s been in crisis. Nature has always been a focus of human thought and action,…