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The impeachment trial was never going to produce a conviction, of course, but it could have at least served to shore up even a few of the nominal pillars of democracy yet intact. Decades of erosion by chief executives, packed courts, congressional (in)action, and general malfeasance have weakened protective mechanisms in areas from voting and campaign finance to government transparency and individual rights. Now, with the short-circuited process and inevitable outcome of the impeachment hearing, there is another nail in the coffin of a fractured system that still sits on an idealized pedestal. American exceptionalism, when it’s considered at...

We live in a time of change, when people are questioning old assumptions and seeking new directions. In the ongoing debate over health care, social justice, and border security, there is, however, one overlooked issue that should be at the top of everyone’s agenda, from Democratic Socialists to libertarian Republicans: America’s longest war. No, not the one in Afghanistan. I mean the drug war. For more than a century, the U.S. has worked through the U.N., and its predecessor the League of Nations, to build a harsh global drug prohibition regime – grounded in draconian laws, enforced by pervasive...

By Danielle K. Kilgo, Assistant Professor, Indiana University The new decade is just days old, but in one respect it is already shaping up like the last one: with mass protests around the world. Rallies for democracy overseas and anti-war demonstrations in the U.S. come on the back of a year that saw people take to the streets over issues including human rights abuse, corruption and climate change. Yet, despite the popularity of movements like the global climate strike and the massive women’s marches around the globe, most people don’t actually attend these events. The general public’s opinions about...

Low-paid workers across the country are getting raises because 22 states increased their minimum wages on January 1 or near the end of last year. Those raises will lift workers out of poverty, help struggling families make ends meet, and make it easier for workers to achieve financial security. A minimum wage increase gives a particular boost to workers of color, for whom a long history of wage discrimination has depressed wages. Unfortunately, Wisconsin workers will not get any of those benefits, as Wisconsin was not among the states that increased their minimum wages. Wisconsin’s minimum wage is still...

Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin called on Republicans to call former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on January 27, saying it was “gut check time” for senators who had sworn oaths to defend the United States Constitution. Baldwin also singled out her Republican counterpart, Wisconsin U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, saying what Bolton reportedly wrote in his unpublished memoir about Trump’s position on U.S. aide to Ukraine contradicted what the president told Johnson last August. The New York Times first reported on the Bolton manuscript over the weekend, stating...