Coronavirus Proves It: We Need Medicare for All

| Mar 23, 2020 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|HP Featured|Rights / DemocracyFor decades, critics of single-payer health care have raised the menace of rationed care, long waits, and “death panels.” Now, in our collective national effort to “flatten the curve” — to slow the spread of coronavirus to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed — we...

The Opposite of Progressivism? Pessimism

| Mar 18, 2020 | Economy / Business|Rights / DemocracyThere’s a short-circuit in the political convictions of some progressive-minded voters these days. While big majorities are making clear that they need and want bold, transformative changes in today’s rigged system, many of them are not voting that way in this...

We’re All in This Together

| Mar 17, 2020 | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyWestern medicine is predicated on the “germ theory of disease.” That’s what it sounds like: the theory that germs like bacteria and viruses cause disease. If you want to prevent disease, our standard theory goes, you prevent exposure to germs, or you...

Coronavirus and the ‘Shock Doctrine’

| | Economy / Business|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyWe all have to come together. We need to help each other. We don’t have time for politics as usual. In times of crisis like the current coronavirus pandemic, these sorts of calls for cooperation become the drumbeat of our daily lives. Unfortunately, no drumbeat ever...

To Fight Coronavirus, Fight Poverty

| | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|HP Featured|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyAs Americans do everything they can to stay safe and limit their exposure to COVID-19, we are seeing more clearly the great divides in our society. While the virus doesn’t discriminate, we are seeing that its impacts certainly do. In a pandemic, there’s a huge...

A Simple Prescription for a Longer Life: Equality

| Mar 4, 2020 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|HP SubfeaturedThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control released some welcome news recently: Americans are living a tiny bit longer. In 2018, U.S. life expectancy inched up about a month, from 78.6 to 78.7 years. The White House credited “President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and...