Rights and Democracy
Is This the End of Free and Open Internet Access?
Free and open access to the internet is a virtuous democratic principle known as “net neutrality.” It means that it doesn't matter if you're a brand-name corporation or an unknown start-up, a billionaire or a poverty-wage laborer — you're entitled to equal treatment...
Big League Predators
The GOP Tax Plan Is Igniting a Movement for a Moral Economy
If you’re expecting a gift card from your boss as an end-of-year bonus, enjoy it this year because you probably won’t get one in 2018. The Senate tax bill would ban such rewards. Why? Because Republican lawmakers are determined to prevent ordinary workers from...
Everyone Hates This Tax Bill
As the Trump tax cuts fly through Congress at breakneck speed, one has to wonder: What’s the big rush? Surely a body known for gridlock and deliberation would want to hold hearings, interview stakeholders, and gather public input before restructuring the world's...
Our Social Structure is Rigged
“It's structure vs. agency,” my professor said to me, as if that cleared everything up. It didn't. It was my first week of graduate school in sociology, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Fast-forward three years, and I'm now teaching an into sociology class...
If You Make Under $75,000, You Lose
Sam Rayburn, a legendary speaker of the U.S. House in the 1940s and '50s, offered this piece of ethical advice for lawmakers who were conflicted over whether to vote for the people or the lobbyists: “Every now and then,” he said, “a politician ought to do something...
Michael Who?
This Tax Plan Is Going to Cost a Lot More Than Advertised
House Republicans and Donald Trump are ballyhooing the wonders of their new tax plan. It’s called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," which we’re told will mean "More Jobs, Fairer Taxes, and Bigger Paychecks." Hallelujah! We can see the Promised Land! But before we pop the...
A Mass Murderer’s Love Song to Trump
"We've had a great relationship," exulted a giddy Donald Trump, following his two-day schmoozefest in Manila with the thuggish Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, who calls himself a "toughie," brags that he's personally killed many people and likes to...
What Trump and Suu Kyi Have in Common
