The Welfare State Is in Tatters
The US has a whole host of social problems. More public spending would solve many of them.
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We Need a Politics That Is Not Only Class-Focused, but Class-Rooted
It’s not enough to make class the subject of our politics. We need to develop our political demands from a ferment that is rooted in class organizing and union density.
Why Are the Police Like This?
The police were first created to suppress labor militancy and the Left, before becoming a tool to bludgeon the most marginalized in society, particularly poor black people. We must dismantle this brutal instrument of social control.
Luxury Socialized Medicine
Forget rationing and waiting lists. Socialized medicine delivers comforts and convenience that Americans can only dream about.
How Capitalism Kills During a Pandemic
From failing to develop a vaccine, to evicting the jobless and cutting off their health care, to needlessly subjecting workers and the public to infection: capitalism will be responsible for millions of coronavirus-related deaths.
Why Bernie Sanders Is the Best Candidate to Fight Health Disparities for Black Americans
As a black, female family physician, I see the realities of America’s massive racial health disparities every day. Bernie Sanders is the presidential candidate who best understands those disparities and is ready to fight them.
Nicos Poulantzas Was a Vital Theorist of Democratic Socialism
Left political strategies have traditionally divided between social democratic parliamentarism and the Leninist idea of “smashing the state.” Nicos Poulantzas argued that neither strategy was adequate and developed his own vision of “revolutionary reformism.”
Tech Firms Are Swooping in to Profit From COVID-19
As health systems around the world are thrown into crisis, tech firms are winning lucrative government contracts to roll out spurious apps and digital services. We need technological innovation to combat this pandemic, but it must be administered publicly to prevent the further commodification of our health care.
It’s Time to Eliminate Water Bills
Americans regularly lose access to water simply because they are poor and unable to pay their bills. Water bills are cruel and unnecessary. We should just get rid of them.
Eco-Socialism or Bust
To confront climate change, we need to democratize, decarbonize, and decommodify our energy resources.
South Asia’s Devastating Heat Wave Is the New Normal
India and Pakistan recently experienced a heat wave so devastating that birds fell dead from the sky. If we can’t break capitalism’s fossil-fueled death spiral, more such apocalyptic scenes are in store for us very soon.
Choose Class War, Not Boomer Resentment
The generational warfare promoted by centrists and the Right, who have long been desperate to cut and privatize Social Security, is a fool’s solution to what ails the system. Taxing the rich is the answer.
We Need a Left Politics That Promises to Protect Average People
Economic crises, climate change, and a pandemic have given people much to fear. While the Right promises security for a few at the expense of the many, socialists need a compelling vision of how protection from the market's depravities can be extended to all.
“I Pretty Much Immediately Discovered How Bad American Health Care Was”
Journalist Libby Watson started a newsletter to document the horrors of the US's profit-driven health system. She spoke to us about the insurance industry’s windfall COVID-19 profits, Joe Biden’s phantom public option proposal, and how growing up with Britain's National Health Service made her experiences with America's grotesque system all the more enraging.
Read My Lips: $2,000 Checks for All, Now
Democrats promised to provide a near-universal benefit of $2,000 checks. Billionaire-owned media is trying to convince them to ignore history and gut their proposal — a move that would be politically disastrous and worsen Americans’ already brutal suffering.
Down With the Copay
We can’t eliminate the profit motive in health care without eliminating copays.
By Voting Against a Wealth Tax, Canada’s Politicians Have Shown Who They Really Work For
The vast majority of Canadians support a wealth tax, but 90 percent of the country’s MPs recently voted against a proposal to establish one. When push comes to shove, Canadian politicians are just as much in thrall to the rich as their US counterparts.
Silicon Valley Star Chamath Palihapitiya Is No Robin Hood
In the recent GameStop saga, Chamath Palihapitiya portrayed himself as a defender of the little guy and floated running for office. But beyond the shrewd PR, he’s just another corporate-friendly Third Way centrist with an intense devotion to free-market triumphalism.
Students With Disabilities Deserve a Quality Education. Bernie’s New Disability Rights Platform Would Give Them One.
Bernie Sanders introduced a new Disability Rights platform this past week that, together with his Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education, offers a path to provide all students with a high-quality education, regardless of their background or zip code.
The Problem with Saving the World
The UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals aim to save the world without transforming it.