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The Senate Is an Institutional Barrier to Democracy

Sohale A. Mortazavi Truthout
The United States is not the only supposedly democratic country saddled with an undemocratic upper legislative chamber (ours just has the most egregious malapportionment), but Americans have, so far, been the least willing to push back.

Regional Airlines Want to Cut Co-Pilot Flight Rules. The Idea Mustn't Get Off the Ground

Robert Reed Chicago Tribune
Airline travelers are willing to compromise on personal comfort and convenience in return for lower fares and regularly scheduled flights. But I doubt the flying public would agree to deeply discount their own safety by letting the government hack away at an essential industry standard designed to protect flyers from inexperienced pilots.

Make Every Democratic Senator Filibuster Gorsuch

Miles Mogulescu Campaign for America's Future
Gorsuch is likely to vote to further loosen remaining restrictions on campaign donations by billionaires and corporations, restrict voting rights, allow the expansion of partisan gerrymandering, close courthouse doors to workers and consumers, overturn environmental and financial regulations, mix church and state, and make it more difficult for women to control their bodies and their health.

Elizabeth Warren - Nevertheless, She Persisted

Marcia Baczynski; Heidi Stevens Medium
She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted...Last night, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) spoke out against the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for attorney general, reading a letter from Coretta Scott King. In a highly unusual move, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) led a vote to silence Warren?-?a rebuke not extended to several of her male colleagues. It follows an old and very sexist playbook.

The Problem Keeping America From Being the Democracy It Should Be

Donna Edwards Cosmopolitan
The struggle for a more perfect union is the struggle for a union that welcomes all voices. As important as it was to elect a black president in 2008 and as it will be to elect a woman president in 2016, that is simply not good enough. We are neither post-racial nor post-gender. We must be honest about the depth of the problem in order to unloose the structural barriers that contribute to it -- the money, the process, the lineage. It may require some to step aside.

Finally, Campaign Finance Reform Gets Some Political Respect

Kathy Kiely Moyers & Company
Campaign finance reform, long a lonely political backwater frequented only by good government groups, is suddenly becoming a hot new address for some of this year’s candidates. Whether that will lead to a vibrant new political community remains the open question.

After Lobbying by Obama, Senate Agrees to Vote on Trade Bill After All; Why Elizabeth Warren is Fighting the TPP

Jonathan Weisman; Bud Meyers
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) - what's at stake? Why the secrecy, why the rush, why cut-off debate and input? The reason is - Money, big money, says the New York Times. Major American business interests, from Nike to Boeing and Hollywood to Silicon Valley, want the deal badly. Labor and environmental groups see it as a threat to American workers at the expense of profits.
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