Politics

Our democracy’s Founding Fathers did not want a privileged aristocracy. Yet that’s the direction we’re going in. The tax on inherited wealth is one of the major bulwarks against it. That tax should be increased and strengthened.

Hastert openly traded legislative favors for campaign cash, including profiting personally from his powerful position. And, when he was squeezed out because of the corruption, he didn't return to the home folks — he became a K-Street lobbyist, continuing to profit to this day by doing corporate favors.

The TPP deal is crafted by big business for big business. And the reality is it has nothing to do with trade. Therefore, the people and corporate media outlets pushing for the deal are making themselves look foolish.

A democratic socialist and all, Bernie Sanders isn't being taken seriously by the corporate media. But to mainstream media's surprise, Sanders’s positions are quite mainstream to the stances of the general American public.

Even Chuck Schumer, New York senator who never finds a global trade deal too ugly to hug, fears that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would let corporations roll back laws at every level of government. Yes, the TPP is shameful, Chuck!

While Sen. Rand Paul helped force the expiration of the so-called PATRIOT Act, it seems he is a better constitutional scholar than Barack Obama, who is not interested in the Fourth Amendment.

While Cuba was forced to build a largely organic farming system out of necessity when the Soviet Union collapsed, what will happen now that the country will enter the U.S. agribusiness?

WikiLeaks is raising a reward for the missing chapters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the public hasn't seen. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, discusses the campaign launch with Democracy Now.

Tom Engelhardt discusses how our new hybrid system fits the Constitution, the classic tripartite separation of powers and the idea of democracy increasingly poorly. And warns recent college grads who are about to enter the “real world,” you're already in it.

We've taken a few baby steps back toward democracy after the expiration of the misnamed “PATRIOT Act” gives restoration to Americans’ privacy. But if it wasn't for the revelations of Edward Snowden, we would have never known.