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The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear a case in which litigants in Texas are asking the Court to undermine the core constitutional principle of “one person, one vote.” In this case, Evenwel v. Abbott, the plaintiffs are asking the Court to require states, when drawing district lines, to ignore anyone not already eligible or registered to vote. Their case will be argued in the Court’s current term.
"I cannot and will not give up my family time," Ryan told reporters following the House GOP meeting.
That statement set off a firestorm of criticism, from the left and right.
As the heir-apparent to Speaker Boehner, Paul Ryan made his need for work-life balance clear. As the father of three children, he’s right—Americans work too hard, for too long, and for too little (and inequitable) pay.
In America, chief executive pay is now 300 times more than the average worker. That’s a high enough ratio that presidential candidates are taking note on both sides of the aisle.
Finally, automatic voter registration is good politics for the Democratic Party. "Among eligible voters, some 30% of African Americans, 40% of Hispanics, 45% of Asian Americans and 41% of young adults (age 18-24) were not registered to vote in the historic 2008 election," according to the progressive think tank Demos.
“There are political advantages to saying we’re not going to provide aid to students who aren’t putting in the effort for their education,” said Mark Huelsman, a policy analyst at Demos, a think tank that has been promoting debt-free college.
A couple of months ago, Black Lives Matter activists broke a long-standing tradition governing interactions between politicians and communities of color. Traditionally, few organizations advocating on behalf of Black and Brown folks have had female leaders. Usually, charismatic male leaders negotiated on behalf of these communities in closed door, formal settings. While these meetings helped win many legislative victories, they also sparked problems.
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that just 158 families have provided nearly half of the early money in the 2016 Presidential election. These wealthy donors, who are “overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters” are able to spend unlimited amounts on elections because of a slew of misguided decisions by our Supreme Court.