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OpinionNation

Where progressives come to debate.

OpinionNation: Immigration Activists and Experts on Their 'Dealbreakers' on Immigration Reform

Immigrants rights march
Protestors march near the White House during a push for immigrant reform on May Day, in 2010.

The "Gang of Eight" hammering out a bipartisan immigration reform bill will release their proposal any day now. The legislation will offer a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants and protections for the labor rights of immigrants—but is also likely to step up enforcement and border security measures and worker verification systems. The Nation invited four immigration activists and policy experts—Kica Matos of the Center for Community Change, Sarahí Uribe of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Janice Fine of Rutgers University—to outline what the bill absolutely must include, and what it can't, to be a fair and just solution.

OpinionNation: Reflections on the Tenth Anniversary of the Iraq Invasion

Soldiers in Iraq

As the tenth anniversary of the war in Iraq approached, we asked veteran antiwar activist Tom Hayden, CODE PINK’s Jodie Evans, foreign policy blogger Robert Dreyfuss and activist-writer Nathan Schneider to reflect the legacy of the invasion and the destruction, and disillusionment, that followed. Their responses follow.

The Dove Is Never Free

OpinionNation: Labor's Bad Recall?

Editor's note: Gordon Lafer and Doug Henwood debate organized labor's electoral and organizing strategies in the wake of its defeat in the Wisconsin recall, with new contributions from Bill Fletcher and Jane McAlevey, Adolph Reed, Jr, and Mike Elk.

 

OpinionNation: Hillary Clinton at the State Department: Hawk or Humanitarian?

Editor's Note: As we approach the end of President Obama's first term, we asked two of our correspondents—Barbara Crossette, who writes regularly on the United Nations, and Robert Dreyfuss, who covers foreign policy and the Middle East—to assess Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. Crossette sees a skilled diplomat who has built bridges to many world leaders alienated by George W. Bush, and elevated the concern of human rights wherever possible. Dreyfuss argues that Clinton's support for military intervention in Libya and elsewhere undermines her claims to humanitarianism. Round Two is immediately below; Crossette and Dreyfuss's first exchange follows.

Round Two

A Secretary of State for the Twenty-First Century

OpinionNation: A Forum on Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS)


In this Sunday, April 22, 2012, photo, Israeli flags fly over the Ulpana neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Beit El near Ramallah. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

 

OpinionNation: Should Feminists Push the FCC to Get Limbaugh Off the Air?

Editor’s Note: In the wake of a barrage of sexist slurs against a law student who dared to testify in support of birth control access, Rush Limbaugh lost advertisers by the dozen. Then Women’s Media Center founders Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan called on the FCC to pull Limbaugh off the airwaves. Below, former Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt explains why she supports their campaign. In response, lawyer and author Wendy Kaminer writes that “whether or not Limbaugh’s biases are morally reprehensible, he has a fundamental moral as well as legal right to express them.” The second round of their debate appears immediately below; scroll down for Round One!

Round Two

A Violation of the Public Trust

OpinionNation: Should Jeffrey Sachs Be the Next World Bank President?


Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs of Columbia University speaks about potential geopolitical implications of the financial crisis at a panel discussion at Pace University in New York on October 16, 2009. Reuters/Nicholas Roberts


OpinionNation: Rick Santorum: Defender of America's Working People?

Editor's Note: Heading into the New Hampshire primary, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has drawn plenty of criticism from progressives for his stance on gay rights and contraception. Yet his calls for a renewal of the American manufacturing base—and his votes in Congress opposing free trade—have piqued liberals' interest. Does Santorum represent a branch of conservatism that better defends working Americans? John Nichols suggests he might. Or is his populism all rhetoric and no policy? Ben Adler argues it is.

Santorum Knows How to Talk the Talk, But Doesn't Walk the Walk

If Democrats are smart, they will learn from Santorum that it is important to talk about manufacturing and industrial policy.

OpinionNation: Progressives and Ron Paul

Editor's Note: The libertarian candidate is surging in the GOP primary—but is this something progressives should cheer? Paul's opposition to war and his plan to audit the Federal Reserve have garnered praise from some on the left, including Truthdig's Robert Scheer. But as The Nation's Ben Adler argues, Paul's isolationism and opposition to multilateral institutions like the UN are troubling, as are his positions on civil rights. Meanwhile, Katha Pollitt points out that Paul's vocal supporters on the left are all white men—for a reason.

Ron Paul's Strange Bedfellows

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