Political Institution Contemporary Trends

Power

• Power Causes Brain Damage (The Atlantic)

Civics

• Americans know literally nothing about the Constitution (CNN)

Who Rules the United States?

• Is the U.S. Political System Really ‘Structurally Biased’? (National Review)

• Graduates of Elite Universities Dominate the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (The Intercept)
• Inside the shadowy Bilderberg summit of the global liberal elite (Daily Mail)
• The Long Baby Boomer Reign Isn’t Ending Just Yet (Bloomberg)
• No, America Is Not an Oligarchy Run by the Ultra-Rich (The Daily Signal)
• Poverty Is Both a Political and a Moral Choice Made By the Powerful (Common Dreams)
• Billionaires trying to fix US poverty are the sign of a failed system (Quartz)

Political Parties and Campaigns

• For Female Candidates, Harassment and Threats Come Every Day (The New York Times)

• Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America? (The Los Angeles Times)
• Stress in America Survey (American Psychological Association)
• The America Donald Trump Is Inheriting, By The Numbers (NPR)

Debt

• The U.S. is Broke - an alternative explanation (Seeking Alpha)
• How Did America Go Bankrupt? (Zero Hedge)
• The national debt, explained (The Week)

Taxation

• Among developed nations, Americans’ tax bills are below average (Pew Research Center)
• A closer look at who does (and doesn’t) pay U.S. income tax (Pew Research Center)

• Taxation and Global Comparison (CNBC)
• Sorry, America: You're Not Overtaxed (Inc)
• Here's where the government gets the money it spends in all 50 US states (CNBC)

Inequality

• College-Educated Voters Are Ruining American Politics (The Atlantic)
• How America Treats Its Own Children (The Atlantic)
• Keeping the Poor Poor: How Government Automates Inequality (The Progressive)
• How segregation leads to racist voting by whites (Vox)

Voting Trends

• All Latinos don’t vote the same way – their place of origin matters (The Conversation)
  

• I asked people why they don’t vote, and this is what they told me (The Conversation)

• The Myth of the Lazy Voter – Structural Barriers to Voting (The New York Times)
• Why Is It So Hard to Vote in America? (Foreign Policy)

• Culling Voter Rolls: Battling Over Who Even Gets to Go to the Polls (The New York Times)
• Do Men Have It Easier? Your Politics Might Determine How You Answer (NPR)
• Report Reflects on the Status of Black Women in the U.S. (Teen Vogue)
• Check out our comprehensive 115th Congress guide, with election data, demographics, and member stats (Daily Kos)
• Allowing felons to vote could change American politics (Business Insider)

Vedge Issues

• Does college turn people into liberals? (The Conversation)
• Why Geography Stops Gun Control From Taking Root (NBC News)
• 71% of Americans Say Political Correctness Has Silenced Discussions Society Needs to Have, 58% Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share (Cato Institute)
• Fury fuels the modern political climate in US (The Hill)
• New poll of rural Americans shows deep cultural divide with urban centers (Denver Post)

Universal Basic Income

• Support mounts for universal basic income programs (CNBC)
• A California city is launching the first US experiment in basic income (Business Insider)
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Universal Basic Income (Futurism)
• What If Everyone Got a Monthly Check From the Government? (Bloomberg)

Government Agencies

• This troubled, covert agency is responsible for trucking nuclear bombs across America each day (LA Times)

Military

• The Army Beat Its Recruitment Goals This Year by Targeting Students in Debt (Vice)

• Who Signs Up to Fight? Makeup of U.S. Recruits Shows Glaring Disparity (MSN)

• The Pentagon’s Push to Program Soldiers’ Brains (The Atlantic)
• I Was Sexually Assaulted by Another Marine, The Corps Didn’t Believe Me (The New York Times)

• Systemic Sexism in the Military (The Society Pages)
• Reports of Sexual Assault in the Military Rise by 10 Percent (New York Times)
• Three quarters of young Americans couldn't join the military if they wanted to (Hot Air)
• 'Less Than 30% of Young Men and Women' Qualified to Join Military (CNS News)
• Inside the world's first all-female special forces unit (NBC News)
• Tomorrow Soldier: How The Military Is Altering the Limits of Human Performance (Defense One)

War

• Why It’s No Longer Possible for Any Country to Win a War (Time)
• Chronicler of Islamic State 'killing machine' goes public (Associated Press)
• Study of Iraq fighters reveals what makes people prepared to die for a cause (The Guardian)
• The secret lives of IS fighters (BBC)

Veterans

• Letters From the Children of Fallen Service Members to the Parents They Lost (New York Times)

• Shocking tales behind female veterans descent as America's fastest-growing homeless group (Mirror)
• The Veteran Trying to Teach His Students About His War (The Atlantic)

Corruption

• Our rotten world: New data shows 85% of humans live under a corrupt government (New Atlas)

Globalization Policies

• Globalization and NAFTA Caused Migration from Mexico (Political Research Associates)
• The Uprising of the Global Middle Class (The Atlantic)
• Go Back Home
• Despite concerns about global democracy, nearly six-in-ten countries are now democratic (Pew Research Center)