We have to build an independent, fighting movement for universal healthcare from the ground up, starting with local struggles such as the fight for single-payer in Vermont and the successful struggle that won life-saving liver transplants for two undocumented immigrants in Chicago. Only through these kinds of struggles can we expose the crooked priorities of the for-profit healthcare industry and push for the sane solution, affordable healthcare for all.

Still battling the disdain for his Mormon faith from hardcore religious-right groups, Romney can benefit from getting on the good side of the Christian friends of the Holy Land.

Mitt Romney can run a campaign by telling Americans about everything they’re missing, and what he would do to fill the void. It is efficient and clear. He sees the problem, and sets out to fix it. His strategy is sensible (notwithstanding the sometimes ironclad rigidity). It follows the mind of a businessman. But the president is more than a jobs plan.

Obama retreated from universal single-payer before even running for president. The Democrats squelched single-payer advocates and even derailed a bill that did propose single-payer healthcare by expanding Medicare for all.

The president seems to think that he can have it both ways. He applauds the Court for upholding the law but then continues to deny that the mandate is a tax.

The crux of Waltz’s argument is that “power begs to be balanced.” He suggests that “Israel’s nuclear monopoly has long fueled instability in the Middle East." I’m no fan of Israeli nukes, but I don’t think the warheads are the primary source of Israeli unpopularity.

Elections indicate a positive step in the transition away from authoritarianism and toward democracy, but they are not always a means of reassuring that a transitioning country is in optimum condition. Elections are a means, not an end, of the post-authoritarian transition process.

We may be collectively worried about the stability of Egypt’s fledgling democracy, but this is a normal and expected concern. It is part of the process of democratization. But it is a mistake to confuse our anxiety with a suggestion that the Egyptian revolution has failed.

While it is important to maintain an attitude that individual participation is vital to a thriving democracy, it is easy to lose sight of this when staring at overwhelming voting patterns and the media portrayal of electoral trends.

President Obama took on one of the worst crises in American history in one of the most politically polarized periods of American history and made lemonade. He passed historic legislation, he pulled America back from the brink of economic collapse, and he knows how to moonwalk.

International soccer can lead to respect and admiration for all different members of one’s nation and national team. But there are two teams in every match. The other team and the individuals that comprise it are “them,” one’s team is “us.” When a member of the opposition does not match the vision of what “us” looks like, especially when “us” is nearly homogeneous, it is easy to consider him an enemy.

The law is not perfect, nor fully operational yet (the mandate not becoming effective until 2014). But, at least the question now can now be “how will it work?” rather than “is the law even constitutional?”

In today’s political environment, expediency often takes precedence over good policy making. But the sooner we realize that there isn’t a magic bullet for fixing the economy, the closer we’ll get to fixing it.

Washington can learn from the Massachusetts election. Washington can learn what it means to be civil again. Washington can learn what it means to govern efficiently, not rule with blind ideology. The Massachusetts race has it all.