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In America, interpersonal trust is in decline. Less than one-third of Americans agree that most people can be trusted. Events that might have brought people together, like the shared sacrifices of the pandemic, led instead to infighting. Social trust enables us to live meaningful lives in community and peacefully solve shared problems, from racial injustice to creating job...
Two visionary leaders discuss what the upheaval of 2020 is revealing about who we are as Americans and who we are called to be. At a moment that demands we reimagine so much about our democracy — as persistent, systemic inequities are laid bare — how do we pursue immediate reforms while not losing sight of long term, wholesale transformation? How do we cultivate civic enga...
The decline in trust of scientific institutions over the course of the pandemic is manifested in the number of Americans worried about the truth of scientific progress and the abilities of scientific leaders to be objective and credible. How do we rebuild trust?
“Follow the science” has become a Democratic mantra, but many Americans are wary of experts and believe elites look down on them. Have Democrats become too identified with technocratic ways of speaking — about the economy, the pandemic, climate change? Has this deepened the political divide between those with and those without college degrees? Can Democrats reconnect with...
Homicide remains an endemic, seemingly unsolvable problem in America. And violent crime afflicts African-American communities to a much greater degree than it does others, as does mass incarceration — and as does police violence. What is the cause of this crisis? What role does racism play? What is the role of culture? Are there any solutions to be had? The mayor of New Or...
The world is different in 2022. As we begin to emerge from a global pandemic we’re faced with a barrage of new crises that are shaking nations to their core: war, food shortages, broken supply chains, bioterrorism, energy shortages, and inflation. Will data-driven intelligence, now a critical component for countries, business managers, and economic enterprises large and sm...
Congress is engaged in vigorous debates about health reform, the federal budget, and other sweeping policy changes that could have a potent impact on health. The future of Obamacare and the possibility that Medicaid may be significantly restructured or cut back dramatically are very much in play. The level of funding for the biomedical research and public health activities...
When Rochelle Walensky was appointed director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in December 2020, the pandemic had commandeered much of the agency’s attention. But its many other responsibilities never went on holiday. Even as the world’s premier public health agency developed guidance for COVID-19 testing, masking, quarantines, and vaccination, it...
Best known to the public as the Trump Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, physician Deborah Birx is a clinical immunologist who has also served as US Global AIDS coordinator and a colonel in the US Army. Challenged to speak the truth about COVID-19, she balanced candor and political pragmatism to get out accurate information. Her new book, Sile...
Over the last two years, the nation seems to have been broken. Against the background of a politicized pandemic, there was a verbal and legal assault on democracy predicated on the lie of a rigged election, followed by a literal assault on the US Capitol building. Then, in spite of something so obvious to unite against, the opposition party struggled to find a solid ticket...
Mayor fatigue is real. The New York Times recently reported that a spate of mayors across the country are stepping away from elected office in a siege of burnout following an exhausting 15 months. Between managing a global pandemic on the local level and reckoning with racial inequalities, many stressed-out mayors report there’s no time to deal with common city problems li...
Beyond the everyday policy disagreements that have typically characterized Americans from blue states and red states, we seem more divided than ever about the fundamental direction of our nation. For the first time since the Civil War, our political disagreements erupted into violence at the US Capitol. And the pandemic has only made things worse, as our differences became...
The upcoming US presidential election is likely to have significant implications for health and health care. On the domestic front, the choice could influence efforts to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, reform Medicare, prepare for natural and manmade emergencies, and support cutting-edge research at the National Institutes of Health. Globally, funding for pandemic respon...
Benjamin Franklin famously warned that our government is a republic, if we can keep it. Most Americans don’t follow the highly pitched partisan battles that are waged over the redrawing of electoral districts after each decennial census. Yet, as we head into the 2022 midterm elections, a flurry of court rulings have upended the maps put in place by state legislators, findi...
The 2022 primary season continues to unfold as a test of former President Trump’s hold over the Republican party. What have electoral results thus far told us about how internal party struggles will resolve, and what difference might it make if the former president decides not to run in 2024? Where is the party’s base and where are its general election voters on key issues...