Minister Leslie Watson Malachi

Director of African American Religious Affairs, People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation

Americans -- and especially Americans of color -- are questioning whether our voices can be heard over the noise of massive corporate and special interest political spending in the wake of Citizens United.

Aron Cramer

President and CEO, BSR

Surely this is one issue on which red state and blue state lawmakers can agree. It's time to make waste as un-American as it is uneconomic.

Heather Taylor-Miesle

Director, NRDC Action Fund

Lawmakers should remember that most Americans are more interested in pragmatic solutions than ideological battles. And when it comes to economic, health, national security, and environmental challenges, clean energy is one of the most powerful solutions we have.

Arthur Delaney

AARP CEO A. Barry Rand said during a speech today at the National Press Club that he's no fan of the "chained CPI" -- the alternate measure of inflati...

Michael P. McDonald

Associate Professor, George Mason University

In the 2012 general election, Democrats tend to vote early in-person and by provisional ballots, while Republicans tend to favor mail balloting, with Election Day voters usually falling in-between.

José Fernando López

Editor in Chief, PODER Magazine

2012 will be remembered as the year that the giant awoke. Hispanics accounted for 10 percent of the total vote in the November elections, and leaned mostly (73 percent) toward the Democratic Party.

Mark Morford

Columnist, SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle; Author, 'The Daring Spectacle: Adventures in Deviant Journalism', ERYT yoga instructor

Is it not refreshing? Is it not all kinds of wonderful to be reminded that all the spittle-flecked hate and hissing resentment in the world still can't defeat intelligence, wisdom, flawed but honest integrity?

Reese Schonfeld

Television journalist

It was a good year in primetime for everybody but CNN. On an annual basis, MSNBC was up 16 percent, Fox News was up 9 percent while CNN was down 2 percent.

Sarah van Gelder

Co-founder and executive editor, 'YES! Magazine'

While the Earth didn't end on December 21, 2012, the year's end was marked by a new awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis. Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the preciousness and fragility of life on Earth.

Peter Gardett

Managing Editor, AOL Energy

A heavily contested presidential election against the background of sweeping changes in the energy sector itself proved a perfect time to reexamine long-held theories about the politics of energy.

Saul Gitlin

Executive Vice President of Strategic Services, Kang and Lee Advertising

So, beyond merely acknowledging such statistics and their corresponding political implications, what concrete actions should the GOP take now to begin to foster relevance with key multicultural constituencies?

William S. Becker

Executive Director, Presidential Climate Action Project

We appear to be a masochistic electorate and Congress appears to count on it. Congress holds us in contempt. That's not likely to change until we impose the discipline upon it that it's unwilling to impose upon itself.

John Friedman

Helping businesses live their values and tell their authentic stories

We're so busy expressing outrage and pointing fingers that we are not accepting responsibility for our own part in reelecting the same fiscal-cliff-creating, legislation-stalling, economy-risking people that we gave the lowest approval rate in history.

Will Durst

Political comic, former radio talk show host, syndicated columnist, author, motivational speaker

When you think about it, the only thing that really went right with 2012 was we misread the Mayan Calendar. Everything else is either worse than we found it or the same.

Mark Juddery

Author, commentator and film journalist

In case you expect me to include 50 Shades of Grey, the Kardashians or Clint Eastwood's profound discussion with a chair, sorry, but nobody actually rated them highly.

Medea Benjamin

Co-founder, CODEPINK: Women for Peace

There are many things to be thankful for in 2012. People have been taking to the streets around the world, from students in Chile to indigenous activists in Canada to anti-austerity workers in Europe. Here are some U.S. and global issues that experienced newfound gains in 2012.