Robert Scheer

Editor, Truthdig.com; Author, 'The Great American Stickup'

For defense contractors, the government officials who write them mega checks, and the hawks in the media who cheer them on, the name of the game is threat inflation. And no one has been better at it than the folks at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Richard Kirsch

Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute; author of 'Fighting for Our Health'

New health insurance marketplaces will make affordable care accessible to millions, but low-wage employees of big businesses may be left out.

MJ Rosenberg

Special Correspondent, Washington Spectator

Obama's proposal to take sides in the Syrian war is wrong. It is arrogant. It ignores our destructive history in the Middle East and the perception by all parties in the region that everything we do there is motivated by our blatant bias toward Israel.

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Writer; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

What kind of society abandons its own young? What kind of society allows the generations in power to favor themselves over those who follow them, and then lets them claim they're doing it out of selflessness?

Zach Hindin

Writer and musician based in Harlem.

Almost immediately, the press invoked George Orwell to characterize the drama unfolding around Edward Snowden's revelation of the NSA's digitally omniscient domestic surveillance program. It should have been Aldous Huxley.

Nick Turse

Managing Editor, TomDispatch.com

Ten years after Washington began pouring taxpayer dollars into counterterrorism and stability efforts across Africa, the continent has experienced profound changes, just not those the U.S. sought.

Janai S. Nelson

Professor of Law, Associate Dean of Faculty Scholarship, and Associate Director of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John’s University School of Law

In an age of expanding constraints on registration and voting that include voter ID laws, limited early voting, and curtailed registration drives, Scalia's unexpected warmth toward the Elections Clause just might be the gift that keeps on giving.

Mike Mokrzycki

Independent, non-partisan survey research consultant

An exhaustive 2008 academic study of polling in the years after 9/11 can help make sense of what might be seen as confused public opinion today on privacy and government surveillance. It also suggests concerns about surveillance may be underreported as some people particularly sensitive about privacy might not take surveys.

Rep. Jackie Speier

U.S. Congresswoman from California's 14th District

Globally, people are buying again. Yet, in the United States, consumers continue to purchase cars, computers and phones not made in America. It is past time that consumers recognize the emerging power of "Made In America" products and services.

Alison Rosen

Co-host, Adam Carolla Show; host, Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend

There was a time when having a nuanced, measured, well-considered take on something, one that didn't fit neatly into a, well, box was appreciated. Those days are gone.

Eric E. Sterling

President, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation

You would think that Eric Holder, the first African American Attorney General, and Barack Obama, the first African American President, would be vigilant that there was no racial discrimination in the Justice Department of their Administration. You would think.

Ethan Nadelmann

Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance

The magnitude of our victories in Colorado and Washington makes what once appeared impossible -- drug law reforms grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights -- seemingly inevitable.

Mark R. Kennedy

Professor of political management and director of the Graduate School of Political Management, George Washington University

One can debate whether America should insert itself militarily into the Syrian conflict. It is far less debatable that by selling weapons to al-Assad, Russia has precipitated Obama's recent decision to arm the Syria rebels, initiating an American role in this military conflict.

Wray Herbert

Author, 'On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits'

We hire and train intelligence agents to weigh risks and make judgments, and most of us want to believe that these assessments are sound. But how rational are the individual men and women who are making the life-and-death decisions that influence national security?

Sunny Bjerk

Communications Manager, Housing Works Inc.

Cuomo's fight for women's equality cannot afford to overlook transgender women, who are especially vulnerable to violence, harassment, and discrimination in housing, employment, and health care. I hope that the Women's Equality Coalition will recognize the vulnerability of all women.

Violeta Ayala

Bolivian filmmaker

I grew up like most Bolivians with no notion of whether cocaine was good or bad. To me, it was a way to get out of poverty.

Jared Bernstein

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

Contrary to conservative claims that the food stamp, or SNAP, program has run amok, participation is high for a reason: there are still a lot of folks struggling to provide their families with adequate nutrition.