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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Neil G. Giuliano

CEO, San Francisco AIDS Foundation; former mayor of Tempe, Ariz.

When we promote and permit intolerance through bans on same-sex marriage, we enable and encourage feelings of marginalization, depression, and isolation among gay people. As a result, things like substance use, alcohol consumption, and sexual risk taking increase.

Matthew Cooke

Writer-director, How To Make Money Selling Drugs

Drug war supporters think Americans might tear apart the fabric of society if we were legally allowed to consume whatever plants or chemicals we chose. This is not based in fact.

Jared Bernstein

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

As the fiscal picture has improved, both through actions we've taken already and the improving economy, it's much tougher to make the hair-on-fire urgency case that drove this benighted debate in recent years.

Spencer Overton

Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School; Senior Fellow at Demos

Before assuming that Justice Scalia is a recent convert to voting rights protections, recognize that language in today's opinion could eventually undermine voting rights. The details of the opinion could empower state and local partisans who manipulate voting rules.

Joseph Blady, M.D.

Former program officer for the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and senior analyst for the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

We should not close our eyes to genocide and injustice, just as we shouldn't ignore world hunger or disease. But we do need to understand what works and what doesn't.

Leo Hindery, Jr.

Chairman, U.S. Economy/Smart Globalization Initiative at the New America Foundation

Never has there been a bigger "Scr__ You" to American workers and manufacturing than tax-avoider Apple's tag line on all of its national advertising: "Designed by Apple in California"

Arn Pearson

Vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause

Now that a major leak has blown the cover off that story and exposed a massive data mining operation by the NSA, will congressional leaders and U.S. Attorney Machen demand justice and rush to convene a grand jury?

Adrian Grenier

Actor, filmmaker and entrepreneur

For too long we've exclusively emphasized punishment for non-violent offenders over treatment and rehabilitation. The current system is unbalanced, unsustainable, and unnecessarily cruel. It's time to legalize or at the very least, decriminalize all drugs.

Daniel Luzer

Washington Monthly web editor

While it's true that the government can't function effectively when its employees take it upon themselves to sabotage the programs they don't like, a good question to ask might be how many programs we should really be running to which any "marginally attentive citizen" might object.