The 40 Republican U.S. Senators represent barely a third of all Americans, yet with one added Democratic vote they can stymie what most Americans want.

The health care drama in the U.S. Senate is cresting. After months of hearings -- and decades of dithering -- it is time to...

Watching the torturous turns of the health care debate in Congress is mind-numbing, even for the most savvy policy wonks, let alone for members of the public. Each side in this debate has its own set of facts and scare statistics, and the resulting FUD -- fear, uncertainty and doubt...

Much hope has been invested in Barack Obama's ability to strike a new course for the US following eight years of Bush administration unpopularity. Yet many in the US and abroad are impatient with the pace of progress under the Obama administration. The president made the rounds on five news...

Following President Barack Obama's speech on health care, several pundits said it was a performance worthy of Harry "Give 'em Hell" Truman. After his election, he was likened to Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. But for the coming battle over health care reform, Mr. Obama needs to step into...

Supreme Court confirmations are a good time to reflect on some basic precepts of our "separation of powers" system of government. The justices are supposed to be "above the law," but as various decisions have shown, unfortunately that is not always the case. Too often the nine black robes reveal...

The spread of the swine flu contagion has yet to reach scary I Am Legend proportions, but things are getting pretty hairy out there. The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic, the first flu pandemic in 41 years, as infections continue to climb in the United States, Europe, Australia,...

Imagine a place where doctors still do house calls. When I was visiting my friend Meredith, living in the small rural town of Lautrec about an hour's drive outside Toulouse, France, one day she was stung badly by a wasp, causing a sizable and painful swelling on her hand.

Moderate Muslims are the World's Swing Voters
by Steven Hill

Moderate Muslims should be seen as the world's swing voters. Unfortunately the US has been losing its appeal to these moderate swing voters, and in the process losing the battle for hearts and minds.

Some political observers see the...

The inauguration of the 44th president looked like the most dramatic debut since the Beatles arrived in New York. But now it's time for Team Obama to produce results. For three of President Obama's top priorities -- energy and climate change, health care, and jumpstarting the economy -- he would...

Obama is in the lead, both nationally and in some very key battleground states. This election is his to lose. But elections can be surprising affairs. Let's ask a question: What combination of factors would need to occur for Obama to lose? And how realistic is that scenario?

Here...

How John McCain Still Can Win
By Steven Hill

Obama is in the lead, both nationally and in some very key battleground states. This election is his to lose. But elections can be surprising affairs. Let's ask a question: What combination of factors would need to occur for Obama...

Steven Hill: China and the Long Road Ahead
September 6th, 2008
Posted from Shanghai, China

During the Olympics, China showed the world that it can throw a heck of a coming out party. But traveling here afterward, one sees the many complexities and challenges facing this...

With Ralph Nader in the race, Democrats are fuming and no doubt preparing to use the same legal tricks they used in 2004 to keep Nader off the ballot in many states. Republicans are cackling with glee.

But Republicans shouldn't cackle too loudly. They've also been hurt by the...

With Super Duper Tuesday looming on Feb. 5, the presidential horse race is about to move into its mid-game. At the end of this process, we may end up with the first president in history who is a woman, or an African American, or a former prisoner of war, or...

A Better Way to Conduct Presidential Primaries

The system for choosing presidential candidates is broken. Here's how to fix it

by Steven Hill
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, January 20, 2008, page G - 1

In the aftermath of Iowa and New Hampshire, many Americans have begun to...

By Dmitri Iglitzin and Steven Hill

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees not only the freedom to speak but also the freedom not to listen. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that "no one has a right to press even good ideas on an unwilling recipient." Nevertheless,...

[originally published in Washington Post, Outlook section Sunday, October 7, 2007; Page B03]

In the global economy, today's winners can become tomorrow's losers in a twinkling, and vice versa. Not so long ago, American pundits and economic analysts were snidely touting U.S. economic superiority to the...

By Dmitri Iglitzin and Steven Hill

When pets are poisoned by imported pet food or U.S. attorneys are fired under suspicious circumstances, Congress gears up hearings and vows quick action. A far greater scandal, however, has hardly gained the interest of legislators or the presidential candidates. That is the...

By Steven Hill and Guillaume Serina

What if the wrong candidate wins France's presidential election? If the wrong candidate were to win due to electoral fraud -- stuffing of ballot boxes or rigging votes -- all of France would be up in arms and the international media would shine a...

The Democratic presidential candidates have made an attempt to show that they have the average American's interests at heart central to their campaigns. Most of the candidates are currently serving in Congress, where they could demonstrate their populism through concrete legislative action. It is noteworthy, therefore, that on at least...