Roundup

Imperfect Union: The Constitution Didn't Foresee Divided Government

by Garrett Epps

Watching the battle between Obama and a Republican Congress for two years may shake Americans' faith in the Framers.

Obama Is Legally Allowed to Enforce—or Not Enforce—the Law

by Eric A. Posner

Ross Douthat misunderstands the separation of powers

How DNA Is Reshaping How We See Ourselves—and Our History

by Simon Worrall

Many of our traits and decisions are shaped by our ancestors, author says.

His Elective Highness, President Barack Obama

by Kathleen Bartoloni-Tuazon

Some early Americans thought our leader deserved a splashier title

Textbooks proposed for Texas schools open can of worms

by Emile J. Lester

"Students in Texas public schools could soon be learning that democracy and our nation’s government are based on the ideas of biblical figures like Moses and King Solomon."

Common Core: It Really Is All About the Tests (and Corporate Profits)

by Alan Singer

When you look at the history of the push for national standards you realize Common Core is all about testing.

The Civil War’s Environmental Impact

by Ted Widmer

Northern and Southern armies cut down roughly two million trees.

Delusions of the Democrats

by Kevin Baker

Demographics will not save them. A vision might.

The President Who Never Earned His Varsity Letter

by Michael Beschloss

For a president who never made the front line of his college squad, football played a surprisingly large part in Richard Nixon’s life.

Why Is American Teaching So Bad?

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Who becomes a teacher in America? The answer keeps changing, and not in ways that should make any of us proud.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

Those Stubborn Classics

by Ashley Thorne

Colleges exclude the classics for three reasons.

Did We Give the Pill Too Much Power?

by Elizabeth Weingarten

More than fifty years after the pill first came to market, its promise of access and equality remains unfulfilled for millions of other women.

A Day Late & a Dollar Short: Obama & China agree on Languid Climate Goals

by Juan Cole

Neither country has been willing to do all that much at all to reduce emissions.

The military make mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the self-criticism’s become excessive

by Max Boot

Despite the dismal state of Iraq today and to a lesser extent of Afghanistan, America’s veterans can be proud of their achievements over the past 13 years.

Treat street harassment as a crime

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Learn from 'masher' prosecutions, and go after at least some of the men who menaced Shoshana Roberts

Two ideologically based societies have developed within the United States, and the differences between them are growing.

by Paul Starr

The country is stuck but it is not stationary. Some things are changing—just not at the federal level.

How American voters fell out of love with their own parties

by Leon Neyfakh

Today we hate the other side more than we root for our own team. Why the end of rah-rah politics is bad for democracy.

Who won the Civil War? These students at Texas Tech have no idea. (Video)

One student even suggests that the South won the war. 

Obama can’t govern? Who knew?

by Niall Ferguson

"The reason the public has lost its illusions about Obama is that he has proved to be as bumbling an executive as he was beguiling as a campaigner."