Let Local Residents Govern the California–Baja Border

The People Living with the Mess the U.S. and Mexico Made Have the Best Chance of Cleaning It Up

California-Baja Border | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

To: Baja California Gov.-elect Marina del Pilar Ávila and California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Cc: Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria
Re: A Borderlands Assembly

All four of you can see that the American and Mexican governments are playing politics with the border. Both nations at the federal level refuse to govern the borderlands with the respect and responsibility that the place and its people deserve.

If you work together, you can establish a new body with the power and legitimacy to represent your constituents on both sides of …

by Joe Mathews | November 2, 2021

The United States Didn’t Really Begin Until 1848

Forget 1619 or 1776—America’s Origin Debate Has a California-Sized Blind Spot

by Joe Mathews | October 5, 2021

America, you’ve got the dates wrong.

Your intense debate over which year marks the real beginning of the United States—1619 (slavery’s arrival) or 1776 (Declaration of Independence)—has become predictably polarizing. You …

What It Takes to Change Your Adopted Nation’s Foreign Policy

Armenian Americans’ Long Fight for Genocide Recognition Is a Victory—And a Cautionary Tale

by Kamyar Jarahzadeh | August 12, 2021

In the media and in politicians’ minds, foreign policy often seems to take a backseat to other subjects such as the economy or social issues. But for the United States’ …

A Fictional Calexit Scenario Offers a Real Warning

Conservative Writer David French Argues That if Americans Can’t Live by Pluralism, the Country Could Split Apart

by Joe Mathews | August 10, 2021

It was gun violence that finally drove California to secede from the United States.

A series of mass shootings culminated in a savage, Columbine-style attack on a Sacramento-area school that killed …

The U.S.-China Rivalry Isn’t a New Cold War; It’s Bigger Than That

The Fact That the Two Countries Are Interdependent Makes Both War and Peaceful Cooperation More Possible

by Joe Mathews | February 12, 2021

The rivalry between China and the United States is not a new Cold War, but it involves profound competition along economic, technological, and economic lines that create dilemmas for other …

It’s 2020. Do You Know Who Your Government Is Serving?

America Has Been Conflating Politics and Business for Years—And if We’re Not Careful, We Could Go the Way of Post-Soviet Eastern Europe

by Janine R. Wedel | December 10, 2020

In broad daylight, dozens of masked police and plain-clothed strongmen burst into the foyer of the swanky Sofiyskiy Fitness Club. It was May 25, 2017, and the posh gym—located in …

Let the People of California Solve the State’s Homelessness Crisis

A Citizens’ Assembly Could Unify People Around a Thorny Problem and Succeed Where Politicians Have Failed

The Border Should Inspire Us, Not Scare Us

Communities Along the U.S.-Mexico Border Point the Way to a Bicultural, Bilingual, and Binational Future

Welcome to California (Not!)

The Golden State's Four Borders Tend to Make the Other Side Look Better

Let’s Make a Deal to Keep Immigrant Families Together

California Should Have the Right to Grant Legal Residency to the Undocumented

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