Aspen Journal of Ideas

Our ability to accommodate religious diversity connects us to our founding era and to the principles embodied in our First Amendment. Although America is experiencing an all time high of religious diversity, religious literacy in the 21st century is net keeping pace, at a cost.

As a result of historic moves to normalization by Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro, the Cuba of today is no longer your father’s Cuba of Fidel Castro. It is not the free enterprise democracy of the American ideal either. But, it is much closer to the latter than is generally understood.

In presidential politics, survival is usually a factor of how broadly your ideas appeal and how that appeal translates into donors from many different sources. But when one mega-millionaire can keep a candidate in the race indefinitely, how do we pick a winner?

Until we have significant Latino representation in our societal leadership broadly defined, the integration of the Latino into American society will not reach its full potential.

On the day following the Supreme Court’s decision affirming the Affordable Care Act, Washington policy elites who had a hand in the law’s contentious creation and aftermath meet to discuss the impact of the ruling, the regrets they have and where America goes next with health care.

To ensure no Native youth are left behind, we must invest in a range of programs: Everything from financial assistance to something as simple as helping a Native student complete a college application. By investing in Native youth, we empower them to be successful Native professionals.

Private and public funds must be committed to improving the lives of Native youth, not only to give these talented young people the tools they need to thrive, but to save and improve their lives and the lives of generations to come.

For our nation to power through our next great revolution, we need to reinvent America as an innovation hub. We need to recognize that education is the greatest talent engine we possess and use collaboration to multiply those talents.

In the midst of all our transformation and upheaval, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the fundamental belief that has driven this country since its inception: that the American Dream should be within reach for everyone.

A few years ago, Dan Piraro drew a thought-provoking cartoon showing a physician talking to his patient, Planet Earth. “You’ve got advanced stage humans,” he says.