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Articles on 2014 US midterm elections

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Direct negotiations between top leaders may be the best and only way to get significant trade deals done, which requires fast-track authority. Reuters

Updating ‘fast-track’ is key to getting a trade deal in 2015

With the resounding Republican victory in November’s midterm elections, most pundits are despairing that Congress and President Barack Obama will find any areas for cooperation in the coming two years…
Protestors have been rallying for a “living wage” across the country in recent years, including at this one last month in Washington. Reuters

It’s time we revived FDR’s ‘wages of a decent living’

A noxious combination of falling wages, income inequality at its highest since the 1920s and a growing low-wage sector has caused the ranks of the working poor to swell to more than 47 million. That’s…
How many Big Macs can you buy from one hour’s work? Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com

The problem with a ‘living wage’

A recent internet meme making the rounds on Facebook compares minimum wages and the prices of Big Macs in the United States and Australia. The minimum wage is more than double in Australia (US$16 per hour…
How can parents who no longer live together continue to raise their children? via www.shutterstock.com

Child custody - parental rights vs the child’s best interest

The November 2014 elections included a North Dakota voter initiative emblematic of the vigorous debate taking place nationwide about child custody. The “Parental Rights Initiative” required courts to award…
Barack Obama has signed into law all but two of the bills to come before him, but is likely to use his power of presidential veto more often in the final two years of his term. White House/Pete Souza

US votes for presidential vetoes, filibusters and partisan fractures

Perhaps no sentiment better defines the American political psyche than distrust of government. It prompted the constitutional framers 226 years ago to create a system of national government that separates…
Just who were the voteres these elections? Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Minority voters tell their stories

Editor’s note: voter turnout in this year’s midterm elections - 36.6% - was lower than in the 2010 midterms (40.9%.) According to the Pew Research Center the “party of non-voters” is more racially diverse…
Prop 91 - just one of three ballot initiatives on marijuana decriminalization Steve Dipaola/Reuters

Ballot initiatives take the pulse of the nation

Editor’s note: There were 146 state-wide ballot measures up for consideration by voters in this week’s midterm elections, covering all manner of controversial issues – from abortion and guns to minimum…
The man to watch: new Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Midterms 2014: a little big day

No denying it, Tuesday was a big day for Republicans. They took control of the Senate, expanded their majority in the House, and added to the number of governorships they hold. The Senate outcome is rightly…

Democrats Smashed at US Midterm Elections

At US midterm elections held today (Aus time), the Democrats have lost control of the Senate, lost seats in the House, and failed to defeat any of their top right-wing Republican gubernatorial targets…
They are all Republicans but do these senators agree on US foreign policy? Larry Downing/Reuters

GOP: united against Obama, divided on American foreign policy

The midterm elections have come and gone. After months of speculation, the results were largely predictable. The Republicans solidified their position in the House and took the Senate. A sixth year president’s…
Is California ready for prison reform? Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

California’s Proposition 47: softer on crime

On November 4, 2014, Californians will vote on Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. The measure would change many crimes from felonies, which generally require prison terms, to misdemeanors…
Comedian Stephen Colbert at the 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. Reuters

Satire might not sway votes, but that isn’t the point

John Oliver’s new program Last Week Tonight is the most recent addition to the parody news genre. Like its predecessors, the show frequently mocks American politics; for example, an attention-grabbing…
Polls are open. Which campaigns’ ground games will outlast the election? AP

Getting out the vote: not all ground games are alike

In the final Election Day push, more and more focus is being shifted to the “ground game,” or the effort campaigns make to identify and turn out voters. From Massachusetts to Alaska, New Hampshire to Colorado…
Fired up, ready to go…? EPA/Keith Bedford

How the midterm elections became such a confusing mess

The US midterm elections will decide who gets control of Congress for Barack Obama’s last two years in office. A hugely decisive moment at first glance – but in reality, the 2014 midterms have devolved…

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