Andrew Sasser: The shared foundation of liberals and conservatives

  Political discussion in the United States is often framed by party allegiance. When people are asked to explain the rationale behind their choice to identify with a specific party, however, they often cannot give an answer beyond listing particular positions that they support or oppose. While an understanding of specific policies is important, limiting debate to the realm of policy misses out on the deeper questions that lie at the heart of any political society.

Steve Phillips: What about white voters?

  Most analyses of America’s demographic revolution focus on the fact that people of color will comprise a majority of the country’s population in about 30 years—specifically, 2044 by the U.S. Bureau of the Census’ latest estimates. A question often underlying these analyses is: “How will this browning of America affect our country’s politics?” While the explosive growth of this group is a transformative element of modern American politics, another important and often overlooked question is: “What about white voters?” That is, how will the voting tendencies of whites affect election outcomes as our country moves toward becoming a majority-minority nation?

Robert Wilkerson: Taking food from the poor

  There they go again, picking on the poor and defenseless. A recent Farm Bill pushed by Republicans would give billions of dollars in subsidies to large corporate landowners, while cutting the food stamp (SNAP) program so deeply that five million people would be kicked off. Most of those who would lose benefits (83 percent) are already living below the poverty line. In Alabama, about 910,000 people would lose their benefits on November 1, 2013.

David Madland and Keith Miller: Senate Republicans may allow workers’ rights to disappear

  If the Senate does not act quickly to approve President Barack Obama’s five bipartisan nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, a number of workplace protections taken for granted by union and non-union workers alike could functionally disappear in August, leaving millions of workers vulnerable and with nowhere to turn.

Melissa Boteach: House budget cuts to nutrition assistance are bad for the economy

  The House Republican budget for fiscal year 2014 proposes converting the nation’s bedrock nutrition-assistance program into a capped block grant to the states that would result in approximately $125 billion in cuts over the next 10 years. Forcing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to become a block grant, in addition to the extra $10 billion in cuts to the program within the budget proposal, could result in up to 12 million to 13 million people—mainly children, seniors, and people with disabilities—losing their nutrition aid.