clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
Help keep Vox free Reader support helps keep our explainers free for all. Support our mission by making a gift today.
The Big Idea

The Big Idea

Outside contributors' opinions and analysis of the most important issues in politics, science, and culture.

How to fix the crisis caused by Central American asylum seekers — humanely

By David A. Martin

The Supreme Court just quietly gutted antitrust law

By Lina Khan

The Supreme Court is an anti-democratic nightmare. Here’s how to fix it.

By Eric Posner and Glen Weyl

How Democratic lawmakers should help unions reeling from the Janus decision

By Benjamin Sachs and Sharon Block

The Court’s indefensible double standard

By Ilya Somin

Bias against Asian-American students is real. Affirmative action isn’t the problem.

By Stacey J. Lee and Kevin K. Kumashiro

The travel ban decision echoes some of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history

By Aziz Huq

In MLK’s day, conservatives didn’t think he was so “civil”

By Nicole Hemmer

How Silicon Valley workers are revolting against Trump’s immigration policy

By Alex Press

The latest Supreme Court decision is being hailed as a victory for digital privacy. It’s not.

By Aziz Huq

The Democratic Party is moving steadily leftward. So why does the left still distrust it?

By Sam Rosenfeld

A plan to fight high drug prices that could unite libertarians and socialists

By Charles Silver and David A. Hyman

Family separation isn’t just immoral. It’s likely ineffective.

By Randy Capps

To stop endless war, raise taxes

By Sarah Kreps

How to really watch the World Cup

By Laurent Dubois

The Second Amendment allows for more gun control than you think

By Joseph Blocher and Eric Ruben

Filed under:

We need new ways of treating depression

By Johann Hari

A human head transplant would be reckless and ghastly. It’s time to talk about it.

By Paul Root Wolpe

NASA’s leader wants to privatize the International Space Station. It’s a terrible idea.

By Konstantin Kakaes

Trump’s legal attack on the ACA isn’t about health care. It’s a war on the rule of law.

By Nicholas Bagley

The new US policy of separating immigrant children from their parents has chilling historical echoes

By Nicole Hemmer

The record-low birthrate offers yet another sign that millennials are economically screwed

By Alex Press

A worried mom wanted the police to take her mentally ill son to the hospital. They shot him.

By Alisa Roth

Why is Elon Musk raging at “big media”? Because he’s finally being called on his tall tales.

By Brent Goldfarb and David Kirsch

Demanding public rights in private spaces: lessons of the Starbucks controversy

By Bradley L. Garrett

Many feminists find Philip Roth’s work off-putting. Elaine Showalter thinks he’s a titan.

By Christopher Shea

The NFL’s “take a knee” ban is flatly illegal

By Benjamin Sachs

A radical proposal to fight poverty in the developing world: tax the rich more than the poor

By Charles Kenny and Justin Sandefur

Europe’s tough new digital privacy law should be a model for US policymakers

By Trevor Butterworth

How domestic abusers use smartphones to spy on their partners

By Nicki Dell, Karen Levy, Damon McCoy, and Thomas Ristenpart

The government prosecution of a “black identity extremist” fell apart. Meanwhile, white supremacists are on the march.

By Nicole Hemmer

Steven Pinker’s new book on the Enlightenment is a huge hit. Too bad it gets the Enlightenment wrong.

By Aaron R. Hanlon

Trump and Obama both ignored Gaza — at great cost

By Daniel Byman

The Republican cold war on the Affordable Care Act

By Andy Slavitt

Support for working moms is stronger than ever — except when it comes to parental leave and other concrete policies

By Lyman Stone

The “Intellectual Dark Web,” explained: what Jordan Peterson has in common with the alt-right

By Henry Farrell

Trump has put the US on a path to bombing Iran

By Michael Krepon

It’s time for liberals to get over Citizens United

By Scott Casleton

The hearings for Trump’s CIA pick should prompt a reckoning with torture

By Karen J. Greenberg

The Golden State Killer case shows how swiftly we’re losing genetic privacy

By Norman A. Paradis