Murray Polner: After issuing his order to release the prisoner, Harding had the audacity to invite Debs to visit him in the White House, where the two men, so different in so many ways, shook hands, and spent an hour talking.

Gary Corseri: He inspired as no political leader has since then. He was elegant in thought and demeanor. He made it acceptable, even “cool,” to be educated, learned, literate and erudite. He had a honed sense of irony, and could be funny.

Dan Farber: The safest prediction is that our Democratic President and Republican Congress will not in fact be able to work together. But hope springs eternal. Are there areas where common ground exists?

Robert J. Burrowes: People like these five are simply devoid of the emotional capacity that makes a powerful individual able to cooperate and persevere in seeking mutually beneficial outcomes.

Ted Vaill: Perhaps Obama could be impeached, but rather than lying about a tawdry affair with a White House intern, the President would be brought to trial in the Senate for doing his job of running the country and trying to solve its problems, a job that Congress has refused to do themselves.

Sandra Hernandez and Will Mathews: Processes must be followed to ensure public debate, oversight and accountability before law enforcement acquires surveillance technologies.

Tina Dupuy: The Pledge is a jingoistic chant created by a children’s publication to celebrate an explorer turned brutal torture-happy tyrant with a Hitler salute. It’s not the best tradition we have in this country.

Walter Brasch: We are so afraid that someone else will get something more than we have, so instead of fighting to get better wages and working conditions, we attack unions and public school teachers.

Frank Fear: Exceptionalism has no place in Progressive vocabulary or practice. Leadership, Progressive-style, can’t tolerate it. Progress starts by taking an honest look in the mirror, seeing warts and all, and then working to get better—for the public good.

Kristie Macrakis: Edward Snowden is the new Frank Church. And reporters Glenn Greenwald and Barton Gellman are the investigative staffers. In the absence of real congressional oversight, whistleblowers and the media have had to step in.

Peter Dreier: Liberals and progressives might want to send tens of thousands of veto pens to the White House to remind Obama that he’s still the president, even if a weakened one.