sponsored by The Boston Foundation
Explore Massachusetts’ vibrant political and civic landscape with incisive commentary from legislators, local activists, seasoned political analysts, and interested residents across the Bay State.
CommonWealth Voices aims to be a beacon of robust discourse, offering a platform for analysis and advocacy on the challenges and aspirations of political life in Massachusetts.
The Boston Foundation is deeply committed to civic leadership, and essential to our work is the exchange of informed opinions. We are proud to partner on a platform that engages such a broad range of demographic and ideological viewpoints.
SUBMIT AN OPINION
We welcome informed commentary about local, state and national public policy. Please include the author’s contact information when submitting.
Lawmakers must resist Big Tech fearmongering, pass data privacy bill
PERSONAL DATA HAS become the de facto currency of the digital age, and we’ve surrendered more control over our lives than we may have realized. Our every click is treated as a commodity, and our everyday comings and goings—including our visits to health care facilities, places of worship, political rallies, and more—are collected and shared with innumerable third parties, including shadowy data brokers, marketers, and even the government. It’s easy to see how the widespread availability of this sensitive information can be used against us. Recognizing the threat, the Massachusetts Senate recently passed legislation (S. 2619, the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act) that would strengthen…
The case for raising the age of Juvenile Court jurisdiction has only grown stronger
THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE is again debating whether to raise the age of Juvenile Court jurisdiction to include 18 to 20-year-old youth. The last time the state raised the age was in 2013, when 17-year-olds were moved from facing charges in criminal court to the Juvenile Court’s jurisdiction. More than five years ago, I argued that, from an equity and public safety perspective, raising the age further was necessary. Today, this position is even more compelling. Including late teens and emerging adults within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court system is the most effective way to protect public safety, as recidivism…
Gov. Healey’s mixed messages on housing for those most in need
AS A FAMILY medicine physician at Boston Medical Center, I have cared for hundreds of individuals and families experiencing homelessness over the last 20 years. The landscape of housing services that I can offer them continues to change, sometimes leaving me with a great sense of hope and possibility and, at other times, more hopeless than ever for my patients’ restoration to health. Recently, this seesaw from hope to hopelessness has become more extreme, as decisions by our state leaders seem to be simultaneously pulling in opposite directions when it comes to housing help for those most in need. Two…
Move over ‘motor voters,’ it’s time for ‘patient participation’
EVERY YEAR, thousands of Massachusetts residents see a doctor—but never see a ballot. For low-income and minority communities that face barriers to voter registration, health care facilities can offer a solution: making civic engagement easier by reaching people where they are. Registries of motor vehicles, or RMVs, are currently a main location for voter registration. The National Voter Registration Act, nicknamed the “Motor Voter Act,” requires RMVs to offer automatic voter registration, making the process seamless for new Massachusetts residents getting driver’s licenses or registering their cars. But low-income and immigrant individuals are less likely to drive and own a…
Authoritarian echoes of the darkest times
THEY THOUGHT THEY were safe. They didn’t see it coming. And when they finally did, they did nothing. The evolution from democracy to authoritarianism moved gradually. It began with a legitimate transfer of power. It was not a coup. But over time, the new government undermined all the guardrails of a democracy. The legislature became a meaningless rubber stamp. The courts were politicized. Executive fiats overrode individual rights. The constitution was ignored. Journalists were forced to register and limited in their coverage. “Alternative facts” and propaganda replaced objective journalism. Political opponents were targeted, harassed, or prosecuted. Troops marched in the…
Addressing food insecurity starts with adequately staffing the state office responsible for SNAP benefits to meet the rising need
THE RECENT REPUBLICAN megabill, H.R.1, slashed the largest amount from basic needs programs in American history to give tax breaks to the wealthy. The bill cuts 20 percent of funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – a basic needs program that serves 1 in 6 very low-income Massachusetts residents. Eligibility restrictions in H.R.1 threaten benefits for around 110,000 current Massachusetts recipients, including families with children, older adults, veterans, and homeless households. In Greater Boston alone, Boston Indicators estimates about 40,000 very low-income adults could lose benefits. However, to echo Gov. Healey: “In Massachusetts, we won’t accept that.” The…
Finding common cause and common sense in complexity
“THERE’S A PLACE in the world for the angry young man,” wrote Billy Joel almost 50 years ago. Unfortunately, that place seems to have expanded in our public square (for both men and women), creating echo chambers of primal screaming on both the right and left, leaving the large majority of us wondering where all the middle ground went. For much of the past year, I’ve been writing a series of issue briefs for CommonWealth Beacon on a variety of controversial policy topics (see below), providing evidence-based arguments pro and con, in contrast to the bumper stickers from the left…
Funding was the start – now we need to build out systems to help our immigrant workforce learn English
IN POLITICS, timing can be everything. When the Boston Foundation’s Latino Equity Fund released “The ROI of ESOL,” documenting the economic returns of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) education for immigrant workers, the plan was to catalyze immediate policy action. Unfortunately, we released it in February 2020, just weeks before COVID shut down the world and policymakers shifted to a different set of emergency priorities. But when we revisited workforce development for immigrant workers alongside a powerful coalition of organizations last fall, the timing couldn’t have been better. Labor shortages across industries had employers desperately seeking skilled workers.…
Trump administration handling of vaccine guidelines causes unnecessary confusion, rift with scientific community
A WEEK AGO, the CDC’s acting director signed off on the recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an external panel that sets US vaccine policy. The committee voted to recommend that COVID-19 vaccines, previously recommended as an annual shot for everyone over the age of 6 months, be taken only after discussion with a health care provider. They further emphasized the importance of a risk-based discussion of whether to get vaccinated for individuals under the age of 65. Six of 12 members also voted to require a prescription for vaccination, a motion that failed based on…
Why the Democratic supermajority on Beacon Hill won’t pass Democratic bills
Sooner or later, enough people will learn how democracy in Massachusetts is a lie. When they do, leadership’s iron grip will crack, not because those in power wanted to change, but because voters finally forced them to.
Because of one bad policy move after another, Massachusetts has been backsliding on education for more than a decade. Will we face up to this reality and change course?
After nearly 15 years of decline, the question is whether things have finally gotten bad enough for state leaders to return to the high standards, accountability, and strategic access to high quality choices that were pillars of the most successful education reform in modern American history.
DiZoglio misfires in attack on attorney general
MASSACHUSETTS STATE AUDITOR Diana DiZoglio recently called in to Boston Public Radio and accused Attorney General Andrea Campbell of “working with the legislative leaders to block the audit that the Commonwealth voted for to the tune of 72 percent.” She further claimed that the 12 percent increase to Campbell’s fiscal year 2026 budget is a bid by the Legislature to reward her for declining to represent the auditor in litigation to compel legislative cooperation with her efforts to audit the House and Senate pursuant to last fall’s ballot question. For her part, Attorney General Campbell maintains that the budget increase…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.