About Us
TomPaine.com is an online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary. Every weekday, we go beyond the news to deliver well-informed, provocative and credible progressive perspectives on the pressing issues affecting the nation and the world. TomPaine.com combines depth with immediacy to equip progressives to compete effectively in the 21st century’s marketplace of ideas.
TomPaine.com was founded in 1999 by John Moyers in conjunction with a series of hard-hitting opinion page ads in The New York Times. We take our inspiration from Thomas Paine—the revolutionary thinker and activist known for his incisive, biting commentaries. His most famous pamphlet, Common Sense , mobilized public opinion in support of the American Revolution. Widely available and written in powerful and accessible prose, the pamphlet appealed to a broad cross section of people, from farmers to bankers. Invoking the democratic spirit, Paine famously argued that "the cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind."
Our offices are in Washington, where we can be in the midst of the policy debates progressives care about and can interact with the personalities and alliances driving the progressive movement. We identify the great work of think tanks, progressive lawmakers, independent media and advocacy groups—and we amplify it. With our incisive critiques of the right wing and constructive solutions to domestic and foreign policy challenges, we help craft the ideas and arguments necessary to reframe the public debate in progressive terms.
Since 2004, TomPaine.com has been a project of the Institute for America's Future, a 501(c)(3) organization supported by grants and private donations. All donations to TomPaine.com are tax deductible.
The time is ripe for progressives to define a bold agenda for America's future. Our goal at TomPaine.com is nothing less than the establishment of a new vision for America and a realistic agenda to make that vision a reality.
The opinions expressed on TomPaine.com are those of the authors and do not represent the opinions of the Institute for America's Future.
Editorial Staff
Isaiah J. Poole: Executive Editor
Isaiah J. Poole comes to TomPaine.com from Congressional Quarterly, where he covered congressional leadership and tracked major bills through Congress. He has worked for more than 25 years as an editor and reporter for various newspapers, mostly in Washington, and has written articles on topics ranging from presidential politics to pop culture. He is also a founding member of the Washington Association of Black Journalists and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He is a native Washingtonian.
Alexandra Walker: Senior Editor
Before joining TomPaine.com in 2003, Alex interned at The Washington Monthly and reported for States News Service. Her writing on social policy issues has appeared in The Washington Post and Alternet . In her first career, Alex spent 10 years working on women’s policy issues—specifically, advocating for better legal treatment of rape and domestic violence victims. She lives in New York City.
Ethan Heitner: Assistant Editor
Ethan Heitner was a founding editor of Cairo magazine. Prior to that he published a notorious student tabloid at Columbia University, The Fed. He has a bachelor's degree in comparative literature focusing on Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian.
Rachel Joy Larris : Editorial Contractor
Rachel Joy Larris is a former reporter who’s written extensively for a variety of publications in Seattle and Ohio. She also ran a weekly newspaper, The North Seattle-Herald Outlook. Rachel has a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington and an M.A. in Media Relations from Georgetown University. Her master’s thesis is titled "The Daily Show Effect: Humor, News, Knowledge and Viewers."
Sandi Burtseva : Editorial Intern
Sandi Burtseva is working toward bachelor's degrees in English and art history at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has held editorial positions on several scholastic literary magazines and recently completed an editing internship with the Smithsonian Institution. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a career in editing or publishing in New York City. She currently resides in Maryland.
Registration Policy
In our efforts to bring you the most comprehensive and credible progressive insight and analysis, we will inevitably select content that exists behind a registration barrier. We find this annoying, too. We will never, however, lead you to an item behind a subscription barrier.
Newspapers and other media outlets require registration to better understand who their readers are. Alas, no-cost registration is the industry standard and will only become more common.
Here's a little hint about improving your experience on TomPaine.com. Go ahead and register with the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. These papers set the bar in American reporting and even though they, like many, can succumb to groupthink, their news and editorial pages consistently make and shape the policy agenda. Whenever possible, TomPaine will seek to link to registration-free sites. If we cannot, just know we think it's for a really good reason.
We'll keep surfing. You keep reading.
