In the fall 2008, the Boston Globe asked Mosakowski Institute Director Jim Gomes to write a series of op-ed columns setting forth challenges that confront America early in the 21st century. The result was the “American Challenges” Series (below).

• Some straight talk about today's America
  Political discourse in America often seems to skirt the real problems facing the country in favor of vague and optimistic platitudes. Must this be the case?
• No more having it both ways
  For a long time, Americans have put off choosing between less government spending and higher levels of taxation, but a time of reckoning may be at hand.
• A climate plan in peril?
  If climate change is the most important issue of our generation, and the new President has promised to take strong action to reverse it, are solutions on the way? Not so fast.
• Healthcare, education through the looking glass
  Most people agree that public education and health care systems are in need of reform. Gomes provides a novel take on just how in need of reform they are.
• Thinking ahead on electoral reform
  The legitimacy of American government rests on the integrity of the electoral process. So just how honest are our elections, and where are the major threats?
• The poor are still with us
  The current economic crisis may provide an opportunity to address a long-standing crisis in American society, the persistence of poverty for tens of millions of people.