--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: July 30 description: Assessing Libya after the pullout, doing more to fix the VA, understanding an independent Kurdistan, what Amtrak should do, and more. canonical: https://time.com/3059078/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-july-30/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-30T16:01:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:43:07.672Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are the Five Best Ideas of the Day og:description: Learn about: Assessing Libya after the pullout, doing more to fix the VA, understanding an independent Kurdistan, what Amtrak should do, and more. og:url: https://time.com/3059078/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-july-30/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are the Five Best Ideas of the Day twitter:description: Learn about: Assessing Libya after the pullout, doing more to fix the VA, understanding an independent Kurdistan, what Amtrak should do, and more. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: July 30 by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jul 30, 2014 4:01 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jul 30, 2014 4:01 PM UTC **1\.** [**The bipartisan deal on VA reform is a good first step, but more must be done to fix this badly broken system.**](http://blogs.cfr.org/davidson/2014/07/29/new-va-reform-bill-is-a-stopgap-not-a-solution/) By Jesse Sloman at the Council on Foreign Relations **2\.** [**Notes from an intervention: What went wrong in Libya.**](http://www.democracyjournal.org/arguments/2014/07/did-libyan-intervention-fail.php) By Nathan Pippinger in Democracy **3\.** [**An independent Kurdistan could reshape the middle east – if we let it.**](http://www.newsweek.com/2014/08/08/can-independent-kurdistan-reshape-middle-east-261858.html) By Jonathan Foreman in Newsweek **4\.** [**Amtrak doesn’t need a writer’s residency; it needs to deliver affordable on-time transportation.**](https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/07/rebranding-amtrak/) By Christopher Kempf in Jacobin **5\.** [**“Our nation’s baby steps towards political, social and economic inclusion could be stalling.**](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-maya-rockeymoore/its-time-for-an-inclusion-revolution%5Fb%5F5628904.html)**“** By Maya Rockeymoore in Huffington Post  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3059078/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-july-30/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3059078/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-july-30/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: July 30","datePublished":"2014-07-30T16:01:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:07.672Z","description":"Assessing Libya after the pullout, doing more to fix the VA, understanding an independent Kurdistan, what Amtrak should do, and more.","url":"https://time.com/3059078/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-july-30/","keywords":["Innovation","Libya","Amtrak","Kurdistan","VA"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3059078/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-july-30/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: July 30"}}]}] ```