Category: Columnists

Are We Facing a Democratic Party in the Process of Radicalization?

Austin Sacker

Evident within the past decade or so, perhaps coinciding with the advent of social media platforms and greater media attention to our national political divide, the more radical elements of the right and left have gained major time in the American political spotlight. I am referring especially to the groups known as the “alt-right,” “Antifa,” the “alt-left,” and the like. While these groups are ostensibly ideologically opposed, they nonetheless share common methodological values: a diminished regard for civil discourse, a preference for informal political avenues of action, and on some…

It’s Time for America to Capitalize on the Wrongs of Capital Punishment

Ryan Slattery

The number of deaths resulting from capital punishment have reached an all-time low since 1991. Despite much of the chaos we see today, only 23 prisoners have been executed in 20171. A Gallup Poll conducted in October of 2017 shows that 55 percent of Americans support capital punishment for cases of murder, a five-point drop from the October 2016 results2. Indeed, support for capital punishment has reached an all-time low in 45 years. The time has come where Americans are starting to see capital punishment as a practice that is…

Xi Jinping is Not Reading His History

Jacob Floam

Asia is in a state of flux. As many see the Western ideas of democracy and freedom retreating in the Orient, there is potential for history to repeat itself. This was most recently experienced in the 1930s, when the Japanese tried to reshape Asia in their image and millions died as a consequence. The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was an effort by the statist Shōwa government to mask Japan’s belligerency to establish themselves as Asia’s hegemon. We all know what happened in the end. TASEANoday, Red China is working…

Righteousness

Greg Wagner

Theodore Roosevelt radiated a sense of noblesse oblige in his politics, viewing political calculation solely in terms of “Righteousness.” Righteousness might sound abstract, obscure, perhaps even outdated, to the ear, but to Roosevelt it had a precise definition. To Roosevelt, Righteousness implied that the morally right would conquer the wrong. It was his unshakeable conviction that righteousness would win the day that afforded Roosevelt a supreme confidence in his vision for a great American future. His political vision was simple, and for its simplicity and Righteousness, his vision was appealing.…

Democrats Should Begin to Study Universal Basic Income

Truman Stephens

Because Democrats continue to undergo an identity crisis following Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and the rising influence of the left wing of the Democratic Party, new ideas are needed to reinvigorate the party. The 2018 midterms are fast approaching, but Democrats are stuck in the muck reflecting on Donna Brazile’s impact on the election. Studying new economic ideas, like universal basic income, has the chance to reset the party’s economic message. Universal basic income (UBI) generally consists of unconditionally giving citizens a set amount of tax-free money each month.…

Robert Bork’s Warning to America Realized

Jacob Floam

In the twilight of his presidency, Ronald Reagan moved to make one final touch on his legacy by nominating federal appellate court Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. Bork, a legal titan of his day, was the modern father of judicial restraint inspiring the likes of Antonin Scalia, Clearance Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch. Judge Bork was in a class of his own with masterful writing on many controversial rulings. Sadly, his copious amounts of writing proved to be his downfall as Senators Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden led a…

The Opioid and Heroin Crisis: A Year Later and Many Remain Forgotten

Greg Wagner

A year ago, voters were promised revolutionary changes and a shake-up of the status quo. At the receiving end of this promise was a class of Americans who felt they had been left behind; it seemed the economy didn’t have room for them and the government no longer cared. This hopelessness was particularly acute in addiction-ravaged industrial and manufacturing towns across the country. Drug deaths around the country were rising at extraordinary levels. In 2016 alone, 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses and over two million more were dependent on…

The Future of Corporate Leadership is Female

Truman Stephens

Over the past month, revelations of sexual harassment and abuse have filled our newsfeeds day by day. It all began with the bombshell New York Times story exposing entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual assault, including the rape of actress Rose McGowan. Allegations of sexual harassment took down former ABC News political director and popular political journalist Mark Halperin, NPR head news official Michael Oreskes, Vox Media editorial director Lockhart Steele, and Amazon Studios executive Roy Price among a multitude of others. The unprecedented purge of men in leadership…