Category: Society

A Deeper Look at the State of Trump’s Union

Sophia Singh

On January 30th, President Donald Trump delivered his 2nd State of the Union address. There was much speculation on whether or not he would “stick to the script”, what angles he would take, and how he would address some of the core issues currently causing partisan friction in Congress, namely immigration. Unsurprisingly, the speech was problematic in several areas, namely, the self-congratulatory presentation of issues with questionable follow-through, the embellishment of what should have been straightforward facts, a failed attempt at bipartisanship, and use of special guests to distract from…

Marxism: The Unwavering, Cancerous Assault on Life, Liberty, and Individualism

Cullen Steffann

Marxism is a cancer that has plagued societies across the globe in one form or another for well over a century, leaving behind a trail of death, destruction, and misery in the most appalling ways imaginable. The tyrants of the 20th century – Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Che, and Castro among others – settled once and for all what happens when the Marxist ideology is unleashed upon the world. Rather than usher in the promised utopia, what occurred was nothing short of hell on earth. Sadly, we were…

White Radicalization in the Aftermath of Charlottesville

Anastasia Lacina

For most Americans, the alt-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11th, 2017 was horrifying.  Just a few years ago, many would have thought that something like this was impossible: indeed, the idea of white supremacists and Neo-Nazis garnering enough support to march on the University of Virginia, freely and unafraid, in 2017 is disturbing.  Fewer still would have predicted that the rally—which resulted in three deaths and at least 34 injuries—would be actively defended by our president, Donald Trump. Needless to say, the power of white nationalists—both on the…

A Degradation of Honor

Paul Gargiulo

When my grandfather passed away at the age of eighty-seven, I had the distinct honor of attending his funeral. What made his funeral different from many other funerals in the United States was that it not only celebrated his life, but it also celebrated the sacrifice he made for his country in the field of combat. Many attendees of the funeral did not know that my grandfather was was a World War II US Coast Guard combat veteran of the Battle of the Atlantic and the Invasion of Normandy. That’s…

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.…

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…

The Social Costs of Income Inequality

Michael Fissinger

Income inequality has remained a consistent part of recent public debate, manifesting in the problems surrounding wage stagnation and a trapped lower class of America’s “growing” economy. Despite historic job-growth numbers during Barack Obama’s presidency, critics correctly cited a lack of wage growth for bottom line workers. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) thrust the issue to the forefront during the 2016 presidential campaign. While the issue garnered a high level of attention, few practical proposals have been offered to combat the problem. Stagnating wages for the bottom half of America’s economy,…