Op-Eds
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Patriotic Education: A Distortion of American History
With this announcement, the Trump administration weaponizes American history in an exclusionary and nationalistic way. Reacting to historic protests, “patriotic education” is a move to erase the story and legacy of oppression in the United States.
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Court-Packing is Not a Good Solution
The politicization of the Supreme Court is bad for the rule of law. Packing the Court would only politicize it more. Democrats should only resort to court-packing as a last resort (not solely because they come into power).
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America’s Descent into Totalitarianism: The Legacy of Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt’s insights regarding the ascent of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union foreshadows the possibility of America’s decline towards totalitarianism, as demonstrated in the Presidency of Donald Trump and the socioeconomic tensions that give rise to fringe movements in the United States.
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Conservatives are right. Joe Biden is a progressive trojan horse.
Despite his appeal to moderates and centrists, Biden’s career and policies suggest a more progressive agenda as President.
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With a Chance to Realign the Supreme Court, Republicans Must Wait
As Amy Comey Barrett’s confirmation approaches, so does the end of an effective Supreme Court. The decision to strip the public of a voice in the replacement of Justice Ginsberg will have terrible repercussions for one of our nation’s foundational institutions.
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Nat Malkus Interview
Nat Malkus is a resident scholar and the deputy director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he specializes in K–12 education. Specifically, he applies quantitative data to education policy. His work focuses on school finance, charter schools, school choice, and the future of standardized testing. Before joining AEI, Malkus was a senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research, where he led research teams analyzing national education data on topics ranging from how many college students take remedial courses, to the comparisons between charter and traditional public schools, to tracking student achievement and graduation rates in schools undergoing turnaround reforms. Previously, Malkus worked on a four-year experimental study to evaluate whether math coaches could help math teachers improve student performance. He has also taught advanced graduate statistics courses and quantitative policy analysis to graduate students. Earlier, Malkus spent four years as a middle-school teacher in Maryland. Malkus has a Ph.D. in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.A. in historical studies from Covenant College.
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Climate Change Is a Human Rights Issue
Climate change may be the most pressing issue of our time. Although everyone will experience the impacts, some communities, including minorities, the poor, and women, will be more affected by climate change than others.
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How the COVID-19 pandemic impacts LGBTQ students
With the limitations imposed by social distancing, LGBTQ students face difficult decisions, stressful home situations, and need for resources.
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Silence is Betrayal
There comes a time when silence is betrayal. In response to the murder of George Floyd, as well as the state-endorsed police violence that has occurred in the U.S. over the past several decades, we find it imperative to use our privilege as a publication at an institution like UVA to stand in solidarity with those who are protesting, as well as encourage our readers to support organizations that seek to rectify these injustices.
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Justice Bill Mimms Interview
Justice Bill Mims currently serves as the hundredth justice of the Virginia Supreme Court. He is the second person to ever serve as a member of the General Assembly, attorney general, and Supreme Court justice. Justice Bill Mims received his A.B. in history from the College of William and Mary (1979), his J.D. from George Washington University (1984), and his LL.M from Georgetown University (1986).
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Let’s Universalize Credit/No Credit
In the time of coronavirus, it’s no longer business as usual for higher education. Universal Credit/No Credit will help us cope with this disaster.
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A Permanent Membership in the United Nations Security Council for the European Union
Replacing the French permanent membership with an EU one? German Finance Minister thinks it “would be a bold and smart goal.”
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El cambio climático y los derechos humanos
Hoy en día, el cambio climático es un gran problema. Aunque todas las personas se ven afectadas, algunas comunidades, por ejemplo las comunidades minoritarias, los pobres y las mujeres, son las más afectadas por sus efectos. Por esta razón, el cambio climático es una seria cuestión de derechos humanos.
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The BRI and the String of Pearls: A Challenge to the U.S.-Led Global Order
China’s President Xi Jinping announced the world’s largest infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in 2013. Since then, China has pumped billions of dollars into the project in an effort to boost its soft power (and arguably its hard power) abroad. This project highlights China’s desire to expand their global influence and rewrite the global norms on their own terms.
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The History, Inescapability, and Struggle of American Populism
Populists tend to speak for the unification of the people, but the American government was designed to mitigate conflict. It is American to have values shared by all people, but not necessarily for political ideas to be uniform. However, populism does not belong to a political party. The future of populism requires an intense look at the leaders who espouse it.
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Re-Examining the “Paranoid Style”: Richard Hofstader and Contemporary American Political Rhetoric
In an age where the internet has amplified the conspiratorial rhetoric of extremists, it is the duty of responsible figures on the Right to eschew this phenomenon. But given the impact of Donald Trump’s rhetorical style on the Republican Party, this particular rhetorical style seems likely to remain a major influence on conservative discourse for the foreseeable future.
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The Jones Act: An Outdated, Costly Law Under the Radar
For nearly the past 100 years, the shipbuilding and American maritime lobby has unequivocally supported the Jones Act, but is this law still worth maintaining?
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UVA Has a Duty to Facilitate Students’ Waste Reduction
The University has room to improve at the intersection of institutional and individual responsibility.
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What eScooters Can Do For Cities Like Charlottesville
Lime? Bird? VeoRide? Electric scooters are booming, and cities like Charlottesville have a lot to gain.
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Gender and the Right to Asylum
Asylum is a contentious issue in the United States, especially in the age of Trump. What is the future of asylum and should governments change reform international law to include gender as a form of persecution?
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Understanding the Increasing Politicization of Sports
Americans have historically been averse to integrating politics and sports. How has political polarization changed the interaction between these two?
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Did the Antifederalists Get It Right?
For years, Americans have dismissed the Antifederalists as the “losing side.” However, a rereading of their key argument, the small republic theory, shows that they predicted America’s current factious and polarized nature.
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Cowboys, Guns, Germs, and… Popcorn Lung? Rugged Individualism and the Vaping Epidemic
The Trump administration’s regulation of Juul products seems to contradict the laissez-faire values of the Republican party. Nevertheless, these regulations represent small, but notable, progress in the gradual dismantling of the “Rugged Individualist” ideology that has infected public discourse.
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The Polarized Impeachment
Given the Constitution and history of impeachment driven by partisan conflict, the current impeachment process will not remove President Donald Trump from office.
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The Lost Art of Compromise
America has earned its place in history for a surprising reason: its ability to compromise in order to achieve progress and maintain unity. Yet today, Americans are increasingly turning their backs on this foundational principle to the detriment of the nation’s health and well-being.