Op-Eds
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Iran: Today’s Moderates are Yesterday’s Conservatives
Don’t be fooled -- this article is not just about Hassan Rouhani or Iran.
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The Invisible Democratic Wins in the Trump Era
The Democrats haven’t been able to pull off a win in a Congressional special election yet. But beneath the surface, the party has already witnessed unexpected successes much further down the ballot.
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Roadblock to Reunification: North Korean Aggression Solely a Means of Supporting a Dying Regime
As North Korea becomes increasingly bellicose, what is the best course of action facing the United States, and the international community at large?
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Who to Blame for Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis
No one could have stopped Hurricane Maria from striking Puerto Rico. Their debt crisis was man-made and avoidable.
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The Voter Fraud Lie
President Trump's claim that three to five million people voted illegally in the 2016 election is just another root in an ugly history of voter suppression in our nation.
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1,400 Second Chances: Narcan’s Potential to Reduce Overdose Deaths in Virginia
Narcan has the potential to drastically reduce overdose deaths in Virginia.
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Blasphemy Laws in Egypt
In order for Egypt to truly undergo the ‘Religious Revolution,’ the government needs to get rid of the Blasphemy laws. I examine the state of the blasphemy laws in Egypt and how they are perpetuating a stagnation of reformation.
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A More Realist U.S. Foreign Policy?
President Trump’s dysfunctional interactions with foreign leaders make for interesting headlines, though more tectonic is the present administration’s shifting expression of American exceptionalism, shaky commitment to liberal internationalism, and turn toward a harsh zero-sum logic of foreign relations. But while “America First” may not be here to stay, pressures on the U.S. to move toward a more realist mindset predate and will endure beyond the Trump presidency.
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The Evolution of Campaigns
The 2016 election cycle was an anomaly among all the rest. After witnessing the revolutionary strategies of the candidates, I had a desire to explore the events the changed the art of campaigning for the rest of American History. The inception of radio, television, and the Internet changed how candidates related to the public and how the public responded. Although these innovations have brought a great deal of convenience to Americans during elections, it does not reflect in greater voter awareness. So, have campaigns truly evolved for the good for America?
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Bread and Circuses
What happens when the political sphere is run by amateur thespians?
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A Red Virginia to Halt Red Tape
Virginia has an unsavory record on business regulations and limitations to economic freedom. As the Commonwealth looks to become a national powerhouse for development in the 21st century, it will accordingly need less stringent economic policies to encourage this growth. As the most electable alternative to flopping Democratic policies, Ed Gillespie’s Republican campaign is the key to unlocking this potential.
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What “War” Are You Talking About?
As the nation grows increasingly divided over the “culture war” - between bullpen catchers and geriatric Republican Twitter users - they ignore America’s threatening expansion of militarism abroad. The threatening possibility of entering legitimate, destructive war.
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Trans Fats as a Case Study for the Government Regulation of Food
The reputation of trans fats has run the health gamut from nutritionally exceptional to borderline lethal. It took over two decades of research to accumulate enough evidence to finally ban partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in the United States, and this significant time lapse is not without criticism. However, the twenty-four year period of of true scientific inquiry prevented shortsighted and unsound policies and had the ultimate effect of contributing to the overall health of the American public.
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Disease, Development, and Indifference
Issues in developing nations are wide-ranging and ongoing, but we rarely hear about them in the United States. Are we paying enough attention?
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A First-Year’s Take on August 12 and a Review of CJR’s Race, Racism and the News Panel
On September 18, concerned Charlottesville-ians gathered to expose the deeply rooted issues behind the white supremacist siege on August 12. The Columbia Journalism Review’s Race, Racism and the News panel allowed the community an opportunity to acknowledge, discuss, and heal from rising racial tensions in Charlottesville and across the nation.
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US Democratic Hypocrisy and Economic Exploitation in Guatemala
United States vindicationist promotion of democracy throughout the world is much more convoluted and multifaceted than what meets the eye, and while it is said to be done in the name of goodwill to other nations, self-interested ulterior motives lie at the heart of it. All anyone need do to see proof of this is take a look at the history of US exploitative relations with the developing country of Guatemala.
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Watergate to "The Wall": How Richard Nixon Broke the Presidency
The 2016 US Presidential Election bucked years of politics-as-usual and marked a revolutionary shift in how Americans decide who is best fit to be the nation’s leader. Or did it? An inspection of the last forty years of American elections appears to uncover a far longer trend at work, one that can be traced from the modern day all the way back to the greatest political scandal in American history.
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Examining Alasaad v. Duke
The Supreme Court should side with privacy when considering warrantless searches of electronic devices at the borders.
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How the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Prompt the Need for a Universal Basic Income
The artificial intelligence revolution threatens to transform the social and economic landscape worldwide. The United States must respond by providing a basic social safety net for workers who are slated to be replaced.
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Have we learned from Thucydides? An examination of U.S./Chinese relations
The rise today of China as a great power has shaken the United States’ hegemonic grip on world influence. Will it end in war like it did for Athens and Sparta in Thucydides time?
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Feed People, Not Landfills
Food waste is a global issue that humans have the responsibility to take action to eliminate.
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Why We Should Politicize Tragedies
Public officials decry the way that people politicize tragedies to dodge questions and shut down debate. We should reclaim this pejorative and make politicizing a tragedy a good thing.
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Electing Our Way to a Better Future: The Promise of Ranked-Choice Voting
America’s current electoral system is creating a stale and hyper-partisan political climate. Ranked-choice voting, however, can change this. This election method has the power to provide diversity in elections, allow a candidate with an actual majority to win an election, and reinvigorate American politics.
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The American Prison System as a Perpetuation of Modern-Day Slavery
How can slavery exist in our supposedly post-racial land of the free? The realities and verities of systemic racism in relation to the prison industrial complex and the American prison system.
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Everything You Need to Know About Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is a serious issue that many Americans, including those that consider themselves well informed, know next-to-nothing about. The issue has been described as “the First Amendment Issue of our time,” and yet most people do not know where they stand on the issue.