Society, Politics, & Economics

Thanksgiving provides Americans with a long weekend to spend time with family and to spend time reflecting on their lives and the world around them. As such, I have decided to create a relative list describing just some of the many things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for Net Neutrality and the fight to keep Net Neutrality as the standard for American internet access. Net Neutrality allows for all of us to enjoy the internet equally, it allows for our right of free speech, thought, and expression to be expanded to a medium we all use extensively on a daily basis. I am thankful for our constitutionally guaranteed rights to free speech and religion. The First Amendment protects some of the most important and fundamental rights we could possibly have. Because of the protections contained within the First Amendment, I have the right to practice whatever religion I could possibly dream up and at the same time, I have the right to live free of any and every religion imagin

The First Indictments From Mueller Have Arrived Early yesterday morning Robert Mueller publicly disclosed the first charges to have officially been filed as part of the special investigation. Paul Manafort, and his associate Rick Gates, turned themselves into the FBI on 12 separate charges, including conspiracy against the United States. They would go on to plead not guilty . George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign, plead guilty to lying to the FBI regarding his contacts with various Russians. The investigation, that has been attacked by Trump as “ the greatest witch hunt in history ”, has finally shown its teeth. But what comes next? Charges such as this could have damming ramifications for the Trump administration. Manafort was, at one time, campaign manager for the Trump presidential campaign, with apparent close ties to Trump himself. There is a possibility that the charges against Manafort can be used to obtain additional information

Don't Be Surprised The current political and economic climate in Venezuela is rather hectic , to put it kindly. Yesterday President Trump  brought up the possibility  of a military operation in Venezuela. To students of the history of US-Latin American relations, this really should not come as a surprise. Since the establishment of the Monroe Doctrine, and arguably before it, the United States has positioned itself as a regional power in the Americas. The United States has led economics and politics in the region through various means. Through the use of military force and gunboat diplomacy or through American economic ventures ensuring that US interests are always the focus, the United States has been an important actor throughout Latin American history. The United States has viewed itself as relatively superior to the members of Latin American countries and societies. A good historical example of this was when Henry Ford attempted to recreate his economic successes

Preventing Human Suffering And Improving Individual Liberty Should Be The Focus Of Our Drug Policy The United States "War on Drugs" has failed . Time and time again the punitive paradigm has proven itself to be a failure in American society. A move toward a combination of libertarian, public health, and harm reduction drug policy paradigms is desperately needed. Democratic Senator Cory Booker has introduced a bill that would fundamentally change how our criminal justice system functions in regards to marijuana. This bill is an incredible first step in regards to righting the wrongs of American drug policy, and it should receive bipartisan support as both the Democrats and Republicans constituencies clearly show support for marijuana legalization. However, it does not go far enough.  The evils of the War on Drugs do not stop at marijuana, currently there is a terrible opioid epidemic in the United States. While marijuana legalization has been suggested as a p

Trump Is Showing The LGBTQ+ Community His True Intentions Today Trump announced the military's new policy of banning transgender individuals from military service. It's a relatively surprising yet unsurprising twist to the Trump administration's policy regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Trump's VP, Mike Pence, has a storied  history of anti-LGBTQ+ policy.  Trump surrogates and conservative media outlets have repeatedly attempted to paint Trump as the most LGBTQ+ friendly president in American history. Even after this move, his surrogates are still trying to defend Trump and justify his actions.  Trump has attempted to paint himself as LGBTQ+ friendly because of his ongoing culture war against those that he and his camp of advisors view as non-western, primarily Muslims. Trump is emphatically the president of the nativist and xenophobic population in the US, Steve Bannon being one of his primary advisors shows this. As part of this culture war, Trump and hi

Trump Cannot Pardon Himself As the Russia investigation, as led by Robert Mueller , picks up ever increasing steam, the stress it places on President Trump has continuously increased. Recently, Trump and members of his staff have begun to research the power of the pardon that the office of the president holds. Trump is reportedly considering pardoning himself. He cannot do this. The power of the pardon may be broad, but no person in this country is above the law. When a officeholder  that maintains the power of the pardon uses it on an individual, they excuse them of all crimes that may have been committed. The use of such a power on oneself is unprecedented in American history. Nixon was not pardoned until he stepped down and Gerald Ford assumed power. This was a clear misuse of power, but it was not as much of a misuse of power had Nixon pardoned himself. Nixon clearly violated the law, he stepped down and did not face criminal charges because his successor excused him of