Society, Politics, & Economics

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 ...

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...

Only Tangible Policy Positions Will Win Them Elections, The "Center" Doesn't Provide That We are currently 6 months into the Trump presidency. The Republican Congress has bungled the ACA repeal attempt while Trump has haphazardly played the role of a president. Currently, there is a Muslim ban in effect and waiting for Supreme Court review. A wall on the southern border with Mexico could potentially be funded by Congress. There are a handful of other policy attempts being worked on, but so far no real piece of legislation has been signed by the Trump administration. The GOP has effectively put forward a slate of policy positions that their voters can observe, The Democratic Party needs to do the same for future elections. Democratic standpoints thus far been of pure and overt rejection. Democratic politicians have gone out on limbs to say things like "this is awful", "we don't support this", "we would never do this". The Democ...

School Choice Is Not The Answer The United States population is as diverse as it gets. There are multiple religious, ethnic, cultural, and racial groups all living under the same government, because of this we have become one of the most unique societies that human history has ever witnessed. One important fact remains, regardless of the general characteristics of an individual or group, we are all Americans. We may have have our differences, but we are all equal members of a greater society. A question that a society as diverse as our faces is how can we ensure that the next generation learns that our differences do not define us, that we are all inherently equal? Public schools have historically been the institution where this happens. Our public schools have been where children of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Atheist or nonsectarian parents would come together and learn as a single unit. They would all be treated as equals for the duration of their education...

At A Minimum, Criminal Charges Must Be Filed News has broken  that Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Donald Trump Jr. took a meeting with a Russian government connected lawyer. Newly released emails show how the meeting apparently took place to further the Russian government's efforts to support the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Campaign finance laws clearly state that American electoral campaigns cannot request "something of value" as a contribution from foreign nationals and governments. Emails show that the meeting took place to further the Russian government's efforts to support the Trump campaign. This is clearly an attempt by the Trump campaign to solicit a contribution of "something of value" from a foreign national or government. The emails show that three members of the campaign are directly at fault, while leaving the standing of the rest of the campaign up in the air.  This is dangerous. Members of the Trump campaign app...