GOP 2016: Looking to the Past, Present, and Future for the Republican Strategy

With the 2012 election firmly in the rear view mirror, Republicans have spent the better part of 2013 reflecting on their loss in the presidential race and rebranding the party image. Despite retaining a majority in the House of Representatives, the GOP has conceded that the landscape for a presidential election is entirely different. In […]

Conjectural Journalism: John King is a Jerk

On April 15, after the terrorists attacked the Boston Marathon, we Bostonians rushed towards the explosions to help the injured, and we rushed to hospitals to give blood. In the chaos, we rushed to the internet to find out if our friends were safe. The media responded by rushing to conclusions. After the bombings, we […]

Judith Butler’s: Precarious Life

Judith Butler’s book Precarious Life was a subject of discussion in Prof. Bormann’s Contemporary Political Thought POLS 2332 class this past semester.  This book puts human vulnerability and loss (the precariousness of life) at its center and Butler asks us, against the backdrop of 9/11, what – politically – might be made of our grief […]

Give Me Liberty: The Constitution in an Age of Terror

Benjamin Franklin has long warned Americans that “any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” His warning has been invoked throughout American history, as it has been in light of recent events. Yet it seems decidedly powerless in a country that so readily […]

Precarious Life-Katie Dillon

When your city is terrorized, how do you react? Judith Butler says that we ought not to react to violence with violence. We should take a different approach.  Butler does not suggest that we ignore the perpetrator, or let him or her walk free. Instead, we ought to give the criminal a trial, and not […]

Precarious Life-Brendan Hill

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, the relevance of Judith Butler’s A Precarious Life is a topic worth discussing. Prompted by the attacks of 9/11, Butler’s critique of the US response to fear and mourning is indeed contrary to the average American sentiment. While the official response to the attack on the World […]