Coronavirus in America: Obsession and Oppression
For the past few months, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has completely upended the conventional functions of our society. As we attempt to understand and combat this virus, there are still a plethora of unknowns. Despite our limited knowledge about the virus, stay-at-home orders have been widely accepted as a measure to mitigate the disease’s spread. […]
My Beef with Dairy: How the US Government Is Bailing out a Dying Industry
The US government’s support for dairy farms exacerbates overproduction and supports an unsustainable, dying industry, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), American milk consumption dropped from 275 pounds per capita in 1975 to 149 pounds in 2017. Due to dwindling demand, US dairy farming operates at a […]
The 2020 Elections You Need to Care About
If it feels like the 2020 presidential race has dragged on for several years already, that’s because it has. Representative John Delaney broke the record for the earliest candidacy declaration when he announced in July 2017 that he would seek the Democratic nomination. A couple dozen announcements followed throughout the next two years until Michael […]
Eschewing Electability: What Democrats Can Draw from the Far-Right Playbook
Talking heads, opinion columnists, and mainstream pundits continually stressed that a Democratic victory in the 2020 presidential election was predicated on a nominee who could appeal to centrist swing voters. Political commentator Thomas Friedman, in a New York Times op-ed, pitched Michael Bloomberg as that candidate—one who could send a message of “national unity, personal […]
Proportional, Not Popular: Reforming the Electoral College
Five times in the history of the United States, the results of the Electoral College and popular vote have differed. In 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore with 543,895 fewer votes. That election thrust the Electoral College into the national spotlight and spurred debate over reform. In 2016, Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton despite […]
Bill Who? The Republican Primaries’ Significance in the 2020 Election
Despite President Trump’s approval rating sitting at 44 percent as of March 20, 56 percent of Americans—including 65 percent of independents and 93 percent of Democrats—disapprove of his administration. Even the number of Republicans supporting the president has fallen by two percent since January, when the president’s approval rating peaked at 49 percent. Yet toppling […]
How to Save Millions of Lives
If history and science have taught us anything, it’s a simple lesson: vaccines work. They’ve saved countless lives and allowed millions of children to grow up without fear of debilitating diseases. Because of vaccines, we’ve nearly eradicated several diseases that once posed significant danger to the public. In 1916, polio killed about six thousand people […]
“OK Boomer” is the Pepe of 2020. Here’s Why.
The ubiquity of the term “OK Boomer” comes at a time of heightened generational contempt within the Democratic electorate of the United States. Similar to Pepe the Frog’s influence on the 2016 elections, the phrase may impact outcomes in 2020 and have real implications for social and political structure. Pepe the Frog demonstrated the influence […]
Green for Green: Big-Money Donations and Climate Policy
Climate change is real. The science is irrefutable. The Earth’s average surface temperature is increasing at an unprecedented rate—almost a full degree Celsius in the past thirty-five years alone. In contrast, when the Earth transitioned out of the last ice age, it took about ten thousand years for temperatures to rise by 4°C. The past […]
The US Presidential Nominating Process Needs to Change
Our nominating process for presidential candidates needs to change. Not just because of the Democratic Party’s blundering of the Iowa caucus—though it’s hard to deny that was a complete disaster and the caucus system should be reexamined—but because two states that no longer reflect the demographics of America maintain undue influence in the primary process. […]