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Is White Supremacy an Issue Worth Government and Political Attention?

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Hate crimes increased by 17% in 2017, an unprecedented rise worth government attention. On both sides of the political aisle, it’s important to have a boogeyman. For example, an issue that the other side brings up must be dismissed outright as nothing but a made-up boogeyman. There’s no actual problem in your side, be it Democratic or Republican. What’s really happening is that the other side is trying to make an issue out of nothing. This is a tactic used frequently in discussions of US government to divert attention from certain issues to others that are believed to be real problems. Ann Coulter, for instance, knows exactly how to employ it. In her recent article entitled White Supremacists Ate My Homework , she illustrates this strategy on the topic of modern white supremacy, an issue of growing concern in modern politics and government. Her points are twofold. Firstly, she argues that modern white supremacy is a non-issue cooked up by angry Democrats out to harm Republicans....
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Does Age Matter in Politics?

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The members of the recent 116th Congress are the most diverse yet in race, gender, and age. With the recent influx of fresh faces to Congress after the 2018 midterm elections, it was refreshing to see a diverse crowd. Yet, one aspect of this diversity could pose a strategic problem: age. Frank Bruni, a columnist for The New York Times, argues in a recent piece entitled In Defense of the Gerontocracy that age is a factor to be considered in the current US Congress and, more specifically, that older congresspersons are a vital component. Indeed, it is a common theme of critique to denounce one's position of power based simply on that person’s age, and Bruni submits that it happens all too often towards older congressmen. Whether power is rejected on the belief that the person is either too young or too old to hold it skillfully, these beliefs about age can cloud or hamper our political thinking. Bruni points out that older members of Congress have been in politics long enough t...
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The Government is Fine, You Aren't

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Ask any citizen of the United States, either on the left or right of the political spectrum, to lay out their list of government grievances, and you’ll soon realize that the list is almost unending. Indeed, it is practically a national pastime to blame the U.S. government for our multitude of problems. Healthcare, immigration, climate change, etc. are all issues current and past governments have floundered to address. Yet, while it may be common to use this line of thinking, it masks a deeper and more vexing issue underneath: that if the American public really wanted to solve these problems, they could. Indeed, the frequent adjustment of our founding document gives a clue of the potential for radical change in the United States. Furthermore, the public has never had more power when it comes to directly changing their situation through election of officials. When it comes to discussions of governance, the public often looks to the Constitution for guidance. It is the refere...
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