Voting is What Matters
Elections can be fun and exciting. The rallies, the speeches, the balloons and the confetti are all what make election season feel so “special”. But ultimately, none of that matters. The only thing that matters, the thing that every campaign activity is geared towards, is voting. For years, college students have ceded their right to be heard in America. Just look at 2008. In that year, there were 27.3 million potential voters between the ages of 18 and 24, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of that number, only 15 million even bothered to register to vote and an even…
Are Emory’s Cuts Necessary?
In 1978, 1,200 students staged a three-day sit-in to protest massive cuts by their university. Their confrontation only ended when the university agreed to establish a more inclusive decision-making process that gave a seat on the board of trustees to one faculty member and one student. The provost advocating the cuts “resigned” later that year. No, this did not happen at Emory. This happened at the University of Pennsylvania where Dean Robin Forman earned his degree in mathematics just three years later. Unfortunately for Emory…
Romney’s On Desperate Ground
This has not been a good week for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Since the end of the Democratic National Convention, President Obama has opened a fairly modest lead in most national polls as well as the battleground states of Ohio and Florida. New York Times contributor and statistical analyst Nate Silver has calculated that the president’s chances of winning reelection are now around 80 percent. Politico has even reported that Romney’s own campaign staff sees a narrower path to victory than they had otherwise anticipated. Under the present circumstances, Governor Romney has two options: He can try to make this election…
When Politicians Don’t Check Their Facts
Before you read any further, be warned that this column is going to be a bit wonkish. It is no secret that the state of the economy is the overriding issue in this upcoming Presidential election. In his speech at the Republican National Convention last week, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell claimed that the economies in states with Republican governors were doing better than states with Democratic governors: “In states with Republican governors, the average unemployment rate is a full point lower than in states with Democratic governors.” It’s not, by the way. But, in the spirit of the GOP’s determination…
