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1. Should Eric Fanning become the new Secretary of the Army?
2. How can the U.S. increase the number of minority educators?
3. Should the U.S. welcome the new Japanese security bills?
4. Are zero tolerance policies to blame for the arrest of Ahmed Mohammed?
5. What changes should President Obama make to his Middle East foreign policy?
6. Should the GOP create a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding?
7. How can Bernie Sanders break into Hillary Clinton’s Southern firewall?
8. Which candidate in the GOP presidential race is the antithesis of Donald Trump?
9. Is the U.S. still a meritocracy?
10. Did the Fed make a wise decision in electing not to raise interest rates?
The last five years have seen an extension of rights in American society, notably for homosexual Americans that wish to get married and for transgendered individuals. However, there is another rights movement that has been very active and is now beginning to win legislative victories. The “right to die” movement, whose advocates say that patients who have terminal illness should be able to take their life with prescription medication at a time of their choosing, recently won a victory in California. California state legislators approved the End of Life Option Act last week, which would enable Californians to obtain life-ending prescription medication from a doctor. Currently, only four states allow for a form of physician-assisted suicide (also referred to as “physician-assisted dying”) – Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Montana – but advocates of the “right to die” movement argue that a victory in California, which can be assured if Governor Jerry Brown signs the bill into law, could lead to other states passing similar legislation.
One of the biggest anxieties in American culture is the fear that the country is lacking a qualified workforce that will be economically competitive in the twenty-first century. While politicians have primarily focused their efforts on fixing America’s elementary and secondary institutions, college might be the next frontier of state-driven education reform. Less than thirty percent of Americans have a Bachelor’s degree and reformers note that part of the reason is the growing cost of college attendance. Over the last fifty years, tuition costs have exploded at public and private institutions, as have housing and textbook charges. While the number of Americans attending college is rising, graduation rates remain poor and student debt to service the cost of college is also increasing. Fears about the growing cost of college and its impact on American social mobility and the nation’s economy have made college-oriented education reform a part of the 2016 presidential elections. Candidates such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have detailed plans to either slow tuition increases, reduce student debt, and/or make college education more of a national entitlement. Political analysts argue that a candidate with a suitable program to make college more affordable could galvanize the youth vote in 2016, something that politicians have learned can sway elections in the Obama years.
Every few decades, there is a controversial personality that seeks the White House outside of the confines of conventional politics. In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt sought the presidency on the Progressive Party ticket, splitting the Republican vote and enabling Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In 1948, Strom Thurmond and Henry Wallace came close to preventing incumbent Harry Truman from winning the presidency as they sought the votes of Southern segregationists and progressive Democrats, respectively. In 1968, Alabama Governor George Wallace ran on a states’ rights and “law and order” platform that carried five states and nearly fourteen percent of the national vote. In 1992 and 1996, billionaire Ross Perot tapped into American frustrations over the economy to capture sizable percentages of the popular vote and arguably help Democrat Bill Clinton win those elections. And in 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader cost Democratic candidate Al Gore the presidency by taking away crucial votes in Florida.