A normal voting experience for an Amherst student seems to be a case of ordering "the usual." Even when we open our ballots to unfamiliar candidates, we still order the usual political Happy Meal with all the little (D)s. We probably look right past the (L)s, the (C)s, the (G)s, and non-aligned, only stopping to gag slightly over Romney, Ryan and other (R)s on the menu. In a world of options, we see only two, and even then still only pick the same.
The past few months have involved considerable discussion of the “War on Women.” This war seems to be largely sensationalist rebranding of a conglomeration of some very important debates. While there is no excuse for comments about “legitimate rape,” Democrats probably don’t do the national discourse much service in framing the issue so violently. In her Republican National Convention speech, Ann Romney tried to win women’s sympathies and, ultimately, votes for her husband, Mitt Romney. Unfortunately she chose to speak to women as if they lacked brains.
“The fundamental flaws and root causes are there.” These were the words of Kunj Desai, a Zambian U.S. based Immigrant Doctor and the last line of an article in the New York Times titled America is Stealing the World’s Doctors. I must say that while I appreciate the light the article drew to the issue of the “brain drain,” I do not agree with the word “steal;” it is quiet misleading. I do not think Uncle Sam is a thief; I think he is just a good businessman. I do not mean he is virtuous (though he likes to think of himself this way), I mean he has mastered the art of business.
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After picking the three topics I wanted to talk about in this article series — abortion, international humanitarian crises and the economy — I noticed that I had mirrored those three values articulated in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In keeping with that theme, I’m going to take a look at the American economy in a way that’s a bit more skewed toward the human aspect of it rather than just doing number crunching.
International Students share their insider perspectives regarding political, social and cultural issues from their homelands.
The hottest topic and most politically important event in China is the yearly convention of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Chinese often call it lianghui, literally “the two meetings.” The public importance of these two great events comes with a twist of irony; despite great coverage of the meetings, the political process continues completely detached from the Chinese public.
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The Arizona Republican debate a few weeks ago illustrated some interesting things. Certainly much of the usual sparring ensued, but there was something Rick Santorum said which could potentially have a massive impact on the GOP and presidential race. Though he may not realize this, he finally got the Conservative message right.
It’s sad that I have to write this article. It’s sad that anyone has to write about this, fight against this or live this out as their life; but the alternative is that the world remains blissfully ignorant or carelessly apathetic.
I’m writing about the crimes against humanity waged by some of the absolute regimes across the world. This is an article that shouldn’t need to be written. Say what you like about relative morality, but deep down, there are things that you just know are wrong, things that you can feel in your gut. This is one of those things.
