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(05/02/17 4:03am)
President Donald Trump has shown that he is more than willing to bluff. In his first 100 days, he stated he would not pass a budget without funding for the border wall, said he would unilaterally remove key Obamacare subsidies and threatened to campaign against members of the Freedom Caucus. He has walked back from all of these statements in one way or another. Bluffing itself is not necessarily always bad, but it must be used strategically and sparingly. If Trump continues to bluff at his current rate, it will not only weaken his ability to accomplish much needed change, but also create dangerous uncertainty domestically and abroad.
(04/11/17 4:10am)
Much of the talk around climate change focuses on the problems of rising sea levels, affected wildlife and carbon dioxide emissions. While these are fundamental issues which require solutions, there is another effect which will have a more direct impact on everyone’s lives — the loss of food security. We can move away from the coasts, we can live with less diverse ecosystems but we cannot survive without food. The effects of climate change on food security must become part of our national conversation now, before it is too late to prevent widespread hunger.
(03/21/17 4:05am)
To steal a phrase from a fellow columnist, the debate surrounding Lawn room selections is as much a tradition as the selection itself. In 2017, columnists of The Cavalier Daily’s Opinion section have been especially concerned with this issue, writing no less than four different columns on the topic. On one level, I appreciate the paper hosting a vigorous debate on University topics. However, the debate around Lawn rooms is ultimately meaningless. Creating change for the University by changing the composition of Lawn residents is not only a fruitless exercise, but also takes attention away from more fundamental changes needed at the University.
(03/14/17 4:30am)
The Trump Administration has made clear its strong support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. Though President Donald Trump himself has been fairly reticent speaking out for Ukraine, he has made a tepid statement of support. Either way, it is likely that the United States’ policy on the conflict in Ukraine will remain mostly unchanged. The central pillar of this policy is economic sanctions which will only be lifted when Crimea is returned to Ukraine. There is some hope the sanctions will force Russia to give back Crimea and end the conflict. We need to be ready to keep these sanctions for decades to come — Crimea is not returning to Ukraine anytime soon.
(02/21/17 5:00am)
The Cavalier Daily Focus section recently wrote an excellent piece on apathy in student election voting. The findings of the article suggest that people fail to vote not only due to apathy, but also because they do not feel that the elections have a real impact on them. While it is not always obvious, student organizations with elected positions have an enormous impact on the lives of all students. Student organizations have failed to convey this to the student body and, until they fix this perception, there will continue to be a problem of voter apathy in University elections.
(02/14/17 5:01am)
The Virginia House of Delegates recently passed a vote on party lines that would cut all government funds for Planned Parenthood. This follows from a long-held conservative maxim that government funds for Planned Parenthood mean government funds for abortions. This is true in the most technical sense — Planned Parenthood does offer abortion as one of their services. I understand that for many people the argument stops there, that any support for an organization that would kill a fetus is categorically wrong. But I hope that even people that are ardently pro-life realize and accept the costs of their convictions. Defunding Planned Parenthood will only create more abortions and is only productive in the sense that it panders to the pro-life base.
(02/13/17 5:00am)
The defining story in foreign affairs right now is the Syrian civil war. As the war drags on into its fifth year, there has been a death count of over 300,000. It is a humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen in decades and it has had a profound impact on the world — the Middle East, Europe and even the U.S. have found themselves deeply affected by this conflict. One failed state in the Middle East did this. This is what is currently happening in Venezuela, and the U.S. needs to ensure that there is not a repeat of what happened in Syria.
(02/07/17 5:06am)
The College Republicans and University Democrats released a joint-statement Feb. 1, criticizing President Trump’s immigration order. Among many other points, the statement argues that “regardless of political ideology, protecting the values of the University and the nation, as well as our students and their access to a world-class education at the University, must be a priority.” As far as I can tell, this is the first joint-statement by the two organizations in recent history. Neither organization had external pressure to release a unified statement, and it is significant that they did. I commend this bipartisan effort and encourage the two groups to look for ways to work more closely in the future.
(02/03/17 1:26am)
I challenge you to read this whole column. How many significant news stories can you name this past week? This past week there have been a dozen stories that have gained and lost popular attention. With Trump’s tweets and executive orders, Google banning publishers of so-called “fake news,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer lying multiple times during a press briefing and the continuing crisis in Flint, Mich. the amount of news is stifling. I would be surprised if many of these stories are still being discussed when this column is published. According to some studies, we have a hard time sustaining a discussion in part because we too easily give into our tendency to not read past headlines that obscure more than they inform.
(01/23/17 5:25am)
If there’s one thing that many Democrats and Republicans can agree on, it’s that they dislike lobbyists. During the Presidential campaign, much of President Trump’s early appeal was due to his derision of lobbyists and campaign donations from corporations. Bernie Sanders based much of his upstart campaign on fighting the influence of lobbyists in politics — he even pushed Clinton to emphasize the issue. Both Sanders and Trump pointed to campaign donations as one of the main reasons lobbyists have had such a significant influence on politics. While this is true, both of these candidates failed to address another reason lobbyists have such an outsize role in our politics: Congress cannot keep hold of experienced staffers.
(12/06/16 4:58am)
Twitter has only been around for a decade but has already become an essential part of our political culture. Anthony Weiner fell from political grace for sending suggestive photos over Twitter, President-elect Donald Trump is no stranger to voicing his opinions on the platform and our own vice mayor has used it to express his insensitive opinions. Though these tweets get a great deal of attention, they are set on a backdrop of intense ideological bickering that occurs constantly on the website. Partisan bickering is a problem on all social media sites, but it seems to be especially prevalent on Twitter. Twitter is a great platform on which to voice political opinions, but it contributes to the systematic devaluing of those opinions.
(11/28/16 5:46am)
Post-election, there has been a lot of discussion over the moral and policy implications of Donald Trump’s victory. But there’s also another key result of this election that is generating more discussion — the role of foreign agents. The election is supposed to be a wholly domestic affair, reflecting the attitudes and beliefs on the American people. Yet in this election foreign powers tried to influence the outcome in extra-legal ways. This problem worsened with Trump legitimizing many of the narratives foreign actors pushed. Our leaders need to strongly and unequivocally condemn this interference as unacceptable in any circumstances.
(11/21/16 5:59am)
We go to one of top Universities in the country with one of the most selective admission standards. It can be great to be surrounded by other smart, academically inclined-peers who push us see the world in different ways. However, our position as University students also blinds us. Never has this been more apparent than with the results of the presidential election. It is clear that we need to work to harder to actively recognize the political and cultural biases of our community so that we can understand why we view things so differently than a county only 30 miles away. This process needs to not only be theoretical but also practical — students should go out and try to engage with people who have differing worldviews.
(11/07/16 5:15am)
The University has experienced many incidents of hate speech anonymously written on Grounds this semester. Though we do not live in a society absent of this rhetoric, we do not see ourselves as a University community that would foster this sort of thought. So why are we having so many incidents of anonymous, bigoted graffiti on grounds? The problem is these last eight years, racism and hatred have become legitimized, especially by the Republican Party. Everyone who has allowed for this movement to grow has contributed to these incidents in their own way.
(10/31/16 11:22am)
The Virginia Constitution has two proposed amendments up for referendum on Nov. 8. The first one concerns workers’ rights, and the editorial board has already written an excellent article on it. The second proposed amendment would empower the General Assembly to exempt from taxation the real property of a surviving spouse of any firefighter, police officer or emergency medical technician killed in the line of duty. Until now this privilege was only extended to those who had a spouse die while serving in the armed forces. This is a change that is not only sensible but also needed in our current national climate.
(10/24/16 11:01am)
Do we value the arts at the University? There has clearly been a great deal of investment in bringing high quality arts to the University — there are almost 3,500 arts organizations on Grounds and there are constantly arts events for students to attend. Yet as valued as the arts are here at the University, Arts Grounds are practically deserted. Situated in isolation from Central Grounds, Arts Grounds is rarely crowded. As a result, the arts are a separate and segmented part of the University community, instead of an integral part of it. This is not an inevitable problem — with only a few changes the University could revitalize Arts Grounds.
(10/11/16 9:51am)
Just looking at the recent op-eds in The Cavalier Daily, it is clear how dominant the election is. Inevitably, this discussion finds its way onto social media. People do not go onto social media for political opinions — they get uncomfortable. It is very tempting to just unfollow that one person who always sparks political debates on social media. Don’t do it. He might be annoying, but there is a value in exposing yourself to different political opinions on social media.
(09/26/16 4:41am)
A few weeks ago, another tragic set of domestic terrorist attacks rocked the nation. First there was the mass stabbing attack in Minnesota Mall, injuring nine people. Very soon after, there was a bombing in New York and New Jersey, injuring 29 people. It is fortunate that no one died in either of these attacks and that the police were able to capture the bomber alive. Such attacks have become much too commonplace — just looking at the number of domestic terrorist attacks in the last few years is heartbreaking. As the number of attacks has increased, a concerning patterns in the media’s coverage of these events has emerged: an obsession with terrorists themselves. The media and public’s infatuation with perpetrators of terrorist attacks hurts a great deal more than it helps.
(09/19/16 5:14am)
Right-wing populism is rising. Americans are intensely aware of this with the emergence of Donald Trump as a powerful political player. Some Americans may know there are many other countries that are experiencing a rise in Trump-like leaders. These are not just countries like Russia, where we largely expect there to be less democratic practices — democratic bastions such as Britain, France, Germany and Denmark are all dealing with strong right-wing populist parties.
(09/12/16 4:10am)
One the best things about University students is that we are passionate for change. Many people envision a better school, community or world and work to make it a reality. This is often done through advocacy groups that focus on educating others as well as championing their issue. For many organizations this can work very well. However, on some issues a calm presentation of the facts does very little good. If the system needs fundamental change, you have to achieve that change through protests. University students understand this in a basic sense, and there is a healthy discussion on the place of protests on Grounds. But our protests have no teeth — they accomplish very little on their own. We aren’t willing to make significant sacrifice for the sake of a cause we believe in. Until we are willing to give a great deal for a cause, protests will never be more than a show at the University.