Going "green" has become a cultural buzzword. Growing concerns over climate change have motivated aspirations to create a cleaner, more sustainable, and...
Contemporary American Politics
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Before the rise of union power in the United States, labor relations were mostly directed by common law principles...
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Many Americans associate debates about energy with recent attempts to introduce clean and renewable fuels, while making them viable on a large scale. However, regulation, direction, and control of energy--in terms of production, distribution,...
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Throughout most of American history, border security has centered on the issue of immigration rather than the threat of invasion. And, despite having been known as "the land of immigrants", from its early days the...
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While public broadcasting has existed in the United States since the early 20th century, today’s iteration of public broadcasting was created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The Act, which was envisioned to,...
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Shortly after Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration in January of 2009, the White House moved to name numerous high-ranking officials to oversee top policy priorities of the executive branch. These leading...
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Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes." This clause is commonly...
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It’s not too difficult to realize that today’s society is weight obsessed. From the latest and greatest diet plan touted in the tabloids at the grocery store, to the headlines on the nightly news bemoaning the growing...
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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in late 2001 as part of the United States’ response to September 11. Although initially an agency within the Department of Transportation, TSA was quickly...
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The beginning of the modern American welfare state is generally associated with the War on Poverty and the Great Society programs initiated by President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s. That said, many of President...
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Building upon President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression, in the mid-1960s President Lyndon B. Johnson created the "Great Society." Under that name, social and economic legislation was passed...
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The USA PATRIOT [Uniting and Strengthening America By Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism] Act, was a bill written and passed in response to the terrorist attacks on the United...
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Affirmative action programs originated during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. What began as a drive to ensure that minorities were not discriminated against in the hiring process quickly took on a more active...
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Executive privilege is essentially the ability of the president and his subordinates to resist subpoenas and certain interventions by Congress and the courts.
Though not...
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On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law. Popularly known as Obamacare, the PPACA sought to bring government reform to America’s health care...
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“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” These words, the Second Amendment in its entirety, have been the...
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The 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution encapsulates the idea of Federalism, which entails distributing authority and powers between states or provinces and the national government. The notion that...
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Public employee pensions in the United States were historically reserved for wounded combat veterans who could no longer provide for themselves as a result of their service to the country. Few would disagree with such...
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“I’m John Doe and I approve this message.” During election season, various forms of this statement are repeated so often that many of us begin to mumble them in our sleep. Although this redundant...
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Free market capitalism can be defined as "a system wherein individuals are free to pursue their own interests,...
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A common topic of conversation for many Americans concerns the origin and heritage of their ancestors. Whether it be about a Swedish grandfather who ditched the name of Johnson in order to get his mail, or the great-...
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Social Justice -- although this little phrase glibly slips off the tongue of many an individual, its ambiguity and explosive political nature can often cause profound confusion about the concept’s true meaning. Indeed, as one...
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No one disagrees that health care reforms in the United States aren't needed to bring costs under control, while still providing maximum coverage for people. Legislators and presidents have spoken for decades of...
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You have heard the rhetoric: the suburbs are unsustainable, destroy farmland, lack community, and cause global warming. "Anti-Sprawl" messages are popular and the images of friendlier neighborhoods and healthier...
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The non-interventionist movement, like many American traditions, has its roots in the Enlightenment. The Founders were strongly concerned about the potential threat that war and foreign alliances posed to the liberty...
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In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and the 89th Congress came together to extend the scope of Social Security coverage by amending into the original legislation a program of social medical insurance called Medicare...
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Proponents of cap-and-trade hope to harness the invisible hand of "the market" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), such as carbon dioxide.
The goal is to "cap" current GHG...
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Born from President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal entitlement policies, Social Security functions as a system of social insurance in which a portion of workers and employers earnings are taxed to fund government-managed trust funds. These funds...
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According to a Gallup Poll regarding the public opinion of 22 different professions, lobbying is perceived as the least honest and...
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The Boston Tea Party remains one of the few events leading up to the American Revolutionary War which so truly defines, for the average American citizen, the nature of the colonies' severance from England. Aside from...