City on a Hill? - October 2013

The Hill Chapel Hill

JAPAN’S NEW NATIONALISM 15

Vol. 13 Issue 1

VOTING RESTRICTIONS IN NC 18

Political Review

LAWYERS AND OBAMACARE 6

CITY ON A HILL? DETROIT’S FALL AND THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

The Hill Chapel Hill Political Review

Vol. 13 Issue 1 EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Jon Buchleiter, Brendan Cooley ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Nikki Mandell INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Carol Abken NATIONAL EDITOR Richard Zheng STATE & LOCAL EDITOR Dain Clare ONLINE EDITORS Ethan Robertson, Nicholas Yetman DESIGN EDITOR Mary Burke ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITOR Tyler Vahan TREASURER Tess Landon HEAD OF MARKETING Brian Braytenbah COLUMNISTS/BLOGGERS Brian Bartholomew, Camille Bossut, Derrick Flakoll, Allie Higgins, Robert McCauley, Nancy Smith, Zachary Williams

STAFF WRITERS Grayson Berger, Lyndsey Bernal, Camille Bossut, Brian Braytenbah, Elizabeth Brown, Nicholas James Coukoulis, Julia Craven, Giulia Curcelli, Russell Davis, Jordan Elliot, David Farrow, Emily Foster, Connor Goggin, Adriana Golindano, Jamie Huffman, Cori Johnson, Justin Jones, Tess Landon, Abby Lantz, Sarah Lunenfeld, Conor Lynch, Ian McLin, Alex Montgomery, Brittany Morgan, Katlyn Moseley, Hinal Patel, Sumeet Patwardhan, Bjorn Pedersen, David Pingree, Samantha Sabin, Alexander Schober, Brian Shields, David Snedecor, Jessica Stone, Walker Swain, Avani Uppalapati, Jennifer Waldkirch, Eishante Wilkes, Alfre Wimberley, Savannah Wooten, Matt Wotus DESIGN STAFF Giulia Curcelli, Julia Meder ART STAFF Rini Bahethi, Karishma Lalchandani, Jennifer Waldkirch, David Wright MARKETING STAFF Russell Davis, Ethan Robertson

FACULTY ADVISOR Ferrel Guillory

The Hill - Chapel Hill Political Review 3514E Frank Porter Graham Student Union Chapel Hill, NC 27514 thehillpr@gmail.com This publication was paid for in part by Student Activities Fees at a cost of approximately $2.00 per copy

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From the Editors Welcome to a new year with The Hill! As a publication we are looking to expand our reach and continue to deepen the level of political thought and analysis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In furthering this mission we have launched a new website featuring articles that track and analyze current events between our print issues. With vocal critics at home and abroad we decided to examine to what extent the United States remains the “city upon a hill” praised by President Kennedy and Reagan during their presidential campaigns. We hope you find this issue to be informative and thought provoking about the role of America in the world moving forward.

Jon Buchleiter & Brendan Cooley

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Table of Contents Cover

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Are Detroit’s woes a warning for America?

State

7 13 16 18 18 19

Wrestling with Obamacare Lagging Behind Spending on schoolteachers Hurdles to voting Sorting out school safety Republicans in Raleigh

National

4 5 6 12 14 17 20

Around the Nation - Education policy On Point - The debt ceiling Obamacare’s lawyers Transatlantic disparities Party politics Fueling the economy Reinventing the GOP

International

8 11 15 17

Oil or Islam?

Pulling strings Flag waving Dealing with drugs

Perspectives

21 21 22 23 23

Book Review Spotlight - Richard Kohn Figuring out financial aid Trouble with tapering Stellar statesmen

ONLINE

Photo by: Cole McCauley

thehill.web.unc.edu

STATE EDUCATION

This article highlights some of the key areas of education that will be most affected by the new state budget passed by the legislature. David Pingree addresses concerns about teacher salaries, the number of teaching assistants and funding and reorganization of the state’s community college system.

US SENATE RACES Alfre Wimberly discusses prospects for upcoming senatorial races in 2014.

It looks to be a challenging election cycle for the Democratic Party. She highlights a number of particular races and profiles the Republican challengers for seats held by retiring Democratic senators across the country.

MIDDLE EAST CRISES

Events over the past decade have shown limitations of U.S. power and challenges associated with American interventions around the world. Derrick Flakoll discusses how U.S. involvement in Iraq has contributed to the current controversy and geopolitical ramifications of any potential action in Syria.

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National

Around the Nation As the school year begins across the United States, students, teachers, administrators, and parents are experiencing a variety of new changes in America’s education system. The success or failure of these new policies will determine to what extent the United States education system remains a model for the rest of the world.

State legislatures enact education policy changes Brian Braytenbah, Staff Writer

Salem, Oregon State lawmakers, addressing the high college tuition costs and accumulation of debt that many students face, unanimously passed a law over the summer that introduces a “Pay Forward, Pay Back” college funding model.

Des Moines, Iowa

Part of an education bill passed by state legislators signed into law by Governor Branstad in June loosens requirements for parents who homeschool their children. The new law eliminates the requirement that parents must report their instructional outlines as well as yearly annual progress of their child.

Trenton, New Jersey

The State Legislature passed TEACHNJ, a tenure reform bill, with bipartisan support, and Governor Christie signed the bill into law in August 2012. The bill goes into effect this school year. The law changes the way in which teachers are evaluated, taking into consideration student performance.

Sacramento, California

Lawmakers in California are proposing to suspend K-12 statewide testing for a year. California is shifting over to a new set of Common Core curriculum for the 2014-2015 school year. Legislators want to use the 2013-2014 school year to field test computerized testing for the Common Core, and want to forego the old progress tests.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has threatened to withhold federal funding if California fails to continue administering the accountability test.

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Illustration by: Mary Burke

Austin, Texas

Over the summer, Governor Perry signed House Bill 5 into law. The law reduces the number of exit exams that high school students must take in order to graduate from 15 to 5.

Additionally, the law lowers the number of math and science classes that high school students are required to take for graduation.

Tallahassee, Florida

Some education reform advocates here have been pushing for the expansion of online education via the Florida Virtual School (FLVS). Florida passed a law in July that takes away hundreds of dollars from school districts for each online class in which a student enrolls. FLVS’s enrollment has declined and recently had to lay off teachers.

Raleigh, North Carolina Legislators allocated ten million dollars for vouchers that allow low-income students to attend private schools using public taxpayer money. The vouchers won’t be issued until March 2014. Additionally, the law will eliminate teacher tenure, and require teachers to work off of one-, two-, or four-year contracts.

National

On Point Congressional politics spark another debt ceiling crisis, risking U.S. economic health Ian McLin, Staff Writer

On August 26, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew submitted that by the middle of this month, the U.S. government will reach a point where it can no longer pay its financial obligations. At that point, the United States will surpass the debt ceiling­—a limit as to how much debt the country can accumulate. Once this limit is reached, Congress will restrict the Treasury from paying its obligations, which in turn will cause the United States to default.

As a temporary solution to the current debt crisis, Treasury Secretary Lew has issued “debt issuance suspension period”, a measure that limits government investment in worker pension funds. This thereby cuts expenditures enough to keep the US below the debt ceiling. When this period ends, Congress will be forced to either raise the debt ceiling or cut expenditures to allow the Treasury to continue to pay its obligations.

Unsurprisingly, Republicans and Democrats are at a standoff Unsurprisingly, Republicans and Democrats are at a standoff regarding a resolution to the debt crisis. Speaker of the House John Boehner has indicated that Republicans will push for

spending cuts, including the defunding of Obamacare. This prompted President Obama to counter that the White House is unwilling to negotiate. If lawmakers cannot agree and the government defaults, unprecedented economic damage could occur. Even though a default did not happen in 2011, amid fears that the government would fail to raise the debt ceiling, Standard & Poor downgraded the United States’ credit rating, prompting a massive 5.6% loss in the Dow in a single day.

Because of the current political climate, the 113th Congress will likely delay a debt ceiling vote until the absolute deadline. According to UNC political science Professor James Stimson, this may prompt the two other major credit agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, to also downgrade the

U.S. credit rating, thereby causing the economy to take another significant short-term hit. Stimson emphasizes the importance reaching a deal before the United States can default:“The entire world economic system rests on the assumption that the full faith and credit of the United States government is gold…The US currency is the one international standard in which everyone believes in. You pull the rug out from under that and there’s no telling what happens.”

These debt crises will continue to recur unless Congress can tackle the budget in a larger way. Lawmakers must find a long term, lasting solution to the US debt problem in order to both prevent the economic alarm that accompanies the almost biennial debt crisis and protect the world’s one reserve currency from destabilization.

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National

Obamacare’s lawyers As law school grads struggle to find jobs, health care lawyers thrive Abby Lantz, Staff Writer Law school, one thought a safe bet for those graduating with liberal arts degrees, has been decried as an economic pitfall over the last few years. Law school admissions have been dropping quickly in response to the crippling job market faced by graduates, who can face debt up to $125,000.

While law grads in the past made up for law school expenses with hefty starting salaries, outsourcing legal research and the impact of the recession on the legal market has some claiming a devastating situation for graduates of the past five years. According The Atlantic, in 2012, only slightly over half of graduates were able to find full-time jobs that required either passage of the bar exam or a judicial clerkship. Unless students graduated from one of the top 9 universities in the nation - the only schools to have single-digit unemployment rates - or attended on a sizeable scholarship, they were likely to be unemployed or under employed upon graduation. Law schools have cut back on faculty and decreased incoming class sizes, which makes competitive law schools even more difficult to get into. President Obama created a flurry of debate when he suggested eliminating the third year of law school this August, referring to his own roots as both a Harvard law graduate and former

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sions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by offering to interpret it for businesses required as early as 2014 to comply with its strictures. Few lawyers specialize in health care law, and only 18 health care law programs are ranked in U.S. News and World Report. For those attorneys part-time lecturer at University of Chica- who have specialized in Affordable Care go. While several universities, including Act compliance, it’s a welcome change #12 ranked Northwestern, now offer from a stagnant legal economy. two-year law degrees, the problem is UNC law student Maiysa Mesbah, far from solved, and 2012 graduates who is interested in patient advocacy saw only a one percent increase in job law, says the ACA is causing frustration placement. due to its lack of transparency. “A lot of patients aren’t sure what is covered and what services are available to them under the ACA,” she said. “There are a lot of patients that are getting procedures they expect to be covered and aren’t, and health care providers aren’t telling them until afterward.”

Mesbah hopes to help patients navigate the confusIllustration by: Karishma Lalchandani ing aspects of the new law. Graduates Health care in America is a long-de- like Mesbah may have an opportunity bated issue and has created opportunities applying to work in small businesses and for lawyers specializing in health care smaller law firms, but due to cut backs law, especially in avoiding health care in federal spending, the wealth of jobs fraud and abuse. With the passage of the available in 2010 from the creation of Affordable Care Act, more law students agencies to administer health care have are focusing on health care law. “I think largely been filled. The supposed gold it’s an area lawyers will be needed in mine created for lawyers by the ACA for a long time,” said UNC law Profescould provide some opportunities for sor Joan Krause. Krause has worked in recent law grads, although the majority health law for a majority of her career of major insurance companies and big and says that despite media claims of a business will likely turn to long-standing plummeting legal market, health law is legal counsel. For students broadly inter“relatively stable,” and will continue to ested in health law, Krause recommends provide job opportunities. According to a flexible approach. “Keep your options The Wall Street Journal’s article “Want open and you will be more likely to find a Law Job? Learn the Health Care Act,” a good position. Have patience. It takes published this June, many lawyers are longer than it used to for many people to taking advantage of the confusing provi- find jobs, but there are jobs out there.”

North Carolina

Wrestling with Obamacare Affordable Care Act’s implemenation sparks debate about costs, benefits to state Jamie Huffman, Staff Writer Perhaps one of the most salient­— and widely discussed—aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the Medicaid expansion rendered optional to states by a 2012 Supreme Court decision. Because the expansion was initially intended to be mandatory for all states, hospitals will now receive less funding from the federal government for care they provide that goes uncompensated, further compounding budgetary issues. The expansion was blocked by the NC legislature, and many Republicans, such as Rep. John Bell (R-10), argue that the expansion was simply infeasible due to the $600 million shortfall the state already runs with its current Medicaid program. Conversely, a recent study released by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit think tank, “… found that the cost to states for expanding Medicaid generally would be lower

than the expense state and local governments will face for providing uncompensated care to uninsured residents after implementation of the Affordable Care Act.” Also attracting wide media coverage of late is the closure of the hospital in Belhaven, North Carolina. Hospital administrators stated that the closure was due to the failure of the legislature to pass Medicaid expansion. Representative Bell argues that the closure is indicative of a larger overall trend in rural North Carolina communities, one that could have been avoided if the ACA had not been enacted.

Rep. Bell, along with many other Republican lawmakers, argues that another unintended consequence of the ACA is an increase in the number of part-time jobs in lieu of full-time jobs in the state.

According to Rep. Bell, many small businesses simply can’t afford to pay for health insurance for their full-time employees, forcing them to hire more parttime staff to avoid providing benefits. He states that this is particularly significant because small businesses are among the largest employers in the state. This seems to be indicative of a broader nationwide trend in part-time hiring, with 93,000 part-time employees being hired on average per month (seasonally adjusted), as opposed to only 22,000 full-time employees. Additionally, the majority of the overall growth in employment in the country is currently in sectors that are typically part-time, such as retail.

Another potentially troubling aspect of the ACA is the fact that the banning of lifetime limits on coverage coupled with lower out-of-pocket costs and deductibles will cause many individuals’ premiums to increase, meaning that some North Carolinians may simply pay the fine to opt out completely. Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, NC no longer provides University health insurance for its students, due to the dramatically increased cost of the University health plan under the ACA. Nonetheless, while premiums will be higher for some, health insurance will be available to others for the first timefor some at no cost, according to Blue Cross Vice President Barbara Morales Burke.

Despite its many technical flaws, many still argue that the ACA is beneficial overall as it makes healthcare affordable for an unprecedented number of people throughout North Carolina as well as the rest of the country. Because of the ACA, it is estimated that over one million North Carolinians whom are currently uninsured will have access to subsidized plans. Some, however, claim that the economic losses to others, through part-time employment and higher premiums, are simply not worth it.

Illustration by: Karishma Lalchandani

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International

Oil or Islam?

Could gender inequality be the result of not Islam, but an oil-dependent economy?

Camille Bossut, Staff Writer

In late August, the Saudi Arabian government passed a piece of legislation titled the “Protection from Abuse” law as a response to widespread demands by human rights advocates for political reform. With 98% of domestic violence in Saudi Arabia committed against women and children, this law seeks to protect Saudi citizens from “all forms of abuse” by allowing anonymity in reporting claims. Previously, victims were required to bring a male guardian when reporting abuse.

This law is a landmark in the achievement of rights for Saudi women. The Saudi government has been a notorious violator of human rights and a longtime symbol of gender oppression. This is often interpreted as the result of its authoritarian Islamic regime, which imposes shari’a law in line with religious tradition. However, merely using shari’a to explain gender inequality oversimplifies the issue and ignores the detailed political, social, and economic factors involved.

The economic structure of the Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, may be a significant factor contributing to women’s low levels of social and political development.

Instead of Saudi women’s inequality being solely attributable to strict Islamic governance, the presence of oil, Saudi Arabia’s primary export commodity, may inhibit women from achieving political reforms. This occurs due to the oil sector’s reliance on a small, skilled, and primarily male workforce. These factors ought to be taken into account aside from Islam and cultural preferences when analyzing women’s compromised position in

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the Gulf region.

According to the UN Gender Inequality Index Report, the Middle East and North Africa as a whole generally lags behind the rest of the world in terms of gender equality. Dr. Michael Ross, a professor of political science and UCLA, published a paper titled “Oil, Islam, and Women,” in which he suggests oil, not Islam, is the primary inhibitor to gender equality

female participation in the workforce.

According to Ross, oil impacts gender relations in just this way, which leads to higher fertility rates, less education for girls, and less female influence within the family. It also limits women’s interactions with one another and contributes to a collective action problem in pressing the government for increased participation. Women’s social development is hindered in this system, where women are unable to organize and the regime is unlikely to respond.

This phenomenon provides a direct contrast to economic development theory, which suggests that economic growth leads to development and improves the chances of

The presence of oil, Saudi Arabia’s primary export commodity, may inhibit women from achieving political reforms in the Middle East. In his analysis, some economies experience “Dutch Disease,” where a boom in natural resource production crowds out the production of other domestic goods.

The influx of foreign currency in the oil sector attracts labor, capital, and resources due to its profitability and diverts national resources from other sectors. Indeed, Saudi Arabia holds about 17% of world petroleum reserves, and the petroleum sector accounts for about 80% of government revenue. In cases such as Saudi Arabia, the regime’s reliance on citizens for tax revenue decreases and this substantially consolidates political control. The regime becomes relatively unresponsive to its citizenry and has little incentive to support social development.

Another important element of the severe economic homogeneity of oil is the disincentive to promote

democratic governance. However, the type of growth that occurs plays an enormous role in development outcomes. Ross suggests that when economic progress depends on women’s participation in the workforce, it contributes positively to their social development; but when the progress results from resource extraction for export, women are pushed further out of the public sphere and gender inequality is exacerbated.

Gender inequality is a worldwide phenomenon that is not strictly limited to the Gulf region. The nature of domestic economies can play a significant role in women’s status aside from religious and cultural preferences. A wide range of factors must be taken into account when assessing gender relations in Saudi Arabia as well as other resource-rich countries in the Middle East and around the globe.

Bankrupt.

Is Detroit’s fate a warning to America?

Richard Zheng, National Editor When asked to define the elusive “American Dream,” one might envision a house in the suburbs with a brand new shiny automobile, the family supported by a well-paying factory job in the city, and a white picket fence to top it all off . These three essentials of job, car, and house were all commonplace in Detroit, Michigan during the 1950s.

Continued on page 10

National With a population of over 1.8 million at its height, the capital of the American automobile industry provided stable, high wage employment to its citizens and lifted many up into the middle class. However, accelerate half a century and Detroit has become a completely different symbol for the nation, one of a sputtering economy struggling to keep its engine running following the Great Recession. Although the decline of Detroit does not necessarily imply a similar fate for the United States, the underlying causes of its urban decay threaten to infect America’s image as a “City on a Hill.”

A clear agent of Detroit’s fall was its over commitment to the automobile industry. The Big Three automobile companies, General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler, were all formed and headquartered in Detroit. This was due largely to the city’s ideal location at the center of the American industrial heartland. Raw

crossed the Detroit River and fled.

But beneath the blighted buildings and boarded up businesses, the root cause was Detroit’s lack of investment in its own citizens. John Gallagher, a veteran of the Detroit Free Press, discusses how people had been leaving the city for the suburbs for decades, and for various legal and political reasons, Detroit was unable to annex these suburbs for tax revenues.

Furthermore, with the city’s emphasis on the automobile, the resulting urban sprawl spawned freeways, not bus routes or subways. As many of these wealthy, middle class citizens in the suburbs were white, there was even less of an incentive to push for public transportation that might allow inner-city blacks to show up in the suburbs. The city grew poorer, leading to cuts in public infrastructure and a rise in crime, and became even more undesirable to live in. Coupling together the diminishing tax base and a corrupt bureaucracy,

Beneath the blighted buildings and boarded up businesses, the root cause was Detroit’s lack of investment in its own citizens materials flowed into Detroit easily thanks to the Great Lakes waterways and railways.

As a result, manufacturing jobs in 1950 numbered 296,000, but these numbers fell rapidly in the 1970s as they faced a global energy crisis and increased competition from foreign car companies. But even before German Volkswagens and Japanese Toyotas began to pose a serious threat, the Big Three had been slowly moving operations outside of city limits to dodge high taxes and labor union restrictions. The 1980s trend towards globalization further exacerbated this problem, as expensive, American jobs were shipped overseas or to Mexico. The 2009 automobile industry bailout by the federal government completed this breakup between industry and city: the Big Three posted billions in earnings in 2012, while Detroit became the biggest city to declare bankruptcy this past year. Detroit prospered as the automobile triumvirate remained powerful, but as the city died, the manufacturing businesses

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Detroit struggled for years to sustain a massive structural shell around its shrunken population.

Although these localized urban issues cannot be simply extrapolated to the nation as a whole, recent trends warn of the dangers of failing to invest in one’s human capital. According to the 2006 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, the United States ranks 35th in mathematics and 29th in science out of 57 countries. Additionally, a 2012 OECD report shows that on average across all OECD countries, only 30 percent of higher education expenditure comes from private sources, while in the United States this number is much higher at 62 percent. These numbers illuminate how lack of public support for education diminishes the performance of U.S. students. As college tuition continues to rise, the proportion of debt students and their families are forced to take on will inflate to unsustainable levels. The United States

has traditionally been the destination for intellectual flight from other countries, but this trend may actually reverse in coming years. In fact, Dr. David Heenan, former professor at Georgetown University, warns precisely against this reverse brain drain in his 2006 book Flight Capital: The Alarming Exodus of America’s Best and Brightest. Many emerging economies such as China and India offer tax breaks and venture capital funding to lure back top talent, and improving conditions within these former developing countries incentivize the return home for immigrants.

Combined with stricter immigration laws following 9/11, the United States may soon lose its status as “the land of opportunity.”

Fortunately, the nation does not face all of the same problems as Detroit.

Manufacturing no longer remains the sole focus of U.S. economic output, as the share of the service sector grew from 60 percent in 1950 to 80 percent in 2000. Thus, while technology and deindustrialization drives manufacturing jobs overseas, the service sector continues to grow at unprecedented rates; according to Reuters, growth is at an eight year high this past August. Such expansion provides numerous benefits for a country and its citizens. The World Bank reports on the environmental and social sustainability that service economies support, as service jobs require less natural capital and more educated human capital. These facts merely provide further evidence for devoting more resources towards the cultivation of the American community.

The future of Detroit today appears hazy and uncertain. An emergency financial manager appointed by the state currently oversees most of city government’s expenditures and budget. But CNBC reports a growing number of entrepreneurs see Detroit’s bottom as a blank slate for opportunity. Examples include SOUP, a monthly public dinner that gives proceeds of the dinner to the winning business pitch of the night. Future opportunities for change include the upcoming mayoral race, where both candidates promise a renewed dedication to public safety.

Though the city has fallen far, remnants of the American Dream remain, and perhaps these vestiges of hope will help place Detroit back up on its former pedestal.

International

Pulling strings Syria

The Middle East breaks into blocs as war in Syria rages on

Supporting Regime Supporting Rebels

Carol Abken, International Editor What began as a Syrian uprising against the brutally oppressive Assad regime has morphed into a proxy war for regional hegemony in which sectarian divides are exploited for political reasons. According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, the 2003 Iraq War and the removal of Saddam Hussein created a power vacuum that overturned the balance of power in the Middle East and allowed for conflict between nations competing for regional hegemony. Since the fall of the Ba’ath party in Iraq, regional power has shifted towards Iran and the “resistance axis” united against Israel and its Western allies. The resistance axis includes Iran, Syria under the Assad regime, and the Lebanese Shi’a militant group Hezbollah.

Iran’s expanding regional clout threatens American ally Saudi Arabia’s former position as a traditional power in the region. To curb Iran’s influence, Saudi Arabia has backed opposition forces to Shi’a groups in Iraq and Lebanon. The tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have developed into a regional cold war where Syria serves as a proxy battlefield.

Syria’s strategic position in the heart of the Middle East adjacent to Israel makes it a desirable outlet through which Iran can ship weapons to Hezbollah and underhandedly promote ongoing attacks on Israel.

This wider conflict aligns along sectarian divisions, with Sunni Saudi Arabia backing the Sunni-majority rebels in Syria, and Shi’a Iran supporting the Shi’a offshoot Alawite regime of Assad. Qatar, also a Sunni-majority nation, provides support to the rebels in an effort to check

Illustration by: Mary Burke

Iran’s growing regional influence. Sunni-majority Turkey supports the rebels as well, partly out of a desire to restrict the power of the Syrian Kurds, fearing their potential to support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey.

Iran feels empowered by Russia’s support for the Assad regime. Western powers such as the United States support the rebels but do not supply them with nearly as many arms as Assad’s backers do due to fears of victory by jihadi groups in the opposition. Israel also holds this stance, fearing victory for the rebels could mean that Syria would become a stronghold for jihadists to launch attacks into Israel, though a victory for Assad and an emboldened Iran would also be undesirable. The end result is calculated and measured support for socalled moderate rebel factions.

The outside actors invested in the Syrian conflict promulgate the violence through continued contributions of arms

and fighters to their respective causes.

Assad’s alignment with Shi’a powers and rebel ties to Sunni powers frames the Syrian conflict as a battlefield of broader sectarian conflict. According to Dr. Cemil Aydin, a professor of history at UNC, sectarian conflict in the region is relatively new; “Even one hundred years ago, Shiites and Sunnis were more united, however, regional governments began to mobilize sectarian identity over the past twenty to thirty years.“ This violence between sectarian groups threatens the stability of the Middle East at large, particularly in Lebanon and Iraq, whose populations feature a diverse makeup similar to Syria and already fear violent sectarian spillover. Identity politics along sectarian lines has potentially destructive implications for mixed communities. As the violence continues, the probability of contagion increases as the prospects for a political solution for an end to the fighting diminish.

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North Carolina

Lagging behind While North Carolina’s economic picture has improved, conditions remain bleak for some Katlyn Moseley, Staff Writer While the national unemployment rate has dropped to 7.3% (down from 8.1% in 2012 and its highest point of 10% in October of 2009), the economy is not recovering as rapidly as one may hope and job creation remains minimal. The Hamilton Project, an economic think tank affiliated with the Brookings Institution, predicts that at the current rate it will take seven years to close the job gap (the number of jobs the US economy needs to create to return to pre-recession levels). While we have certainly made progress since the start of the Great Recession, there is still a long way to go.

The slow pace at which the economy is recovering is even more evident when unemployment and job growth is examined at the state level. North Carolina has the

fourth highest unemployment rate in the United States, 8.9% as of July 2013. While this is certainly an improvement over its historic high of 11.3% in February of 2010, it is still lagging behind many other states. The unemployment figures at the city levels are even more staggering. Areas such as Asheville, Durham/Chapel Hill, and Raleigh are doing far better than the state average; however, Rocky Mount has a massive unemployment rate of 13.3%.

North Carolina is home to some of the poorest counties in the nation, and the state is struggling to revive these areas.

This term, Governor McCrory has signed into law several pieces of legislation that target the struggling economy. The administration calls for a balanced budget and focuses on cutting taxes and reducing

government spending. The tax reform passed by the General Assembly this session include measures to lower income taxes, lower the personal income tax rate, reinstate the child state tax credit, and reduces the corporate income tax over the next three years. Additionally, the Governor has issued over $2 million dollars in rural center grants with the hopes that this money will help stimulate the towns and counties that are struggling to recover.

The budget proposed by McCrory also makes substantial cuts to public education, however, including the UNC system.

President Thomas Ross is among the many concerned about the magnitude of the cuts and the impact they will have on the system’s “ability to provide high-quality educational opportunities to [North Carolina] residents and to assist in North Carolina’s Economic recovery.” While the long-term effects of the Governor’s proposed budget will not be seen for years to come, if jobs are not created across North Carolina, the economy will continue to lag behind the rest of the nation.

North Carolina vs. national unemployment rates

12%

10%

North Carolina’s unemployment rate has been consistently above the national average since the 2008 recession. While both the national and the state unemployment rates have recovered significantly, North Carolina remains behind.

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Illustration by: Tyler Vahan

National

Transatlantic Disparity As U.S. recovers from 2008 recession, Europe remains plagued by slow growth Brian Shields, Staff Writer During the financial crisis of 2008, the contraction of the U.S. economy negatively impacted both businesses and the average citizen. However, economic turmoil in the United States did not remain contained within the country’s borders.

Much of Europe and the developed world were pulled into their own recessions.

The world economy continued its downward spiral until the second quarter of 2009 when it finally bottomed out. Since then, the economic recoveries of the United States and its European counterparts have taken drastically different trajectories.

While the United States has slowly climbed its way out of the recession with moderate growth, the euro zone continues to stagnate. In fact, the economic woes of some of the euro zone’s minor states like Greece are hurting some of the major players. Germany had the strongest and most resilient economy in Europe

since the recession and still only managed to grow a meager one percent during the last four quarters. Furthermore, France’s economy has not experienced any economic growth in the past nine months.

From this perspective, the United States’ 2.2 percent year over year growth appears to be worthy of applause.

The marked disparity between the U.S. recovery and that of Europe warrants an inspection of the differing remedies prescribed to improve each entity’s economic condition. Many of Europe’s periphery countries like Greece imposed harsh austerity measures aimed to drastically reduce government debt through tax increases, mass government layoffs, and cuts to government services. These supposed remedies backfired and resulted in massive unemployment and higher interest rates. The subsequent depletion in the number of jobs spells out very negative implications for the countries’ long-term

economic health. For instance, in countries like Spain and Greece, the youth unemployment level is almost 50 percent which has resulted in a large exodus of young workers to other countries. The consequence of this is that each country is losing tax revenue, and perhaps more importantly, human resources.

In contrast, the United States implemented countercyclical measures such as the Federal Reserve buying bonds in an attempt to keep interest rates low and reduce unemployment. By focusing less on debt reduction and more on reducing unemployment, the United States has allowed GDP and government revenue to expand. The results have been promising so far, with unemployment falling from ten percent in October of 2009 to 7.3 percent as of this August.

Currently, Europe appears to be on the way towards a double dip recession while the United States continues to receive encouraging economic data that signals the recovery is almost complete. Even though the United States was the catalyst for Europe’s initial downturn, America’s economy has managed, for the time being, to decouple itself from the chaos across the Atlantic.

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National

Party politics Americans hold the two-party system in low regard, are multiparty alternatives better?

Giulia Curcelli, Staff Writer With the usual claims of bipartisan gridlock abound, the 113th Congress is on track to prove those rumors true and become one of the least productive governing bodies in modern American history. According to the Washington Post, the 112th Congress (2009-2010) passed 8.2 percent of introduced bills, down from 12.9 percent in the 111th Congress. Constituents are not pleased, as a June 2013 Gallup poll reports that 78 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress’ job performance, and 59 percent attribute their dissatisfaction to the legislature’s ineffectiveness and partisan gridlock. Such lack of productivity and public disapproval raise doubts about the competence of the de facto two-party system, and alternatives representing a wider variety of citizens’ views, such as a multiparty system, should be examined.

Though the Constitution contains no mention of political parties, the Electoral College provides institutional support for the two major parties. In all states except Maine and Nebraska, the presidential candidate who receives a plurality wins all of a state’s electoral votes, giving little viability to third-party candidates.

This winner-take all system extends to the legislature as well. Jason Roberts, associate professor of Political Science at UNC, explains that “the main reason that the U.S. is a two-party system is that we have an electoral system that chooses members of Congress in single-member, winner-take-all elections. A minor party could win 20 percent of the vote in all 435 congressional districts and end up with zero seats. [Instead,] proportional representation does allow multiple parties to survive.” As such, institutional barriers tend to prevent third-party candidates from becoming relevant challengers to the two dominant political forces.

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Unfortunately, the two-party system displeases many citizens. A significant portion of the U.S. population does not feel that the two-party system sufficiently represents the American public. A May 2011 Gallup poll found that 52 percent of Americans agree with this statement and believe that a third viable party is necessary. Citizens may feel that their opinions are not adequately represented by the broad views of the two major parties. Professor Roberts offers evidence illuminating why, stating that although a multiparty system can offer voters more choice, in a two-party system “the parties are incentivized to offer policies that appeal to large numbers of voters, whereas in a multiparty system a party can focus on a limited set of issues.”

When examining American third-party and independent candidates, the options vary greatly. Some party platforms— such as the Socialist, Communist, and Libertarian parties—are rooted in ideology.

Other parties are founded on narrower platforms (for example, the Prohibition, Free-Soil, and American Independent parties), and some form as offshoots of the two major parties—for instance, the Bull Moose Party and the Progressive Party (1948). Other candidates run independently and on the merits of the individual rather than a party platform. Though third-party candidates seldom receive enough votes to present a challenge, they have the ability to influence the direction of the debate and occasionally play a role in close races.

In contrast, systems of multiparty proportional representation often go hand-in-hand with coalition building.

Coalitions can provide a wider range of views with which voters can identify, but these political bodies are not always stable.

For example, according to The Economist, since the foundation of the Italian republic

in 1946, Italy has had 62 governments.

Coalitions become necessary to create a majority, as one party is unlikely to earn that majority on its own. However, countries that rely on coalition building often form broad coalitions on the left and right that operate much like a two-party system. Furthermore, an analysis in the 2012 Journal of Democracy explains that presidential multiparty systems tend to be more stable than parliamentary ones because a president does not need to be elected with every coalition shift, whereas a new prime minister must be appointed if a different coalition gains a majority.

In comparing the two-party system with a multiparty system, voter turnout is a distinguishing statistic. US voter turnout hovers just above 50 percent in presidential election years. Comparatively,

There is no foolproof, faultless form of government Italy’s 2013 parliamentary election saw a 68.3 percent turnout. Denmark, a multiparty, parliamentary democracy under a monarch, saw an 81.8 percent turnout in the 2011 parliamentary elections. Though other differences in election policy could account for this disparity, some—including the organization, Californians for Electoral Reform—attribute such a notable chasm in the proportions of voter turnout to the alienating nature of the two-party system.

Ultimately, the public often maligns the American two-party system, but the intricacies of two-party and multiparty governments prove that there is no foolproof, faultless form of government, each with its own benefits and disadvantages.

For the time being, however, barring a change in electoral policies, the United States must learn to operate effectively under the existing division of political parties.

International

Flag waving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks to revitalize Japan’s economy, international political clout David Snedecor, Staff Writer Six years ago, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looked unlikely to hold political office again. His term was plagued by a series of embarrassing scandals and gaffes, forcing him to resign after just a year in office. Yet despite his ignominious past, he was able to return to power last year by crafting his campaign around the economy, Japan’s primary concern. The past few decades of stagnation and deflation had convinced the Japanese that their country was on a path of inexorable decline, which Abe promised to end.

His daring plan for economic revival, commonly known as “Abenomics,” consists of three components, or arrows: inflationary monetary measures, massive public stimulus, and

economic reforms. He quickly followed through on the first two arrows by appointing a new head to the central bank and then passing a $116 billion stimulus package, both of which are overwhelmingly popular among the Japanese. The Nikkei rallied for twelve straight weeks this winter for the first time since 1959, while Abe’s approval rating has skyrocketed up to 70 percent.

Most Japanese are confident that his doctrine can create a “virtuous cycle of growth” that will permanently defeat the specter of deflation. Critics see his efforts as a merely short-term solution that risks fiscal insolvency in the process. Regardless, there is a pressing need for reform in the Japanese economy; many of its industries are

excessively protected and are subsequently lacking in innovation. Abe has started to make timid steps towards reform, but more aggressive measures are needed.

His critics are also concerned with his extreme nationalistic views, as they have the potential to severely damage Japan’s relations with its neighbors. Abe has persistently denied the Japanese army’s well-documented sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II, and has repeatedly announced his desire to revise Japan’s constitution in order to permit a legitimate standing army. Furthermore, his cabinet is stockpiled with radicals who visit the Yasukuni shrine, a memorial that honors the Japanese war dead- including scores of notorious war criminals.

Korea and China are still feeling the effects of Japan’s brutal military occupancy and these actions confirm their suspicions that Japan is not adequately remorseful of its wartime atrocities. Combined with China’s desire to establish itself as the dominant power of the region, military action starts to seem more likely.

Abe’s nationalistic leanings are undiminished despite the fact that the majority of the Japanese population does not share his views. Despite its popularity, it is uncertain if Abenomics will generate the self-sustaining economic growth that the Japanese desire.

But in the meantime, Abe has renewed Japan with a sense of national pride and of hope for the future.

Illustration by: Rini Bahethi

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North Carolina

Spending on schoolteachers Balancing budget restraints with rewarding teachers for their efforts Samantha Sabin, Staff Writer A series of education bills passed by North Carolina legislators has deterred students from pursuing teaching careers.

North Carolina phased out the N.C. Teaching Fellows scholarship, cut K-12 teacher tenure and stopped bonuses for teachers with master’s degrees in the new state budget passed this summer.

After six years of budget cuts and pay freezes, North Carolina is no longer close to the national average in teacher pay as it once was — it is now 46th in teacher salaries and 48th in per-student spending. The state’s average teacher salary is now $45,967, almost $10,000 less than the national average. Starting pay for a teacher in North Carolina is $30,800 a year, and it takes 15 years on average to get to $40,000.

Stephen Halkiotis, the vice chair of the Orange County Board of Education, said because of the low pay for teachers, young people no longer have an incentive to pursue a job as an educator.

“You’re not going to get a salary that’s commensurate of the time you’re going to put into preparing lesson plans and the dedication that good teachers have to show to their profession and their students and the parents of their students,” he said.

“I was even shocked to see the foolishness of a place for telling people we’re not going to pay you anything extra a month for having an advanced degree — why bother getting a master’s degree or a doctorate when you’re not going to be compensated for that? That’s utterly foolish.”

The recent changes have also left a dent in morale among teachers, which Halkitois said has been decreasing for the past three years. To recruit students to the teaching profession, teachers must be able to live comfortably, and Keith Sutton, a member of the Wake County

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Illustration by: Jennifer Waldkirch

Board of Education, agrees.

“You’ll often hear people talk about [how] young teachers don’t go in it for the money because they love it in their heart, but at the same time folks have to make a living wage,” he said.

Sutton also said the board needs to find a balance between rewarding teachers who have been in the profession without while still giving them a reason to perform well. Christopher Harrison, a research associate for The National Center for Scaling Up Effective Schools and a doctoral student at UNC, also agreed that the freeze on teacher pay is not helping morale among educators.

“As we go forward and ask more of teachers, while simultaneously not growing their salaries to commensurate the additional responsibilities, how would you feel?” he said.

Sutton suggested a plan in which Wake County teachers could give up their ability to choose which school

he or she wants to teach and be sent to schools that need excellent teachers the most, in return for a 10 percent bonus to their salary.

“I think doing that helps improve academics, and every kid will have access to an excellent teacher,” Sutton said.

Halktois said he would like to see less regulation of public schools. He thinks that on every governmental level, teachers should be able to teach without as many regulations and with a fair wage.

“I would like to see us return to a sense of normalcy with respect to letting teachers teach, paying them a fair wage, and stop all this ridiculous tinkering with public schools,” he said.

But until something changes in the realm of education policy, young students simply will not be driven to teaching, affecting the quality of education for our children in the future.

National/International

Fueling the economy Are fossil fuels or renewables the right choice right now for America’s energy sector?

Tess Landon, Staff Writer Oil and gas businesses have always held considerable political clout over the federal budget, one of the more notable examples was the formation of the Global Climate Coalition­—containing many big oil, energy, and automotive companies— whose premise was opposition of federal action to hinder climate change for “fear of economic repercussions.” GCC disbanded in 2002 but ramifications of its existence are still experienced today after multiple pieces of legislation partial to GCC’s input were passed during the Bush Administration. It is no secret that industries like oil and gas have impacted the formation of the federal budget for decades­—but perhaps their interference should be reexamined in light of the recent budget cuts.

With strict budget constraints, the

government is forced to choose between funding the interests of big business or channeling money towards environmental efforts. Eighty-seven percent of total US power production stems from fossil fuels, validating the large role Big Oil companies play in the economy and their involvement in the budget making process. Our core understanding of climate change is simple: industrial activity is a factor in that change and the effects of those changes will be increasingly felt as time goes on. But if there is to be a significant decline in carbon emissions, a considerable portion of energy will need to come from renewable sources—and the only way to accomplish this monumental task is to prioritize funding for research and development in the clean energy field.

A recent report by the Natural Resource Defense Council detailed business interests’ involvement with the federal budget today. This year was rung in with a tax-bill, aiming to postpone the fiscal cliff and raise revenue to continue multiple federal programs including incentives promoting clean energy. The result? Not enough revenue to cover the environmental programs leading to the sequestration process which severely hurting essential environmental protection programs and crippling research and development programs for clean, renewable energy. In lieu of the spending cut approximately $8 billion of tax loopholes and subsidies were distributed to oil companies this year, according to the NDRC report.

Finding the right balance of funding between fossil fuel companies to sustain ever-growing energy usage or finding cleaner sources for future sustenance is a tricky task. It’s safe to say vacancy in the federal budget is low, but is it time to boot big business interests to make room for renewable energy initiatives?

Dealing with drugs Many European countries on the forefront of efforts to legalize marijuana Nicholas James Coukoulis, Staff Writer Marijuana is being legalized under varying circumstances in nearly one-third of the United States. European countries in general have long had reputations for having more relaxed attitudes towards drug policy, but these perceptions are not necessarily true.

One of the most visibly tolerant countries in the world regarding drug policy is the Netherlands. The Dutch view drugs and addiction not as criminal offenses, but rather as a problem that society faces collectively. Modern Dutch drug policy created the idea of clean spaces for safe drug use

and allows small amounts of any drug to be carried for personal use. One of the most prominent features of the Netherlands’ drug policy is the allowance of “coffee shops,” where marijuana can be bought and sold in a controlled environment.

Portugal has taken their drug policy a step further with the decriminalization of all drugs in 2001. Portugal has seen a slight reduction in usage among young people while the number of older people using has increased..

Eastern Europe is home to one of the world’s largest drug trades. It also takes the

most intolerant stance on drugs, doling out long criminal sentences for mere possession. According to the Global Commission, the two are “inexorably linked” and they recommend that Eastern Europe take a step in the direction of Portugal and the Netherlands concerning drug policy.

However, Eastern Europe has been resistant to change and continues to face drug-related problems pertaining to newly created drugs.

In the United States, it could be estimated that marijuana usage rates would decrease with legalization: the Netherlands currently has one of the lowest usage rates, with 5.4% of the population using between ages 15 and 64, compared to 12% in the United States. Concerning legalization, United States is joining the forefront of drug policy with the Netherlands and Portugal.

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North Carolina

Sorting out school safety Finding policies to improve safety in primary and secondary schools Eishante Wilkes, Staff Writer

As the number of violent school related crimes increase in the United States, many states such as North Carolina have responded by proposing and implementing policies to increase safety in schools.

Over the past few decades, many national tragedies have hit grades K-12 in unimaginable ways that have caused many parents and politicians to agree on a variety of proposals and recommendations that will increase school safety.

North Carolina has fortunately not experienced school violence like the mass

shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, but Rep. Marvin Lucas, D-Cumberland, still feels that more legislation is needed. According to Lucas, “We’ve been very fortunate in this state of North Carolina that we haven’t had such incidents, but it does not mean we too are immune to that.” North Carolina lawmakers have created a bill that would foster a safer school environment. The proposed legislation, House Bill 452, mandated that $34 million be spent on a variety of resources over the next 2 years.

The funds would be used to pay for additional training of resource officers, trained security personnel, who are currently working in schools and would create more resource officer positions in elementary and middle schools. It would also increase the number of psychologists, guidance counselors, and social workers in schools. The legislation also includes a variety of other proposals promoting school safety such as crisis kits containing first aid supplies and anonymous tip lines for each school.

With the number of school shootings on the rise nationally, the need for additional school policies in NC still remains. With many parents asking, “Will these proposed policies be enough to thwart violent attacks in North Carolina schools?” lawmakers are hopeful that the new legislation is a step in the right direction.

Hurdles to voting Recent voter identification laws create obstacles to student voting Julia Craven, Staff Writer Voting in the next presidential election just became increasingly more difficult for North Carolina’s college students.

A new wave of voter restrictions were signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory last month. These restrictions — arguably the strictest in the nation — are the first to be passed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section IV of the Voting Rights Act in June.

Starting in 2016, voters will be required to present a government-issued photo ID at the polls in order to be eligible to vote — and student ID cards are no longer an acceptable form of identification. The law also eliminates same-day voter registration, slashes a week off the early voting period, and terminates out-

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of-precinct voting.

By eliminating the use of student ID cards, out-of-state students in the University of North Carolina school system — around 20,900 as of the fall 2012 semester — would not be able to register to vote or cast a ballot since their most likely form of identification is a license or ID card issued by their home state.

Students were formerly able to register using their campus address — a measure that made voting and registering more convenient for in and out-of-staters. But since the law forbids out-of-precinct voting, all students will be forced to return home in order to vote unless they obtain a free state-issued ID card listing their current local residence.

Students must present two forms of identification, proof of NC residency, and must visit the Department of Motor Vehicles to acquire a voter ID card.

But what if typically busy students do not have time to go to the DMV? What if a student cannot afford to just go home and vote as McCrory has suggested? Or what if the shortened early voting period does not align with the student’s fall break?

“It’s very cavalier of McCrory to suggest that just anyone has the time or resources to just drive … home (and vote),” said Susan Bickford, associate professor of political science at UNC. Bickford also said her students will be placed at a disadvantage due to the shortening of the early voting period.

“I think it’s going to depress college students voting,” she said. “A lot of my students take advantage of (early voting).

We have very busy, scheduled lives and sometimes it’s difficult to plan ahead like you want.”

North Carolina

Republicans in Raleigh McCrory’s vetoes of recent legislation lead to internal strife Matt Wotus, Staff Writer There’s a showdown brewing in Raleigh. This time, it is between Governor Pat McCrory and his own party.

Within the last couple weeks, Governor McCrory has vetoed two pieces of legislation that the Republicancontrolled General Assembly passed. In response, both the House and the Senate voted to override the governor’s vetoes on the two bills, House Bill 392 and House Bill 786, causing tension between the Republican governor and his own party.

House Bill 392 deals with how welfare is distributed in the state. The bill would allow officials to give drug tests to those requesting welfare if the person is under the suspicion of using drugs.

McCrory said he vetoed the bill because the funds are not available to start such a program, and other states have tried something similar, but it has been too expensive and ineffective.

Florida, for example, had a similar law, and was losing thousands of dollars

vetoes in office, his predecessors have not shied away from using the veto.

According to the N.C. Legislative Library, since 1997, governors in North

While these were McCrory’s first vetoes in office, his predecessors have not shied away from using the veto before the law was deemed unconstitutional by a judge.

House Bill 786 “triples the period in which seasonal workers do not have to have their immigration status checked in the federal E-Verify system,” according to The News and Observer. McCrory vetoed the bill because he said the bill would make it more difficult for workers to get a job in North Carolina.

While these were McCrory’s first

Carolina have vetoed 31 bills, with 19 of those coming in 2011 and 2012 under the Bev Perdue Administration. Of those 19, 11 were overridden. Out of the 31 total vetoes since 1997, 14 have been overridden.

However, no vetoes have caused this much tension between a governor and his party, according to Virginia Gray, the Robert Watson Winston Distinguished Professor of Political Science at UNC-

Chapel Hill. “Past governors haven’t gotten along with their party, but not to this extent,” she said.

The vetoes might be a good thing for McCrory though, given his current approval rating. “He was trying to show his independence from the legislature,” Gray said. He was letting them get their way on everything, so he put up a stand, she continued.

While some may think McCrory doesn’t understand the bills, given that he admitted to not knowing enough about a voter suppression bill he signed into law, Gray disagrees. “He does believe both bills are flawed [and he is] sincere about it,” she said.

Whether McCrory doesn’t understand the bills or sincerely believes both are flawed, Gray stressed that the governor and his party need to get along if he wants any chance of being elected for a second term.

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National

Reinventing the GOP Will the Republican Party rebrand itself after electoral defeats?

Sarah Lunenfeld, Staff Writer Mitt Romney’s defeat in the 2012 Presidential election signaled the end of an era for the GOP, and sparked various initiatives to revamp the party. Internal disagreement over ideological shifts has contributed to the decay of the GOP’s unity. While Republican Party leaders dive into the task of redesigning their party in order to cater to growing blocks of key constituents such as the Latino vote, the optimal direction for GOP policy continues to expose sharp divides within the party.

At the very least, most Republicans agree that the party needs change. According to a 2013 poll by the Pew Research Center, 67% of GOP voters say the party need to address major problems in order improve in future presidential elections, and 59% say a reconsideration of some current party positions is also necessary. But when GOP voters are asked about the optimal direction for the party to take, 54% of GOP voters believe GOP leaders should move in a more conservative direction while 40% believe leaders should move in a

Illustration by: Rini Bahethi

support from minority voters sparked a wave of social moderation from some GOP leaders. Emerging leader Marco Rubio along with experienced

Public backlash and dismal support from minority voters sparked a wave of social moderation from some GOP leaders moderate direction.

The GOP’s treatment of immigration reform illuminates the current rift within the party. Their official 2012 platform concerning illegal immigrants opposed “any form of amnesty for those, who, by intentionally violating the law, disadvantage those who have obeyed it.” Public backlash and dismal

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Republicans John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake are working with Senate Democrats on the Bipartisan Framework for Immigration Reform.

According to the Washington Post, this initiative includes a “tough but fair” path to citizenship for illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States, which is a far cry from last year’s

platform. Despite the popularity of this proposal among moderates, members of the passionately conservative Tea Party have renounced Rubio as a “RINO”, or “Republican in Name Only.” The New York Times reports that many fear passing a bill that allows for amnesty.

Representative Steven King (R-Iowa), a member of the Tea Party Caucus, embodies the opposition to a comprehensive path to citizenship. King stated, “You can’t separate the Dream Act kids from those who came across the border with a pack of contraband on their back, and they [bipartisan committee] can’t tell me how they can do that. Once you start down that line you’re destroying the rule of law.”

One must wait and see if the Republican Party will be able to overcome divisive issues such as immigration in time for the 2016 election season.

Perspectives

Book Review Confessions of an Economic Hitman

by John Perkins Avani Uppalapati, Staff Writer John Perkins masterfully engages readers and exposes the ugly underbelly of the American empire in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a biographical account of his life. At times, the story is more redolent of James Bond than reality and is almost too incredible to believe.

Hired as an economist at a prominent but now defunct engineering firm, MAIN, Perkins travelled across the world ostensibly selling modernization to under-developed nations while in reality expanding American control of the world’s resources and economies.

His first project as an economic hit man (EHM) took him to Indonesia, where he was shaken by the poverty on the

streets and nagging doubts about the morality of his actions.

Perkins was expected to forecast that MAIN’s project would result in high rates of economic growth for Indonesia regardless of whether his projections reflected reality.

Perkins describes the fate of a stubborn older employee who was fired for resisting the system, whereas Perkins himself was promoted for complying with MAIN’s wishes. The book is peppered with stories of rewards for Perkins’ amoral actions and of unspoken threats designed to deter him from becoming a whistleblower. These incentives and threats compel him to remain silent for years and prevent him from exposing the system. But in the end, the responsibilities he feels as a father and a patriot lead him to reveal the truth about

American corporatocracy.

Perkins’ brutal honesty about his own personal motivations and weaknesses helps the reader fully enter his world and empathize with his struggle to find meaning in his work. His clear and even writing allows the reader to progress quickly through the story. He urges people to evaluate and take personal responsibility for their role in perpetuating the corporatocracy.

Perkins’ story has its skeptics, but after revelations such as the WikiLeaks and NSA wire-tap controversies it does not seem implausible. At the very least, the reader will more closely scrutinize how the U.S. government perpetuates its interests across the globe and frames international development. Confessions is an insightful read for anyone interested in an insider’s view on economics and global empire building.

Spotlight Emeritus Professor of History Richard Kohn on civil-military relations Emeritus Professor of History at UNC Richard Kohn is widely regarded as the leading historian in the field of civil-military relations in the United States. He has served on a member of faculties at numerous universities and war colleges, and was the Chief of Air Force History between 1981 -1991. Professor Kohn came to UNC in 1991 and he chaired the curriculum in Peace, War and Defense until 2006.

Professor Kohn recently delivered a lecture on campus entitled “Six Myths about Civil-Military Relations in the United States.” In his lecture he outlined some common misconceptions about the state

of affairs between civilian leaders and top brass in the military establishment. We had the opportunity to sit down and ask him a few questions after his talk. He discussed the broad prestige issues facing the military following a number of high profile controversies, argued for continued strategic thinking within the military community and also expressed his concern about the special legal status for the military that has emerged in the jurisprudence of the United States. A video of our interview with Professor Kohn is available on our website under the Spotlight tab of our blogs section.

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Perspectives

The Ivory Tower Figuring out financial aid As the Obama administration overhauls its higher education funding policy, our education policy columnists weigh in on the merits of his plans

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Zach Williams

Allie Higgins

As the saying in Alcoholics Anonymous goes, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. President Obama has taken this first step by acknowledging the high cost of attendance for colleges across the board is indeed an issue. Tuition has increased at 4.5 times the pace of inflation and almost twice as fast as medical expenses (which are also notoriously high) since 1985. By all appearances, this cost increase has not been accompanied by a similar increase in value. Unemployment and underemployment rates have increased in recent years, despite the exponentially growing price tag on education. While living in a more educated society is great, the harsh reality is that millions of Americans struggle under debts from an education they paid above market value for. However, the market shows signs of correcting this unsustainable price level on its own.

Obama offers a well-intentioned, but unnecessary, solution to college’s affordability problem. He wants to incentivize higher-value education by distributing federal aid at a higher proportion to students who attend schools scoring highly on a government ranking system. The ranking criteria would include size of enrollment, graduation rates, lower student debt ratios, and higher starting salaries for graduates. If this initiative accomplishes its goals, enrollment will sharply decline in the lowest-quality private universities. However, this is already occurring without government intervention; 40 percent of private colleges across the country reported declining admissions in 2012. The higher education bubble may already be beginning to burst. Headlines highlight how Ivy League educations remain in high demand, but most private schools cannot compete with relative bargains like UNC system schools and other public universities.

Tuition is too high across the board, but extensive use of financial aid exacerbates the problem. While it makes college affordable for the poor by charging higher tuition for the wealthy, it makes college much less affordable for the large middle class.

Need-based aid also encourages the attendance of unqualified students, unlikely to graduate who would be better-served enrolling in technical schools.. In any case, tuition can become more affordable without the help of yet another college ranking list.

With university tuition rates on the rise, college students and tuition-paying parents are looking for answers about the future of federal financial aid and college costs. President Barack Obama supplied a few answers--and brought up a few more questions--on August 22 with his proposal for a new system of higher education funding. Obama hopes to cut university tuition costs by ranking universities based on the number of low-income students in attendance, debt of graduates, graduation rates, and other key financial markers.

New rankings mean new competition over something vitally important to a large portion of American college kids and parents: financial aid.

This innovative way of ranking, which brings “affordability and accessibility” to students seeking financial aid, has been formulated to address the ongoing decline in state funding for higher education. Although it would not be enacted until at least 2018, if passed by Congress, this plan would add perspective and dimension to the federal government’s existing schemas for distributing financial aid. As of now, the federal government’s billions in student aid are distributed based on the raw number of students enrolled at an institution – graduation rates and incurred debt rates aren’t acknowledged at all.

The president has encouraged universities across the nation to investigate options for reducing overall costs of attendance. These moves demonstrate the importance of offering financial aid to low-income students. Most importantly, the president recognizes the current approach to financial aid is inefficient and may further destabilize the already shaky financial standing of the nation.

The newly formulated rankings would provide a framework for all students to consider when choosing an institution of higher education. It is difficult to identify the true value of higher education based on the ranking criteria. However, Obama’s efforts touch on a key problem of ensuring value and affordability in all college educations. This new ranking system may be just what universities need to become competitive over financial aid offerings.

Perspectives

Round the Bend Trouble with tapering Brian Bartholomew

In the darkest days of the Great Recession, the levers of monetary policy were cranked to unprecedented levels as the Federal Reserve intervened to stave off a complete financial collapse. Under the umbrella of unconventional monetary policy, the Fed has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy. This response

has been mirrored by central banks around the globe. The Fed’s balance sheet currently stands at nearly $3.7 trillion; four times its size at the start of the crisis. Under its program of quantitative easing, the current iteration of which is popularly termed “QE3,” the Fed continues to purchase an additional $85 billion of financial assets each month. Now that the worst of the storm has passed, the Fed and its peers are faced with the task of extracting themselves from markets they entered to save.

Eventually, the pace of purchases will have to be slowed and then reversed as those trillions of dollars are drawn back out.

Early signs indicate this may be fraught with as much risk and volatility as the initial crisis. U.S. markets dived in response to Chairman Bernanke’s mention of tapering, and interest rates on ten year Treasuries jumped more than a full point higher than 2012 levels. Emerging markets

registered more violent shocks. Those emerging economies were the first to feel the heat of a less-accommodative credit environment. Currencies in these economies plummeted against the dollar, while interest rates spiked. And keep in mind: this was only the reaction to the possibility of a slowdown in the rate of purchases.

Any further prospect of tapering in the near future takes place against the backdrop of a nonexistent jobs recovery and one self-wrought fiscal crisis after another, the latest of which include the possibility of a government shutdown October 1st and another debt ceiling fiasco slated for the middle of the month. Central banks have been sailing in uncharted waters for the past four years, and while the Fed has elected to continue QE, this recent experience with tapering warns that the prospects of a messy drawdown remain very real.

Two Cents Stellar statesmen Nancy Smith

“Haters gonna hate,” - Alexander Hamilton, great American statesman, and founding member of the Vice Presidential Target Practice Club Today there is a plethora of misinformation out there regarding the state of the union and those who lead it. A wide range of credible sources, from Fox News to the high school dropout on your Facebook newsfeed, claim America’s capabilities as a

“superpower” are greatly diminished. The causes? A weak economy, Obama, surging populations and technology overseas, Obama, wars without definitive end, Obama, and mounting federal debt. But I’m here today to present a list of morally upstanding individuals whose actions prove that, while America may not be in her prime, she’s still the gold standard for statesmanship.

On the federal level, President Bill Clinton set the bar high years ago. He proved to not only be shrewd economizer, but also a devoted husband and a promoter of family values. Clinton’s moral high ground inspired scores of other politicians, such as former-SC-governor-now-redeemed-SC-congressional-representative Mark Sanford, former senator [$1250 Haircut] John Edwards, former-governor Eliot Spitzer (who has impeccable taste in ladies of the night), and former New York congressional representative Anthony Weiner. All these men and countless others have proved themselves incorruptible

and dedicated to their constituents above all else. As one New York resident said about his congressman, “We love Weiner and you can quote me on that.”

By comparison, statesmen on the international field inspire only fear and mistrust: men like North Korea’s supreme leader, and first successful cloning project of Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, mustachioed Bashar-al Assad of Syria, and Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen of the North African Republic of Wadiya. And of course President Vladimir Putin continues to inspire insecurity, supreme he-manliness, and the brand “Putinka vodka.”

With educated, upper socio- economic white males at the helm, America will continue to lead the world as a superpower. And there are countless more reasons for our bona fide legitimacy, including our status as the world’s top producer of beef and cheese. So put away that sad chart on the economy, dust off the Air Jordans, and perk up America. We have some more winning to do.

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The Hill