E Pluribus Unum: Of many, one
The Latin phrase “E pluribus unum” is proudly displayed on our national currency, in our official documents, on our official Great Seal and is even etched in the marble on our nation’s most prominent buildings. This phrase is not meant to suggest that power should be consolidated into a single individual but, rather, that power […]
Executive orders come at an expensive price
Few today understand that America is actually not a democracy but, instead, a constitutional republic, based on the idea of representative democracy at its inception. The system our founders established truly is the best of both worlds – a perfect compromise between a direct democracy and a political dictatorship. Our country’s founders wanted to avoid […]
Electoral College not to blame for undesired election results
As ugly and undignified as the campaigns of the past election season were, we must now come together to advance our country’s best interests. A bigger picture is at stake: the current state and future trajectory of our nation and its collective people. This reality is much more important than partisan politics will ever be. […]
Politics don’t end on Election Day
With this general election cycle coming to a close, many Americans are relieved that the excessive propaganda and unfounded accusations have finally ended, no matter the result. Most Americans will now turn their attention away from politics until the midterms or even, for many, the next presidential election in four years. This cycle has been […]
Congressional term limits mentioned this election, likelihood for action less than likely
“Politicians and diapers must be changed often and for the same reason.” Famous American novelist and philosopher Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, is known to have said these words of advocacy for instituting Congressional term limits. The controversial topic of limiting elected representatives to a finite number of terms served is once again becoming a […]
Student-athlete lives hectic, not without ridicule
After playing football since little league, through high school and the past five years here at the University of South Dakota, this marks my first fall without strapping on pads and a helmet since I was 10-years-old and in the fifth grade. Since middle school, football was the sport I loved the most; however, I […]
Valuable lessons from my time on the gridiron
Football will always be so much more than a mere spectator sport to those who have played the game. Only those who have played football can truly begin to comprehend why the sport we love means so much to us. It’s so much more than just a fun time in our lives, it’s a part […]
Political party and personal ideology: There’s a difference
In a letter to a future Continental Congress colleague, John Adams wrote, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest […]
Attribution bias creates political stagnation
With partisan divisiveness intensifying with each passing election cycle in America, stagnation becomes a more acceptable, even inevitable reality, both with regard to specific issues and general societal advancement. As American college students preparing to enter the work force with more technological tools and resources at our disposal than any other group of individuals in the […]
Polarizing political factions restrict compromise
In his farewell address in 1796, George Washington said, “However political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves […]